Increasing income is the goal of any person who thinks about his future and his family members. Unfortunately, not everyone is gifted with the talent of making money with their intelligence and commercial spirit. However, the whole world consists of those who have business sense and are successful financiers and ordinary consumers.

The institution of investment originated in the Middle Ages and continues to exist and develop to this day. Its essence is to invest money in companies that are successfully developing and, with the help of additional financial injections from outside, increase their profits and share them with their investors.

Mutual funds– these are professional players in the financial market, whose goal is to attract investors’ funds and purchase income-generating securities or other assets that can increase investors’ money.

Owners of mutual fund units– these are individuals and legal entities who have invested their funds for a certain amount, the amount of which determines the size of the share in the fund.

Types of mutual funds

Mutual investment funds are divided into three types:

1. Open– the investment can be made on any day, as well as leaving the participants by selling the share. They are considered the most risk-free, but their income is lower.
2. Closed– entry and acquisition of a share is possible upon its creation, at the start of activity or at an additional issue. As a rule, these types of funds are created for a certain period of management and exit is possible only after the end of the term. Investments are made in the most liquid assets, which are characterized by high risks, but at the same time they are the most profitable;
3. Interval– entry with investments is conditioned by certain periods, which are called intervals equated to one calendar quarter. Due to the fact that the free sale of shares is limited, it is possible to manage them regardless of market fluctuations, and panic among investors caused by a falling market does not affect the activities of the fund. Profitability is average.

The rating of mutual funds by profitability depends on its type, and a novice investor should take his first steps in this field where there is the least risk, and with experience, he can begin to vary and invest money in different structures.

Categories of mutual funds

Funds are classified depending on the investment objects and are as follows:

• Share mutual funds – the most common and well-known financial instruments, investments are made in securities of joint-stock companies: shares and bonds at the rate of 60%-40%, are designed for long-term operations and bring very good profits.
• Bond mutual funds assume a share of debt securities of more than 50%, and shares of no more than 20%. The essence of the investment is to purchase debt obligations of the state and various companies. Attractive for those investors who expect stable profits.
• Mixed mutual funds assume the presence of a securities portfolio of up to 70% of the total share of investments, while there is no strict division into percentage ratio by type of paper assets.

  

  Volume of funds raised by different types of mutual funds in 2016

• Index mutual funds are designed for beginner players, since they can easily be used to track the growth and decline of profitability. All funds are invested in index securities. The risk of loss is minimal, but you can increase your capital slightly.
• Money market mutual fund – shareholders’ funds are mainly invested in bank deposits in Russian rubles or foreign currency. Investments are also possible in debt obligations of the state, regions and municipalities. The level of reliability of such funds is very high, but the growth of capital investments is very small. Not the most common category for our country.
• Mutual funds of funds invest money in other similar investment organizations. They are at double risk. Managers select the most attractive and profitable financial companies and add additional stocks and bonds to the portfolio. The advantages are that the cash deposits are evenly distributed and the decline of one fund can be offset by the growth of another.
• Commodity market mutual funds invest financial assets in goods. The most liquid are precious metals, oil, grains and others. There are only three such funds in Russia. Their profitability depends on market fluctuations, seasonality and other factors. Today, taking into account economic realities, they are very risky investment instruments.
• Industry mutual funds invest shareholders' capital in various economic spheres and business sectors such as: energy, oil industry, non-ferrous and ferrous metallurgy, banking institutions, telecommunications companies. During the period of industrial growth, profits are quite high; it is impossible to guarantee that growth will be constant. Currently, with falling commodity prices, profitability is low.
• Venture investment mutual funds make long-term investments in new commercial structures that can develop their projects in the foreseeable future and become a very profitable company. Fund managers monitor promising areas in the field of scientific discoveries and high technologies. With a successful combination of circumstances and good management, they can bring very high profits, but the risk is huge, almost 100%. The management procedure consists of purchasing a controlling stake and participating in management.
• Mortgage mutual funds engage in the purchase of mortgages from banking institutions and various commercial organizations that provide loans and credits for the purchase of housing. As a result of concluded transactions, funds become creditors and pledgees. Interest on loans is a source of income. The risks are essentially minimal, but during the crisis the number of non-payments and delays increases, and due to the fall in demand for real estate, the sale of mortgaged property becomes problematic. Profitability is average.
• Credit mutual funds – the principle of their activity is the same as that of the above. The difference is that debt obligations under conventional loans are purchased. Due to the high level of debt among the population, there are a lot of offers for sale, but the profitability has currently decreased significantly.
• Real estate mutual funds work by attracting funds from shareholders for the purpose of investing in construction companies or purchasing various objects in the form of housing and commercial space. Profit is obtained through the resale of purchased real estate during the construction phase in its finished, completed form. With high property liquidity, the profit is good, but market instability makes its own adjustments.
• Rental mutual funds carry out their activities through the acquisition and operation of real estate for commercial purposes. The purpose of the work is profitable rental and income generation. The value of assets in the form of real estate and rental rights must be at least 50% of the total portfolio.

Mutual funds: profitability rating

You need to invest in mutual funds based on their profitability indicators. To determine profitability criteria, the following factors must be taken into account:

1. The amount of the fund's annual profit should be a constant and stable value; market fluctuations should have an insignificant effect on the operation of the financial structure.
2. The difference between a fund's total assets and debt liabilities. The larger the indicator, the higher the reliability of the mutual fund. Another important component is the professionalism of managers.
3. Number of shareholders and volume of funds raised. If the dynamics are positive, you can trust this fund and confidently invest money.

Statistics for 2015

An analysis of expert opinions, compiled on the basis of articles on the Internet, recommendations of experts, an economic review and financial indicators, allows us to identify The mutual fund rating of management companies looks like this:

1. First place - "Sberbank"– open financial sector, makes investments without any specialization. Highest increase – 8.89%
2. Confidently holds second place "Global Commodity Markets", owned by the UralSib holding, is slightly inferior to the leader in profitability - 8.47%.
3. "Finam First", managed by Finam Management, with a profitability of 6.71%, holds third position.
4. Fourth place was won and justifiably by Mutual Fund Raiffeisen Capital, which is a subsidiary of Raiffeisen Bank. Being an open-end fund, it has a yield of around 6.48%.
5. Financial organization fund "Otkritie-Raw Materials" ranks fifth and is one of the five successful companies on the Russian stock market with an efficiency of 6.27%.

Investing in mutual funds is a very profitable business for those who do not like big risks. Having chosen a suitable player in the financial market, you can wisely manage your money and entrust it to a professional manager. Choosing the right fund is not easy, but experience is the best guide.

Start with low-profit and at the same time low-risk companies. Over time, you can begin profitable operations by investing in higher-profit structures.

Currently, when there has been a crisis in the financial industry and in the real sector of the economy for two years now, there is a decline in the investment market, and people prefer to keep money under their pillows. However, those who trust their instincts can invest in reliable mutual funds whose return ratings give them confidence that they can increase their capital by a tangible amount.

Last year, shareholders of funds investing in securities of energy companies earned up to 150% per annum (here and below are the ranking data on the profitability of mutual funds of the Investfunds portal). And investors who bet on biotechnology or markets in developed countries lost up to 36% of their investments (for example, the profitability of the Sberbank - Biotechnology fund was minus 36.31% at the end of 2016). The choice of the management company also played a role: for example, the energy mutual fund of the Uralsib company showed a profitability almost twice as high as the similar fund of Sberbank Asset Management, and the mutual fund April Capital - Shares of resource companies showed an increase of 75.05 %, while the identical mutual fund Otkritie - Raw Materials, on the contrary, fell by 4.65% at the end of last year.

Why is energy a leader?

In 2016, shares of energy companies began to recover quickly after falling in price by about four times in 2011-2015. The MICEX Electric Power Industry index has lost more than 70% over the years, while the MICEX broad market index has gained 4% over the same period, says Evgeniy Lynchik, managing director of Sberbank Asset Management. Trading at the end of 2014 and 2015 had the character of “capitulation” - investors sought to get rid of these shares at any price, adds Vitaly Isakov, asset manager of Otkritie Management Company. After the last "alarmists" sold their shares, growth became very likely, even in the absence of improvement in the fundamental situation, he adds.

As the economy stabilized last year, the decline in electricity consumption gave way to moderate growth, comments Alexander Golovtsov, head of the analytical research department at Uralsib Management Company. Fears that regulation of the sector would worsen did not materialize; on the contrary, at the end of 2015, capacity tariffs for generating companies were actually increased, then payments under the capacity supply agreement were indexed and electricity transmission tariffs were unfrozen, Golovtsov continues. “When companies in the sector also began to improve their financial performance in 2016 and promise significant dividend yields, explosive growth occurred,” says Isakov.

Top positions in the portfolio of the largest management companies were occupied by securities of FGC UES, Inter RAO UES, RusHydro, Unipro, Mosenergo, TGC-1, OGK-2, IDGC and Rosseti. According to Golovtsov, it was these issuers that made the main contribution to the profitability of the Uralsib Energy Perspective fund - the ranking leader in terms of profitability at the end of the year - and helped to overtake the MICEX industry energy index. “In addition, we promptly recorded profit on investments in Irkutskenergo, whose quotes jumped sharply at the beginning of the year, and have been sliding down since June,” he adds.

Who lost?

The worst performance indicators in 2016 were demonstrated by funds investing in the biotechnology sector, the Internet and markets of developed countries. Also, investors who bet on precious metals did not close the year in the best way (for example, the mutual fund "RGS - Gold" of the management company "Savings Management" fell by 15.82%, "RSHB - Gold, silver, platinum" - 14.74%, " Gazprombank - Gold - 14.52%, etc.).

Biotech stocks were highly overvalued in 2016. Thus, the ratio of share price to company profit (P/E ratio) for the iShares NASDAQ Biotechnology ETF (IBB) was about 100 in 2015, notes Vitaly Isakov. Small values ​​of the ratio indicate that the company is undervalued, large values ​​indicate that its securities are overvalued. According to Elizaveta Vem, leading analyst at the Expert RA rating agency, the Russian biotechnology market is experiencing, among other things, a funding shortage and a lack of government support.

Mutual funds specializing in foreign currency assets suffered in 2016 due to the strengthening of the ruble. “In many mutual funds we buy international companies that are traded in dollars, and last year there was a significant strengthening of the national currency,” explains Evgeniy Lynchik. At the end of last year, the Russian ruble strengthened against the US dollar by 16%, and against the euro by 19%, points out Vladimir Vedeneev. “This predetermined the results of the Raiffeisen - Debt Markets of Developed Countries and Raiffeisen - Europe funds in rubles, whose benchmarks in the corresponding currency remained virtually unchanged over the past year,” he explains. In addition, developed markets (except the United States) showed a small loss in dollars - against the backdrop of a slow economic recovery, despite monetary incentives and fears of growing political contradictions in the Eurozone, Isakov notes.

According to Russian law, management companies must calculate and publish the value of a share in Russian rubles, even if the fund's portfolio consists of 100% dollar assets.

Which mutual funds to choose this year?

Forbes asked managers and analysts which funds they should pay attention to amid the stabilization of the national currency and expectations of easing US sanctions in 2017.

Leaders will give up their positions. According to analysts and managers surveyed by Forbes, the growth of mutual funds investing in shares of energy companies will continue in 2017, but returns at the level of last year should no longer be expected. “We believe that the result of 2017 may be significantly more modest; the growth of energy company funds will be approximately 15-25% under a successful combination of circumstances,” says Vitaly Isakov. Vladimir Vedeneev, head of the investment department at Raiffeisen Capital Management Company, draws attention to the fact that the potential of the energy sector will largely depend on future dividend payments. “The high dividend yield will attract new institutional investors into the sector,” he adds. However, the expert currently does not recommend entering electric power funds for more than 10-20% of the portfolio volume and for a period of less than 3 years.

From power engineers to metallurgists. In 2016, the funds of the metallurgical sector also showed good results, the shares of companies in which in 2016 benefited from rising prices for industrial metals and coal (for example, the growth of the Raiffeisen - Industrial fund was 42.15% at the end of 2016 and another 8.14 % for January 2017). “We believe that if current market conditions continue, shares of steel companies (NLMK, Severstal, MMK) can continue their growth in 2017 due to declining inflation in Russia (and, accordingly, rates) and the high dividend yield of these securities,” - Vladimir Vedeneev comments. Alexander Golovtsov from Uralsib Management Company also believes that most metallurgical companies maintain attractive ratios of net cash flow to capitalization. The chief investment specialist at April Capital Management Company, Dmitry Skvortsov, draws attention to the expected devaluation of the ruble in 2017, and therefore recommends investing in shares of Russian exporters, who will only benefit from this. “Additional support at the beginning of the year for exporters is provided by the continuing rise in prices for oil, steel and coal, as well as the expected high level of dividend payments,” adds Skvortsov. “In 2017, it is worth paying attention to companies that benefit from the stabilization of the ruble, mainly exporters, whose operational and financial indicators will grow, as well as companies with a dividend yield of over 6% per annum,” confirms the portfolio manager of Gazprombank - Management CJSC Assets" Sergey Nikitin.

The influence of expensive oil. Analysts surveyed by Forbes expect the Russian economy to grow in 2017, but this requires continued rise in oil prices and easing of US sanctions. According to Vadim Bit-Avragim, senior portfolio manager at Capital Management Company, companies focused on the domestic market (Aeroflot, Sberbank, Moscow Exchange and shares in the energy sector) can benefit the most, and shares in the oil and gas sector will also outperform the market. “Investing in funds focused on enterprises in the oil and gas sector seems promising this year, thanks to the stabilization of the price of “black gold” and relatively positive forecasts,” agrees the President of the National League of Managers (NLU), Ivan Kapitan.

Bet on bonds. Despite the rapid growth in the yields of risky funds investing in industry shares, most investors prefer to be more cautious and invest in classic assets, albeit with a significantly lower yield (at the end of 2016, the Bond Fund of the REGION company increased by 16.95 %, “VTB - Treasury Fund” - growth by 14.68%, “Sberbank - Ilya Muromets Bond Fund” - 13.33% and others).

Investors continue to give preference to bond funds because they are the most reliable in the structure of mutual funds and demonstrate returns that exceed the rates on bank deposits, notes Marina Nizhibitskaya, head of the reporting department of closed mutual funds of the management company EFG Asset Management. According to Ivan Kapitan, bond funds became the most popular among investors in the period 12/30/2016 - 02/07/2017; they have already received 3.4 billion rubles; In second place in popularity are equity funds, the inflow of funds into which amounted to 1.1 billion rubles. Bond funds will remain among the most attractive mutual funds for clients, predicts Elizaveta Vem from Expert RA. Thus, despite the average yield of bond mutual funds at the end of 2016 (up to 17%), managers and analysts recommend filling the majority of the investment portfolio this year with basic stable assets (primarily bonds of Russian companies), because they are riskier and Less protected industry stocks can show phenomenal returns over a period of time, but there is always a high probability of an unexpected trend reversal and, as a result, a serious loss of investment.

The best return among open-end bond funds in January 2017 was shown by the Income - Bond Fund fund, the increase in net asset value (NAV) amounted to 13.99%. Among large open-end bond funds (with a NAV of more than 100 million rubles), the highest return for the same period was shown by the Ingosstrakh Bonds fund (NAV increase of 2.75%). The volume of funds raised in bond funds in January of this year amounted to 2.8 billion rubles, while the leader, the Alfa Capital - Bonds Plus fund, accounted for 24% of this amount, says Elizaveta Vem.

Portfolio diversification. In 2017, managers of large funds do not recommend holding a completely ruble portfolio. “The optimal thing is to maintain a portfolio consisting of dollar and ruble parts and balance it,” says Maxim Semyanin, securities portfolio manager at SOLID Management JSC. “Given the significant strengthening of the ruble, we suggest paying attention to currency funds investing in asset classes that showed lagging returns last year,” comments Vitaly Isakov.

Traditionally, experts recommend placing a significant part of the portfolio in conservative instruments. The share of industry funds in the portfolio should not exceed 10-15% - otherwise the risk of a serious drawdown of the entire portfolio is very high. “A balanced model portfolio can consist of approximately 30% of mutual fund units of Russian shares, 30% of mutual fund units of Russian bonds, the remaining 40% should be left in foreign exchange instruments,” says Vedeneev. Isakov also notes that most funds should be placed in “core” broad market funds.

RIA Rating - June 21 The total volume of assets of Russian public mutual funds as of April 1, 2016 was 119 billion rubles, compared to 120 billion rubles at the beginning of the year. Despite good growth in 2015, the collective investment market in Russia is still in its infancy; the total net asset value (NAV) of public funds is only 0.15% of the assets of the banking system and 20 times less than the volume of pension savings in NPF. As evidenced by the results of the rating of mutual investment funds (UIFs) based on the results of the first quarter of 2016, prepared by RIA Rating based on data from the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, at the beginning of 2016, an increase in the consolidation of assets was observed in the collective investment market, despite the fact that total net assets showed a decrease. The number of active funds continued to decline (-10 over three months). The minimal reduction in NAV volume in the first quarter was primarily due to the withdrawal of their funds by clients (approximately 1.2 billion rubles), and to a lesser extent (approximately 300 million rubles) this was determined by the negative return of funds.

As of April 1, 2016, 32 funds had assets exceeding a billion rubles (33 at the beginning of the year), and 131 of the 384 public mutual funds included in the rating had NAVs at the beginning of the second quarter exceeding 100 million rubles, versus 128 as of January 1, 2016 . Overall, in the first quarter, 35% of funds were characterized by negative asset dynamics, with 19 funds losing more than a third of their assets in three months. The outsiders were mainly funds of funds and mixed investment funds. On the other hand, there is no such uniformity among the leaders in investment inflows - funds that were completely different in terms of their declared investment strategy managed to show good dynamics.

The undisputed leader in absolute growth of assets (an increase of more than 2.2 billion rubles), according to RIA Rating calculations, in January-March 2016 was the bond mutual fund "Raiffeisen - Bonds". Due to this quarterly result, the Raiffeisen Bonds fund managed to strengthen its position as a leader and now the second largest mutual fund is already behind by 2.3 billion rubles in terms of NAV. In general, the largest fund already accounts for 5% of the total volume of the public collective investment market, and the TOP 5 - 20%, versus 19% as of January 1, 2016.

In addition to the leader, the second-ranked mutual fund Gazprombank - Bonds Plus also showed good growth - an increase in NAV by 1 billion rubles per quarter. No other fund has managed to overcome the 1 billion ruble increase in NAV. In turn, 12 mutual funds were able to demonstrate an increase in NAV by 200 million rubles.

In relative terms, six funds managed to show asset growth more than doubling. In particular, two small funds ("MK Deposit" and "April Capital - Government Bonds") showed a multiple increase of 13 and 12 times, respectively, and the mutual fund "Kapital-Bonds Plus" NAV increased 5 times in January-March.

A quarter of mutual funds lost client funds

The past quarter as a whole was quite successful for the mutual fund market, which was a consequence of growth in the stock market against the background of an increase in quotations for energy resources, as well as due to a decrease in rates on the bond market. The median yield of mutual funds, according to the rating data, in the first quarter of 2016 was quite high and amounted to 4.1% per quarter or approximately 17% per annum. At the same time, 25% of the funds showed negative returns, thus, clients partially lost their savings in them.

If we compare profitability with inflation (2.3%), then 64% of funds managed to show results better than the ruble depreciation indicator. At the same time, about 55% of mutual funds showed returns in the first quarter higher than those on high-yield deposits in banks.

This time, the largest mutual funds were unable to show better results than the market - the median return was 3.1%, and almost a third of the largest mutual funds had negative returns. It is worth noting that only one mutual fund from the TOP-50 (Sberbank - Natural Resources) managed to show a return above 10% for the quarter, while the Sberbank - Biotechnologies share lost almost a third of its value during the quarter, which became an anti-record among all funds in early 2016.

The highest profitability of all mutual funds included in the rating in the first quarter of 2016 was demonstrated by the mixed investment fund "Russian Industrial" with an increase in the estimated value of the unit for the quarter by 35%. Almost the same result was demonstrated by mutual funds: URALSIB Energy Perspective and VerbaCapital - First.

RIA Rating is a universal rating agency of the media group MIA "Russia Today", specializing in assessing the condition of companies, regions, banks, industries and credit risks. The main activities of the agency are: assigning credit ratings and reliability ratings to banks, enterprises, regions, municipalities, insurance companies, securities, and other economic entities; economic research in the financial, corporate and government sectors.

MIA "Russia Today" -an international media group whose mission is prompt, balanced and objective coverage of world events, informing the audience about different views on key events. RIA Rating, as part of MIA Rossiya Segodnya, is part of the agency’s line of information resources, which also includes: RIA News , R-Sport , RIA Real Estate , Prime , InoSMI. MIA "Russia Today" is the leader in citation among Russian media and is increasing the citation of its brands abroad. The agency also occupies a leading position in terms of citations in Russian social networks and the blogosphere.

Recently, having visited the offices of several banks, I came across the active promotion of banking products called mutual funds or simply mutual funds. The employees very persistently offered to take advantage of the opportunity to invest in mutual funds and receive high returns. Many times higher than the profit on bank deposits, with their very modest interest - around 5-6 per annum.

They showed various figures, profitability graphs and how much I could have earned if I had invested money a year, 2 - 5 years ago. In fact, the data was impressive.

Tens of percent profit in a year or two.

And immediately there was a desire to entrust your hard-earned money and participate in the pursuit of profit.

Mutual Fund return for 2017

This article is for those who are planning, planned or have already invested in mutual funds.

Pitfalls and the main disadvantage of investing in mutual funds in Russia.

What is interesting about mutual funds

First, let's look at (remember) - what is it? And how will it be useful for you and me?

A mutual fund can be considered as a common pot for all investors. Money is collected and used to buy various assets (stocks, bonds) in a certain proportion. Each investor or shareholder has a certain share or share. Proportional to the invested funds.

Pros of Pifos:

• simplicity;
• availability;
• wide diversification.

In simple words, to invest in mutual funds you need to enter into an agreement with a management company (MC) and deposit money. That's all.

The cost of one share is only a few thousand rubles. Anyone can become an owner (or co-owner) of the fund and receive a return in proportion to the funds contributed.

By buying one share for 2-5 thousand rubles, you invest money in dozens or even hundreds of different companies. And not only in Russia, but all over the world. Do you want America, please? Germany, China, England or Japan. No problem.

Sounds tempting. If you want to invest in most developed economies at the same time, it’s easy. True, this requires a little more money. But several tens of thousands can easily be met.

You can, of course, do all this yourself. Anyone can enter into an agreement with a broker and companies of interest.

But this requires a lot of money. So much money. Additionally, spending more than one hour (or even several days) of your time.

Mutual funds will do everything for you. You bought shares and received a package of the shares you needed. And you don't need to do anything else.

Yield comparison

But don't be fooled by the high returns. Markets are unstable. And today's profits are not guaranteed in the future. But that's not what we're talking about.

Mutual investment fund - helps citizens receive a share through their own monetary investment, in other words, the investor acquires part of the fund. During operation, the system checks all finances and, if necessary, makes investments in existing securities. These can include stocks and numerous bonds with certificates. As a result, both the investor and the fund receive interest profits.

The 2016 PIF rating, which allows you to take first place, is in great demand. Generally, among savers and investors, if the interest rate of a mutual fund is higher, therefore, it occupies a leading position in relation to others. Before making an investment of funds, it analyzes the effectiveness of the mutual fund system. If its profitability is high enough, you can carry out the investment.

Rating of mutual funds

Gazprombank is a food basket for the whole world. Known in many leading countries. It has efficiency and is first among other mutual funds in Russia. This establishment has the best asset management. This fund operates on an open basis and invites any number of investors. The total return on assets in this organization is 9.9%.

Raiffeisen is an establishment somewhat inferior to the first fund. Not only investment contributions are included, but also debt markets. The total income that can be obtained using this fund is 8.47%.

Management Consulting - this company is the founder of the dual currency fund. It is classified under the heading of the money market; the growth rate of income from investor deposits is 6.71%.

URALSIB is an organization that does not have a specific specialization. Recognized as an open currency fund.

The discovery of raw materials occupies the fifth position, has no specialization, therefore, the increase in profitability from an investment is less. Today its value is considered to be 6.67. Perhaps over the next year they will share fourth place with URALSIB, since institutions work efficiently and practically set the same interest rate.

How to choose a mutual fund wisely?

Recently, mutual funds have become profitable for private investors. All information is accessible, however, most investors are poorly versed in the rules for choosing a country’s currency fund.

First of all, when deciding on a mutual fund, it is important to pay attention to its place in the ranking. The higher the indicator, the better and more profitable for the investor. Depending on this, the profitability ratio is derived. And the organization that has a maximum percentage.

Also remember to identify the type of fund. Of these, there are promotional ones. It is necessary to inquire about the license from all companies and funds to which you will contact; they have the right to request a License to conduct activities.