A mutual fund is a basket of stocks that is professionally manged and it is catered towards the investor that does not want to keep up with the market. You can find a broad mutual fund that follows the market in general, or a specialized mutual fund that follows a particular sector like emerging markets. Most online brokers have great mutual fund screening tools available for investors to pick their own mutual funds. You can also find mutual funds without loads or fees. Sometimes, mutual funds (usually those 'sold' to you by financial advisors) have loads. They can either be front-end load (you pay the fees upfront) or back-end load (you pay the fees when your money out, but they usually dimish after about 5 years of being invested). There is also an expense ratio, which consists of the fees involved in managing the fund. ETFs can be a great alternative to mutual funds because they trade just like a stock and they have minimal expense ratios and no loads.