Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. is a member of the New York Stock Exchange that has pioneered on-line investment banking. The brokerage offers a full line of investment vehicles with programs designed for a variety of investor types (Charles Schwab, 1999a, p. 1).
Among the many investment vehicles offered by Charles Schwab on-line are mutual funds. A specific mutual funds program offered by Charles Schwab is the "One Source Online" program (Charles Schwab, 1999d, p. 1).
This Internet research and analysis addresses the issue of why a program such as the One Source Online program would be attractive to investment clients in comparison with other mutual funds and programs. To address this issue, the Charles Schwab One Source Online program is compared with other mutual funds and programs within the contexts of concerns of investors.
A mutual fund is a particular type of investment company. Specifically, a mutual fund is an open-end investment company. An open-end investment company is one that does not have a fixed amount of capital stock, and continues to sell additional shares to the public as demand warrants. As an open-end investment company, a mutual fund also repurchases the outstanding shares in the fund when such shares are surrendered by shareholders. The term mutual indicates that the investment company represents a mutual pooling of the investment funds of a large number of people who share in the outcome of the combined investment of those funds. The value of a share in a mutual fund is determined by the market value of the investment holdings of the mutual fund.
A closed-end investment trust is a company that sells a specified number of shares in the company to individual investors. The closed-end investment trust company is not obligated to issue additional shares to other individuals who may desire to invest in the company, nor is the closed-end investment trust company obligated to repurchase outstandi...