A mutual fund is what you will nee if you want to leave the investing decision in the hands of those who are professionally managing the investment of stocks.

Explained in simple terms the mutual funds work in a manner that they will take money form each one of the investors like you and then will make sure that you they invest this bigger pool of money in profitable stocks. They do not promise any returns but are generally known to return good returns.

The basis is that you do not have to have the worry of daily tracking of the money and instead you can concentrate n other things. However for all this work the mutual companies will charge you a small fee which is the management fee. This will help if you are thinking of being a more passive investor than an active investor.

The mutual funds are not insured by FDIC and are partially like stocks. The difference between stocks and this is that you hold units instead of the actual stocks. The underlying stocks are there for these units. The risk level is absolutely the same and all the fund houses that advertise about great returns are only claiming based on the past performance and nothing is guaranteed as a return.

The past performance is no measure of the similar performance in the future. This is just an advertisement for the mutual find houses. However this also tells you about a particular mutual fund manager and that in itself will give you some confidence in his abilities.

That said your best bet is to research before investing in a particular mutual find. Different funds have different investing strategies and styles so make sure your pick the one which suits your style. Some may be more aggressive than the others or some may be more passive than the others. Some may use more risky methods which may not be your style. Also compare the fees and the costs that they charge as that can impact the returns that they give.

Invest wisely and you will be handsomely rewarded for sure.