Using a mutual fund screener

A mutual fund screener is an online tool that allows investors to search for funds based on a set of criteria they enter into certain fields. Many investors claim that the same mutual funds are featured or highlighted over and over, despite the fact that there are many other types available. Mutual fund screeners show investors a wide variety of funds, rather than limiting them to the same mutual funds repeatedly.

What are the benefits of using a mutual fund screener?
A mutual fund screener comes with a number of advantages, including:

Cuts down on research time. Before the introduction of the mutual fund screener, investors would have to research companies and market values and prices manually, either through the internet, newspapers, or trade papers. The mutual fund screener takes what could be hours and even days' worth of research and condenses it into just the amount of time it takes to select your criteria and hit "submit" on the computer.
Greater variety. There are many "unknown" mutual funds that have the potential to be great money makers, or starting companies that are experiencing a great deal of growth, yet they are hidden below the more well-known or famous mutual funds. Mutual fund screeners bring up a much wider variety of mutual funds than are usually found otherwise.
Precision. Mutual fund screeners allow investors to tailor their criteria to a broad range of mutual funds, such as "listed on the New York Stock Exchange" to a much more specific set of criteria, such as "annual growth of 25% over the past 5 years."

How Does a Mutual fund Screener Work?
A mutual fund screener works simply by entering criteria in a given set of fields. While each mutual fund screener varies in features and capabilities, for the most part they will include such fields as:
Price. The tool might have an option that allows you to filter by price.
Volume. The volume section allows you to enter in certain criteria in relation to volume.
Fundamentals. This allows you to narrow your search to basic, fundamental information.

How Do I Get a Mutual fund Screener?
There are a number of mutual fund screeners on the web. Many of them are free, while some require purchase. Sometimes, a mutual fund screener will come free with the purchase of mutual fund software or from joining an online mutual fund trading company. A simple internet search of "free mutual fund screeners" will pull up dozens of accurate mutual fund screeners you can use on the web.

Some mutual fund screeners, however, you will have to pay for. Typically, you'll make a credit card payment and then download the screener. As a general rule, the mutual fund screeners you pay for are a little more sophisticated than the free downloads you might find on the web.
They might have such features as the ability to search more companies (with a screener, the more the better); view results in graphs, tables, spreadsheets, or forms; and online tech support or tutorials.

A mutual fund screener can be an invaluable tool for an investor. Whether you opt for a free mutual fund screener or one you can purchase, they are both likely to help you with your investing by increasing your knowledge of mutual funds on the market.