Report on the Religious Life of Planet Earth Essay - 10

Report on the Religious Life of Planet Earth - Essay Example f religion that I will analyze in this paper will involve the possibility of sacred places, which are protected and adored for religious functions and prayers. During the tour, I noticed that the people who live on earth tend to be notoriously religious, and they believe in supernatural beings, which protect them and guide them, as well control nature. There were structures in many parts of the earth that had been constructed to serve as churches, temples, mosques and monasteries for religious functions and rituals. These structures were well protected and respected by the entire members of the society, and those who violate the conventional rules for the buildings were severely sanctioned by the society (Haught, 1990). Further, serious sermons and prayers were conducted inside the churches by people who were believed to poses exceptional abilities, which enabled them to mediate with the supreme beings. On the same note, I realized that people chose one day in a week to worship and thanksgiving to their creator. Most of the people worshiped on the seventh day of every week while others chose other weekdays apart from Sunday (Caputo, 2001). However, other groups that were extremely religious did worship every day for several times, without ceasing. Further, people performed sacrifices to honor their creator; they mumbled things that were difficult to comprehend (Haught, 1990). During the sacrifices, it appeared as if the people on earth were confessing their sins and they were pleading with the super natural power; this serves to forgive them the transgressions that they had committed. The roles that religion seemed to play in the world was to foster solidarity among the society members as they came together to worship and share their life experiences (Caputo, 2001). Religion seemed to make people hopeful about the life. Further, religion was the tool of checking morality in the world; people used it judge moral behavior from immoral behavior. The religious

Teaching and Education Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Teaching and Education - Essay Example Even the government allocates a large portion of the national budget for the improvement of the educational system of the nation. Education mainly begins at home. Parents have an important role in educating their children too. They should participate more actively in their child’s early development and learning. A child does not only acquire knowledge from the teacher alone, their parents are their first and most influential teachers. Parents cannot just rely on the schools to teach all of life’s lessons to their children. Many of life’s lessons are learned outside the structured environment of the classroom. Parents have a role too in curriculum development. It is not the sole responsibility of the school and the teachers. I believe that parents should have a role in the development of the curriculum because they have an indirect interest and concern in it. At the content level however, curriculum development lies primarily to the state officials and local admin istrators. At the processing level of the curriculum, the facilitators, teachers and support staff take on the major roles. Parents and students play a key role at the process level because they must learn and apply the objectives through their own methods and styles. Parents can be more involved in goal setting, finding alternative learning opportunities and in the evaluation of the curriculum. Parents must however recognize and respect the roles of the other participants in the curriculum development such as the teachers. A teacher’s role is not confined to merely educating the students in various subjects. I view their role as more encompassing. Teachers should educate students so that they will be equipped with the needed knowledge, possess a noble character and be responsible individuals of the society. They should also educate students to develop a strong will power to acquire various skills necessary to fulfill their aspirations and the requirements of the nation. Teac hers have a great impact on the students’ lives during their school years and even after. It is therefore essential that they guide them towards the right attitudes and help the students uncover their roles in society in the future. Teachers are agents of change too. They should have the ability to carry out new changes according to the requirements of the student and the society. Teachers are important factors for a modern, updated and advanced society because their knowledge and skills not only enhances the quality of education but it also serves as prerequisites for future research and innovation. It is the responsibility of teachers to adopt their teaching method to the fast pace of our society today. The role of teachers today has undergone a dramatic transformation. This transformation is due in part by the massive advancement in knowledge and information technology and a growing demand for better learning methods in schools. The teachers of today are more concerned wit h their relationships with the students, colleagues and community. They are rethinking the tools and techniques that they use, as well as the form and content of their curriculum. Teachers realize now that it is their responsibility to get to know each student as an individual in order to understand his unique needs, learning style, social and cultural background, interests, and abilities. Their jobs now include counseling students to assist them to unite their social, emotional and intellectual growth to make better decisions in their lives. This is a totally new form of instruction for teachers which is no longer geared at traditional classroom lectures, but rather a teaching style which challenges students to have a more active

A Marketing Analysis Of Air Asia Marketing Essay

A Marketing Analysis Of Air Asia Marketing Essay In order to make sure that the slogan of Now Everyone Can Fly, Airasia had launched Low Fare Campaign in order to attract the customers to fly with a low fare. The objectives of this campaign are to offer low fares to customer to travel and offer discounts to the public in order to encourage more people to fly with Airasia. Moreover, this will lead to new market entry of first-time user. (Thestar, 2007) 2.0 Airasia Market analysis 2.1 PESTEL analysis Political Factor Airasia airline had planned to build a new single-runway airport in Labu, Negeri Sembilan with the Sime Darby in 2009 and been approved by the government. However, the plan has been cancelled due to the Stated-owned Malaysia Airports had tried to stop to build the new terminal and disagreement with former Prime Minister, Tun Mahathir. (Flightglobal, 2009) Economic Factor In 2010, Malaysia Government had introduced one government policy which is 10 Malaysia Plan to the public in order to unleash the growth of economic. The Airport development is one of the plans as Malaysia Government expects the passengers amount will increase to 62 million in 2015. A new low cost terminal will be built by the in Kuala Lumpur International Airport for Airasia and has larger terminal. (Midfresearch, 2010) Social Cultural Factor Malaysia is the country which has 3 ethnics and the cultures are unique. Airasia believes that the communities are expecting that the airline can treat every ethnic equally. In order to do that, Airasia is practicing the meritocracy culture whereby the employees hired not based on the age and ethnic. (Airasia, 2009) Technological Factor Airasia has implemented information technology in running the operations of the airline to save the costs. The information technologies that implemented are yield management system and computer reservation system. The systems can help the airline to save the costs by recording on revenue and transactions in daily operations. (Management of Technology, 2009) Environmental Factor Airasia has invested in the latest technology and full utilization of the aircraft in protecting the environment and A320 airbus which is more efficient to operate and more save fuel is used. Airasia ticketless system and near paperless office are the strategies to cut down the waste of paper. (Airasia, 2009) Legal Factor In order to operate in Malaysia, Airasia must apply the Air Service License from the Malaysia Civil Aviation. The regulations such as Civil Aviation Act 1969 and Aviation Offences Act 1984 must be followed. (Airasia, 2004) 2.2 SWOT analysis Strength Analysis Low Cost Carrier business model is one of the strength of Airasia in order to compete in the airline industry. The second is Airasia has a very strong relationship with the government and the airline industry leaders. The third is well established of brand name in Asia Pacific. (Management of Technology, 2009) Weakness Analysis The Airasia main weakness is the airline more reliable on the out sourcing workforce. The other weaknesses are the service resource is limited and the airline is receiving many complaints on the no-refundable of the ticket canceled and the delay of flight. (Management of Technology, 2009) Opportunity Analysis The first opportunity is the ever-increasing oil price which enables Airasia to compete with other low cost airline. (Management of Technology, 2009). ASEAN Open Skies agreement that achieved which is allows Airasia to run unlimited flights among ASEANS regional is also an opportunity. (Wong, 2009) Threat Analysis The first threat is the services rates (airport departure, security charges) are controlled by the airline. The other threats are other entrance of low cost airline and the operation cost is increase due to the services that added. (Wong, 2009) 2.3Trend and Current Position 2.3.1 Airasia Trend In 2009, the low-cost carrier airline that established well had proved that has sufficient power to operate across the region in different market and economic. Airasia airline is the fast-growing and profit earning steadily airline which had increased the profit for the past. Airasia is also able to grow the market share in the Southeast Asia and had introduced the low-cost long-haul carrier whereby can offering the passenger cheaper fare. Airasia has started to have partnership with other low cost airline to reduce the airline operation costs such as ground-handling services. (Flightglobal, 2010) 2.3.2 Airasia and Competitors Current Position In Malaysia, the main competitor of Airasia is the Malaysia Airline System (MAS) which is Malaysias National Airline. In order to compete with Airasia, MAS had launched the first low cost airline which is Firefly. The airline is the test-bed in running low-cost operation. In March 2007, Malaysia Airline System had launched the first community and low cost airline which is Firefly to compete with other low cost airline. The Firefly airline is the test-bed of Malaysia Airline System in running the low-cost operation instead to test for new market segmentation and the Malaysia Airline System will adapt and expand it into national carrier if the operation of Firefly is proven success and gain stability. (Datamonitor, 2008). Due to the existing of new competitor, Airasia Malaysia has two competitors in Malaysia. However, the prices of airline ticket in Airasia is the main advantage and able to maintain current position as low-cost carrier. Particular Malaysia Airline Airasia Firefly Airfare Non RM15 RM130 Service Charge RM9 Non Non Surcharge RM76 RM47.50 RM51 Total RM85 RM62.50 RM181 (Prices Comparison for one person one way ticket to Pulau Langkawi during promotion) (Reference: Amdtaufik, 2008) 3.0 Objective 3.1 Corporate Objective The first objective of Airasia is to become the largest low cost airline organization in Asia by provide services to 3 billion people. Second objective is to attain with the lowest cost and lead to everyone can fly. The third objective is to maintain the product quality and reduce the costs. 3.2 Communication and Marketing Objectives The first communication objective of Airasia is to promote the organization, services and products through the effective communication program to the customers. The second objective is to make sure that there is a communication relationship between the Airasia and the customers and the relationship can be strengthen through the campaign awareness and brand reputation. The third objective is to expand the communication and media strategy in order to create brand or product awareness to the customers in order to achieve the organization goal. The last communication objective is to maintain the good relationship with the customers and keep updating customers with organization informations. (JobDB, 2011) 4.0 Marketing Communication Tool Low Fare Campaign 4.1Advertising In order to communicate with the target audience, Airasia is using advertising as a tool in introducing the products and services. One of the important advertising media that frequently used is the social media. The advantages of using social media are the internet enable the interactive capabilities, high selectivity by the users and the cost is low. In Airasia, the organization strongly agrees that social media is playing an important role in order for the organization to do advertising and build a consumer group that contributing trust to brand and value. Nowadays, the internet had made the people able to connect with the whole world people easily and more time is spending for online. By using social media, the messages of the products and services can be reaching out and able to share out the content of message effectively. Besides that, the social media is able to provide a channel of communication for the organization to run the activity such as low fare promotions, new product launching and news announcement. Moreover, the social media able to create a communication platform for the Airasia to connect with the people and enable the people to have more understanding on the organization. (Airasia,2009) Airasia had started the corporate blog (www.blog.airasia.com) in 2008 and Facebook (www.facebook.com/AirAsia) in 2009. The effectiveness and efficiencies of the social media enable Airasia to reach the number of fans and creating a strong relation community. For the community, they are able to get the latest information about the campaign that launched by Airasia through the social media. (Airasia, 2011) Another method of Airasia to run the advertising is using the Airspace advertising whereby the unique and effective way of advertising can be done to reach all the customers who take the flight. With the new approach of advertising and more cost saving, the messages can be reaching to large coverage of passengers.   This allows the messages of the campaign directly communicate with the passenger and can across effectively whether on the ground or in the sky. The advertisements of the campaign can be placed in the auto boarding pass, the information counter, sales office and on the passengers seats. (Airasia, 2010) Besides that, Airasia use newspaper as advertising media. By using the newspaper, the messages of the campaign can be more flexible to access to the different coverage of markets and the target audiences are different. The newspaper medias that used by Airasia in Malaysia are Star, Sin Chew Daily, China Press, Berita Harian and others. (Lee and Johnson, 2005) 4.2 Direct marketing Direct marketing is an interactive system that can helps the organization to personalized communications between them and the customers. With the help of computer and internet development nowadays, the organization is able to run two way communications for their products and services. (Lee and Johnson, 2005) In order to increase the awareness of the organization to the customers, Airasia is using direct marketing in order to encourage the interactions between organizations and allow users to be more understanding on the brand. One of the direct marketing tool that used by Airasia is the Yahoo Mobile. Airasia is promoting and sending the messages to the customers by using other website. Airasia has corporate with Yahoo Mobile whereby the organization allows Airasia mobile website to put the banner advertisement on the Yahoo mobile homepage, yahoo mail and yahoo search. The mobile users just need to access to the Yahoo Mobile and click to the Airasia banner, the link will automatically connect to the Airasia Website. By this, the customers can book the flight tickets, checking the ticket booking status and access to the promoting campaign. These services and information assessment through mobile technology has lead to the increasing in awareness of the organization and campaign promotion. Moreover, this direct marketing method had lead to the good responses from the users whereby the total click to the website is 108,405 clicks and the rate is 1.78 percent after 28days launching. (Mobilemarketer, 2009) 4.3 Public Relation There are many activities that can be carried by the public relation in order to communicate to the related party. In Airasia, one of the activities that carried out by the Public Relation is the Corporate Social Responsibility. The features in this concept are the organization shares the values and joyfulness in with the related parties. Airasia is celebrating the times of joy with the communities, practicing the communities value and traditions and delivering cares to them. There are few area that focused by the Airasia in caring out this activity. The first area is the organization work place. Airasia is practicing the meritocracy culture and the employees are hired due to their performance and ability. The elements like gender, creed, age and ethic are not considered in the hiring process. By practicing the meritocracy culture, Airasia believe that they can strive to exceed the communitys high expectation and provides equally treatment to all the communities. The second area that focused is helping the communities to pass the hard time. There was an earthquake happened in 2009 and had shocked many communities in Indonesia. At that moment, the Airasia decided to lend a hand and running the charity flight to help the victims to go out from that place. Moreover, the Airasia in Malaysia is also helping out in providing the cargo space to deliver the goods for the victims. Airasia always help the victims of disaster and providing joyfulness and hope to them. The last area that focused is minimizing the environment impact in creating greener environment. The first thing Airasia do is promoting the recycle concept to the work place environment and encourage paperless system office to be run. Moreover, self service check-in options is encouraged by the organization in order to helps in reduce the need for expensive airport infrastructure. The efficient and simple ground environment is the main policy in protecting the environment. (Airasia, 2009) 5.0 Airasia Marketing Strategies 5.1 Pull and Profile Strategy Airasia is using the Pull Strategy to deliver the low fare campaign information directly to the end-user customers. The purposes of the messages delivered are to increase the campaign awareness, encourage the customers involvement and to influence the customer perception. By these, the customer behavior and perception may be changed and lead to the purchasing of the products. Moreover, Airasia use this strategy to encourage and attract the customers to purchase airline through the website channel. For Airasia to complete and deliver the pull strategy, the method that use can be deliver the message through the social media or website by offering the low fare promotion to the customers. (Fill , 2006) Airasia is using the Profile Strategy which is using different messages in target all the stakeholders that related. The stakeholders of Airasia are customers, employees, regulators and the local communities. This strategy is including the pull selling which is requires high promoting to attract the customers and push strategy which is forces from the organization to increase the customer demand. By using this strategy through different marketing communication tools to deliver different message, Airasia is able to build up the awareness of the low fare campaign and the perception of communities toward the campaign. (Fill , 2006) 5.2 Unique Selling Propositions In order to be unique selling proposition, the strategy that used by Airasia is low cost carrier and has come out the vision of in becoming the largest low cost airline in Asia and makes the dream of average income people to fly happens. The slogan that implement for the strategy is Now Everyone Can Fly whereby the tickets prices are lower. To become differently from others airline, Airasia has implementing few strategies in order to make sure that the low fare model is possible to run. The first strategy that Airasia apply is the Safety First strategy on the maintenance of the airplane. The organization is follow the others world airline operation safety strategy and partnering with the worlds recognize repairing and maintenance manufacturer. The second strategy is the High Aircraft Utilization where the Airasia implementing the fastest turnover time in make sure the cost can be lower and productivity is high.   The third strategy is low fare and no frill whereby providing the services without promises on the quality. The last strategy is providing more different distribution channels such as Airasia Mobile and booking website for the customers to check the booking and the flight schedule informations. (Airasia, 2010) 6.0 Airasia Communication Campaign Cost Outline Cost 2008 2009 Revenue RM 2,81,526,000 RM3,072,049,000 Marketing Communication Campaign Cost (Avdertising, Direct Maketing and Public Relation) RM 5,630,520 RM 61440980 (Reference: Airasia, 2009) Airasia is using 2% of the yearly avenue to invest in the marketing communication campaign in order to create awareness of products and services among the communities. (Low, 2010) The costs that spend for 2008 are RM 5,630,520 and RM 61440980 for 2009. 7.0 Methods of measuring the effectiveness of the marketing communication There are few methods that Airasia can use to measure the effectiveness of the marketing communication in the Zero Fare Campaign. The first method is the Pre-Testing whereby the marketing communication concept, targeting group and behaviour are pre-test before the launching of campaign. This test can be done by the qualitative and quantitative method which is giving out survey forms and collect opinions. The second method is Post-Testing whereby the effectiveness of marketing communication is evaluated after the campaign launching. Airasia can use the behavioural test to measures the responses and perception of consumer on the marketing communication after Zero Fare campaign was launched. Moreover, Airasia can also use the sales test which is the measures on the sales and then will get result on the marketing communication effectiveness. The third method is Tracking Studies which is the study is involves the collection data of the consumer perception toward the campaign. Airasia can use the interview method to collect the data of consumer perception on the marketing communication of the campaign and what message that gets from the campaign. By this, the organization is able to more understand on the consumer perception and a good record for future marketing communication plan. The fourth method is Likeability test which is testing the level of consumer enjoyment on the marketing communication of the campaign. The result will lead to the sales result and the consumer satisfaction result. (Fill, 2006) Total word count: 2986 words

Legacy and Respect: The Usefulness of Feminism Essay -- Gender Sexuali

Legacy and Respect: The Usefulness of Feminism In a letter to students who participate in Bryn Mawr and Haverford Colleges' bi-college Feminist and Gender Studies department, Head of the Department Anne Dalke outlined an argument in favor of changing the program's name. She wrote, "Our argument for re-naming the F&GS program "Gender and Sexuality" is based on 3 claims: 1. that it will be enticing for prospective and current students and faculty, because it names their personal and intellectual interests and investments (while avoiding the word "feminism," which is off-putting to a large range of individuals) 2. that it accurately represents the current state of scholarship in the field 3. that it accurately names--and invites exploration of--where the interesting questions lie." At the date in which this statement was composed last April, I probably would have agreed with its relevancy and reasoning. I no longer accept this line of thinking, however, due to my education and involvement in Anne's co-taught class I am taking this semester, Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Gender. It is ironic that I began my study of gender four years ago as a freshman vehemently against feminism, and only now as a senior taking the only class required for every major or concentrator in that field have I come to appreciate the legacy and usefulness of feminism as a theory of practice and of education. My original concepts of feminism were that it was a theory that denounced men and elevated women beyond a fair or equitable place in society. I recognize now the stereotyping that I inadvertently allowed myself to feel. "Equating feminist struggle with living in a counter-cultural, woman-centered world erected barriers that closed... ...of a more perfect understanding. Works Cited Dalke, Anne. "Re-Naming the Feminist & Gender Studies Concentration: An Account of the Past Process of Deliberation--and a Sketch Towards the Future." CAP doc. April 14, 2004 Fuss, Diana. "Inside/Out." Critical Encounters: Reference and Responsibility in Deconstructive Writing. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1995. 233-240. hooks, bell. "Feminism: A Movement to End Sexist Oppression." Feminist Theory Reader. Ed. Caroline McCann and Seung-Kyung Kim. New York: Routledge. 2003, 50-57. Johnson, Allan G. The Gender Knot: Unraveling our Patriarchal Legacy. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. 1997. Rubin, Gail. "Thinking Sex: Notes for a Radical Theory of the Politics of Sexuality." American Feminist Thought at Century's End : A Reader. Ed. Linda S. Kauffman Cambridge, Ma : Blackwell, 1993. 3-64.

Chocolate and Like Water for Chocolate Essay

In Chocolat, I learned that food has magical power that engages and connects people and brings them into good relations. Vianne and her daughter were not welcomed in a conservative and religious town at beginning, however her chocolate had magical power to melt those peoples’ cold attitude and they became drawn into her chocolate, even that stubborn pastor Reynaud who had strong hostile feeling against Vianne did so at the end. I liked the part that Reynaud couldn’t resist to break in her store and try all the chocolates before Easter Sunday. It is like one of my dreams. I roll in chocolates. I imagine myself in a field of chocolates, on a beach of chocolates, basking-rooting-gorging. I have no time to read the labels; I cram chocolates into my mouth at random† (Harris 312). I believe his attitude also influenced and changed town people since he is the symbol that his faithful people ought to believe in and follow in their town. I also enjoyed seeing the relationship between Vianne and Roux. With similar characteristics they both have, such as free minded, not religious like town people, move from a place to another and somewhat isolated from society, it is natural that they feel close each other. Especially, the night they spent together is one of my favorite parts, because it was described beautifully and romantically. â€Å"The garden was still warm in the glow of the braziers. The mock oranges and lilacs of Narcisse’s trellis blanketed us beneath their scent. We lay on the grass like children. We made no promises, spoke no words of love, though he was gentle, almost passionless, moving instead with a slow sweetness along my body, lapping my skin with fluttering of the tongue. [†¦] For the moment, simple wonder; at myself lying naked in the grass, at the silent man beside me, at the immensity above and the immensity within. We lay for a long time, Roux and I, until our sweat cooled and little insects ran across our bodies, and we smelled lavender and thyme from the flower bed at our feet as, holding hands, we watched the unbearable slow wheeling of the sky† (Harris 289-290). In Like Water for Chocolate, I learned the method of Magic Realism and enjoyed reading several themes which were described with Magic Realism. Magic Realism is an aesthetic style or genre of fiction in which magical elements blend with the real world. The story explains these magical elements as real occurrences, presented in a straightforward manner that places the â€Å"real† and the â€Å"fantastic† in the same stream of thought. I enjoyed reading this novel from very beginning with Tita’s dramatic birth in kitchen. Her tide of tears on her birth becomes lots of salt to be used for cooking later on. â€Å"Tita was literally washed into this world on a great tide of tears that spilled over the edge of the table and flooded across the kitchen floor† (Esquivel 6). â€Å"That afternoon, when the uproar had subsided and the water had been dried up by the sun, Nacha swept up the residue the tears had left on the red stone floor. There was enough salt to fill a ten-pound sack-it was used for cooking and lasted a long time† (Esquirel 6). I like this part because Tita not only has a big passion over cooking, but also she could produce an ingredient –salt by her own, which has an important role later on. I enjoyed reading the part that the wedding cake Tita made for her sister makes every single guest feels longing, intoxicated and frustrated at the wedding. Tita’s love over Pedro was so strong and her poison: tears in the cake made everyone become sick. â€Å"The moment they took their first bite of the cake, everyone was flooded with a great wave of longing. †¦] But the weeping was just the first symptom of a strange intoxication- an acute attack of pain and frustration- that seized the guests and scattered them across the patio and the grounds and in the bathrooms, all of them wailing over lost love† (Esquirel 39). Watching both films also helped me understanding and picturing each scene clearly. Now I am enjoying the third novel, The Edible Woman, because this novel is written in modern plot and describes women’s conflicted feeling in modern society through food and cooking.

Index Funds and Mutual Funds

Whether money is be the root cause of evil or not, I don†t know. What I do know it that since the dawn of man, the concept of currency had been intimately intertwined with human society. It helps form the basis of governments, and most laws. The world stock market is where these global force that powers our atomic age society merges into a complex matrix of financial void; opportunity in it†s most complex form. The raw power of the stock market that can either bring a man to rapid success, or completely ruin him. Two of the prominent worlds of the stock market are the topic for this research paper: Index Funds and regular mutual funds. To my horror, these two terms are incredibly vague words and each have many different parts with their own specific characteristics. I will be comparing and contrasting the over shared characteristics of both kinds of stock market investing. Let us begin by explaining what both these terms actually mean. Indexing, in its simplest form, means buying all of the stocks, bonds or other instrument of a market, or asset class, instead of trying to pick winners and losers. Index investors are content with the average performance of a market. When they invest, they buy all an amount of all the stocks within the index with the knowledge that some individual stocks will gain and some will lose. The hope and assumption is when investing in index funds, that the overall net change of all the stocks in the index average out to a gain. This is usually the case as the normal trend for a market is to gradually climb. Index investors are skeptical that on average a money manager can improve on the average performance without raising risk. They are even more skeptical after fees are subtracted. The best known index, the Standard & Poor's 500 (S&P 500), is a collection of the top 500 major US stocks. However there are dozens of others, including the Euro Top 100, the largest European stocks; EAFE, a broad global index of companies from numerous countries; and the Lehman Brothers Aggregate Bond Index, a collection of government and commercial bonds. Other names for index investing include â€Å"asset class investing† and â€Å"passive investing.† As the name suggests, passive investing is basically a no brainier. The philosophy is not to worry about what individual stocks will gain or lose but to place your risks on the market as a whole. An asset class is simply a category of investment, such as stocks or bonds. No surprises – You instantly know whether your gaining or losing as your profits are based on the overall conditions of the market, or at least the section of the market you invested in. With an actively managed mutual fund investment, you may not know until the very end that the fund manager just lost you or gained you a great deal of free money. Low maintenance – No thinking required. In this sense its kinda like a slot machine just on a much larger scale and on a slot machine†¦ you never win. There is no debating over which stocks to buy, for how long to keep them. Your money stays put; you always know where it is unlike mutual funds where its always being shuffled around. Low Taxes – Taxes on distributions among shareholders is significantly less with index funds as opposed to mutual funds. This saves time and money. Low Expenses – Stock managers charge money. The better they are, the more they charge which boils down to the more you make, the more is taken out of you profit. The average general stock fund takes 1.5% of your assets each year for expenses. Some funds charge much more. The average index fund charges only 0.46%, which means more of your money, is left behind. Lower risk – As you invest in an index, your stocks are generalized throughout the market. This diversification holds a lower risk then picking out individual stocks yourself. Average returns – Investing in an index fund means you'll never beat the market. You'll never even match it, since fund expenses will knock a little off your returns. And even though most actively managed mutual funds don't beat the market over time, a few managers have consistently posted outstanding performances. No downside protection – Mutual fund managers often increase their holdings of bonds and cash if they think the market is poised to fall. Index funds offer no such safeguards: If the market plunges, you'll go down with it. That's why most financial planners say index funds are best suited for long-term investors who can ride out dips in the market. High minimums – While index funds generally have low expenses, you may need a lot of money to get started. For example the Vanguard fund requires an initial investment of $3,000 to go into one of its popular index funds; other funds require $1,000 to $5,000. And once you're in, it might be expensive to get out: Many index funds charge a fee to investors who don't hold onto their shares at least a year, or more. No fun – Like I said, it†s a no-brainer. Which means you sit and watch your money travel up and down a little red line on you television screen while watching CSPAN. Not as exciting as getting the newspaper the next day and finding out your fund just quintupled. A mutual fund is a company that combines, or pools, investors' money and, generally, purchases stocks and/or bonds. Ideally, a fund's size and efficiency, combined with experienced management, provide advantages for investors that include diversification, expert stock and bond selection, low costs, and convenience. In terms of legal structure, a mutual fund is a corporation that receives preferential tax treatment under the U.S. Internal Revenue Code. The most common type of mutual fund, called an open-end fund, allows investors to buy and sell stock in it on an ongoing basis. The mutual fund issues shares of stock to investors in exchange for cash. However, unlike most cooperations do, mutual funds don†t issue a set amount of shares; new shares are issued as each new investment is made. Investors thus become part owners of the fund itself, and thereby the assets of the fund. The fund, in turn, uses investors' cash to purchase securities, such as stocks and bonds. This makes up the majority of the assets that the fund makes for itself. There are two main types of mutual funds, a load and no-load fund. Basically speaking, a load fund is one that has a sales charge, and a no-load does not. Those that do have sales charges simply add them on to the net asset value of the fund, thus coming up with a new, higher offering price per share. The underlying values of the fund†s shares do not change. An investor selling shares will still receive only the net asset value. A no-load fund is simpler. The net asset value is used for both the purchase price and the selling price. Therefore, the two prices are always the same. Diversification – As opposed to independent stock investing. Your money is more diversified but not as Cost – Again, as opposed to individual investing. Funds usually have trading cost discounts and can spread internal cost over the large shareholder base. Professional Management – You have a professional fund manager who watches the stock and decides where it should go and when it should go there. Tax planning difficult – because the timing of taxable distribution is uncertain. You cannot choose the sale dates for yourself and therefore there is much uncertainty on when your taxable distributions are made. Uncertainty – For competitive reasons with other mutual funds, the funds usually don†t disclose the report of a transaction until after its been made. This leaves you constantly one step behind in knowing where you money is. Manager changes – A fund can all of a sudden change a manager which you will not find out about in a timely manner. You don†t know who†s handling your money and have little control over it yourself.