Situation 1

Enact the conversation between Mr. Bigly, a high-level specialist in the work of Mutual funds and Mr. Deshler, a potential investor, gathering extra information about them.

You focus on the following points and questions:

- Providing precise information concerning different types of Mutual funds and their principal differences.

- What are the objectives of the investors?

- How can these objectives be achieved?

- What are the ways of increasing the profitability of the investments?

- What does the security of investments mean?

Situation 2

The manager. You’ve been working as a manager of the close-end investment trust for some years. Your company invests funds into automobile industry. You want to sell some shares to a potential investor and your task is to persuade him to buy them. One of your arguments is that only your trust, as the most experienced and reliable participant of the automobile shares segment of stock market, can guarantee its clients reliability and the highest profit per share.

The investor. You have a substantial sum of money and plan to invest it. You have an idea that to buy some shares of any automobile company directly (without any investment trust) on the stock exchange will be more profitable for you. You try to prove this point of view to the manager, providing different arguments. After this conversation you plan to make your final decision.

Brainstorming activity Problem 1

The manager of an open-end investment company feels the pressure of a great number of shareholders. They demand to increase the dividends on their investments in spite of the growing risk. However one of the major shareholders is a local university and another one is a local church. They insist on the priority of investments’ security rather than on profitability. How would you settle the problem?

Problem 2

The manager of a mutual fund wants to invest his own money into the rapidly growing shares of the Internet Company. However, he is afraid that the shareholders of his fund, having learnt about that, will demand to invest the fund’s money into a high risk-and-profit market segment. What should he do?

Final discussion

Preparing for final discussion, try to search for extra information in special editions, magazines and financial text-books. Consult your teachers of special subjects and use the Internet resources. It is recommended to subdivide the group into 2 subgroups for better organization of the discussion.

Questions for discussion:

1. Why do you think mutual fund managers have to use increasingly sophisticated methods to cope with the complicated environment?

2. What do you think about the possibility of opening mutual funds in our country? What advantages and disadvantages will it have for investors? What difficulties may appear during the process of their establishing?

Список рекомендуемой литературы

1. Грибов, А.Ю. Институциональна теория денег: сущность и правовой режим ценных бумаг. / Грибов А.Ю. – М.: РИОР, 2008. – 200 с.

2. Кумарова, М.Г. Новый бизнес английский: курс деловой лексики английского языка / М.Г. Кумарова. – М.: АКАЛИС, 1997. – 396 с.

3. Friedman, David H. Money and Banking. / David H. Friedman. – Washington, D.C.: American Bankers Association, 1995. – 618 p.

4. Marshall, Alfred. Money, credit and commerce. / Alfred Marshall. – London: AUGUSTUS M. KELLEY, PUBLISHERS, 1991. – 368 p.

5. Sweeney, Simon. Test your business English. Finance. / Simon Sweeney. – London.: Penguin books, 2001. – 86 p.