Although mutual funds have been around for a long time, they have only become relatively popular over the last couple of decades. Today, there are more than 10,000 funds from which to choose. Mutual fund companies create and manage portfolios consisting of corporate stocks and bonds. The terms "portfolio" and "fund" are used interchangeably. 

Ticker Symbol and Net Asset Value (NAV)

Each fund has a 5 letter ticker symbol. At the end of every trading day, the fund will calculate and report its Net Asset Value (NAV) which is used to determine the fund's market value. For example, assume you own 100 shares of VFEXZ and the current NAV for the fund is 20, the market value of your VFEXZ investment is $2,000 (20*100). 

Market Value = (NAV) X (number of shares) 

In addition, the NAV is used to determine the number of shares purchased with an investment. For example, assume you decided to invest $50 into a fund that has a NAV of 10, as a result, you own 5 shares (50/10) of the fund. 

number of shares purchased = (investment) ÷ (NAV)

Shares of mutual funds purchased or sold (redeemed) before 12:00 PM EST will use that day's closing NAV to determine market value. Orders placed after 12:00 PM EST will be executed the following day with the next day's closing NAV. This means the exact NAV value is not known when the order is placed. Newspapers will report the NAVs from the end of the previous trading day. One can determine the current day's NAV online after 5:00-7:00 PM EST.