- 1). Visit an investment brokerage firm or your local bank and ask to speak to a licensed investment representative. Tell the representative you wish to buy some mutual fund shares. If you plan to buy any other securities, ask to open a brokerage account, as you can hold all of your securities -- including your mutual fund shares -- in this single account. If you only plan to buy the mutual fund shares, tell the broker to process the purchase as a fund-direct transaction, which means you buy the shares directly from the fund company.
- 2). Provide the broker with your name, date of birth, physical address, telephone number, driver's license number, Social Security number and current or former occupation. You must also give the broker a general idea of your current net worth including property you own, bank accounts and securities. Brokers have to record this information for compliance reasons to help ensure that any investment recommendations made to you are appropriate given your overall financial circumstances.
- 3). Choose a share type to buy. You can buy shares in most mutual funds in a variety of different ways. No-load funds have no upfront or back-end commission charges. A shares are mutual fund shares on which you pay an upfront commission of 4 or 5 percent. B shares and C shares, meanwhile, are types of shares on which you pay no upfront commission, but you pay a charge when you sell your shares. In addition to these fees, you must also pay annual fees on all types of mutual fund shares. The annual fees are lowest on A shares, and often highest on no-load shares. Depending on how long you plan to hold the shares, you may end up paying less in the long run to buy A shares rather than B, C or no-load shares.
- 4). Write a check or give a cash deposit to your broker. The broker will then place the trade order before the stock market closes for the day. However, mutual fund share prices are based on the closing values of all of the underlying securities and the trade actually occurs after the market closes. Therefore, you cannot know how much your shares cost until after the purchase occurs.
- 5). Contact your broker the following day to find out how many shares you bought. You should receive written confirmation of your share purchase in the mail within a few days of the transaction.
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