What is a managed fund?

A managed fund, also known as a managed investment or unit trust, is an investment where you can pool your money with other investors. A specialist fund manager invests the money for you. The fund manager uses the fund's buying power to purchase a wide range of investments.
Pool your money for greater buying power
Single leaf
Do more with your money.

By pooling your money with others, you have the buying power to invest in many different asset classes and sectors to spread your investment. You are able to employ professionals who work to achieve better results than you expect to achieve on your own.

What makes managed funds unique?

Bring investing within reach

Even if you have never invested before, a managed fund makes it easy for most people to enter the investment market. You don't need a lot of expertise to become an investor, because you can leave the investment decisions to professionals.

Why outsource expertise?

Buy units at a time

Every time you put money into a managed fund, you're buying units in that fund, which is why they are sometimes called unit trusts. As a unit holder, you may, depending on your choice, get exposure to investment assets such as shares, property, fixed interest and cash. Over the period in which you invest, the unit price may move up and down as the value of the investments within the unit trust rises or falls.

How do managed funds compare to other investments?

Investing in a managed fund

There are two main ways to invest:

  • invest a lump sum and leave it to accumulate, adding amounts whenever you like
  • invest a lump sum and then regularly add amounts, which could be monthly payments of as little as $100.
The initial investment can be as low as $2,000 with a regular payment plan. Managed funds offer a range of asset types, risk levels, time frames and management styles.

What strategies can you choose?

Start as soon as you can

It's always easy to put things off for another day, but starting sooner rather than later is one of the best investment decisions you can make. The best reason to start investing as soon as possible is to take advantage of compound interest.

See how compound interest works in our 'Investment basics' section.
Hot topic: super is an investment, too

If you have super, you are already investing. For most workers, fund managers invest your super on your behalf. But don't forget that it is still your money, and you can make choices about how it is invested.

Check out your super choices in the 'Super & retirement' section.

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BT managed funds
Check out BT's managed funds in our 'Products' section.