Unit Trusts & OEICs

Introduction to Unit Trusts & OEICs

Unit trusts and open-ended investment companies (OEICs) are types of collective investment, which allow investors to pool their money with other investors to invest more efficiently in stock and bond markets. As 'open-ended' funds, more shares are issued each time someone invests and sold when they exit. In practice, this means that the asset pool will expand and contract as people buy and sell out of the fund and that the price of the fund always reflects the value of the underlying stocks or bonds. These funds usually have income and accumulation units. The income units pay out any income generated by the fund (such as dividends from shares or coupons from bonds), while for accumulation units, this is simply added back into the units. Find out more about Unit Trusts & OEICs.