Open-end funds are the most common type of mutual fund.

The move came after three shareholder attempts to turn it into an open-end fund.

The most common type, the open-end fund, must be willing to buy back shares from investors every business day.

Their attraction over open-end funds is higher yields, but not necessarily more risk.

"The open-end fund yield was nowhere near this," he said.

Net asset value is most commonly used in the context of open-end funds.

Open-end funds allow investors to buy back, or redeem, their shares any time.

Open-end funds are priced once a day and can be bought or sold at their net asset values.

However, as with open-end funds, investors normally receive a price that is close to net asset value.

The open-end funds trade at their full net asset value, not at a premium.

Another clause says the board must consider the repurchase of shares or conversion to an open-end fund.

However, closed-end funds remained more popular than open-end funds throughout the 1920s.

Individual investors are then left with the choice of selling their shares or sticking with the new open-end fund.

But the leverage also amplifies the funds' vulnerability to interest rate risk compared with that of open-end funds.

"The trouble with an open-end fund is that the very time you shouldn't be selling is when you have to sell."

Open-end funds, by contrast, continually sell and redeem shares at their net asset value.

Harvard described the offer to convert China World into an open-end fund as disingenuous.

Open-end funds are most common, but exchange-traded funds have been gaining in popularity.

Closed-end and open-end funds are similar in that each holds a portfolio of publicly traded securities.

Those assets are divided among five closed- and open-end funds, as well as cash accounts for wealthy individuals.

In contrast, shares of open-end funds are continuously sold and redeemed at their net asset value.

Investors should also be aware there are differences between closed-end and open-end funds that are particularly significant in this market.

When markets turn down, as they did in China a couple of years ago, open-end funds often suffer from redemptions by skittish investors.

Three closed-end funds began for eager American investors, and a couple of open-end funds followed suit.

Unlike open-end funds, new shares/units in a closed-end fund are not created by managers to meet demand from investors.