r : 2 - I Members of the James H. Young Order of the Eastern Star, No. 592. Eastern Star Member Receives Award Grand District Deputy Ricky Wilson recently presented a plaque to Worthy Matron Martha G. Jones of the Eleventh District of the Order of the Eastern Star, PHA Jurisdic tion of North Carolina, for her out standing leadership in her chapter and the Eleventh District The award is presented yearly to a matron at the St. John's Day program, which was held at Shiloh Baptist Church. Jones is a member of the Sis ters of the James H. Young Memor ial Chapter No. 592 of Winston - Salem. She recognized members for their support during the past year. Leak-Taylor Family Reunion Held The first Leak-Taylor family reunion was held in Winston-Salem in July. Descendants of Jonece and Mary Taylor and Waiter and Mary Leak were reunited. Nearly 80 people attended. Rel atives came from as far away as Brentwood, N.Y. Ages ranged from 9 months to 89 years old. The family held the children's celebration on July 23 at Celebration Station in Greensboro. A family pic nic was held held at City Lake Park in Jamestown. The family worshiped on Sun day at Solid Rock Baptist Church, ! where they presented ^ monetary i Contribution to the church's offer j ing. A banquet followed a short pro l gram. Joyce Dukes Joyce L. Dukes, a third genera tion descendent, delivered the speech, "New Directions for the Leak/Taylor Family." The youngest child and the oldest member of the family received a commemorative plaque. Family members were also rec ognized for accomplishments in education. A booklet containing his torical facts was distributed at the program. MONEY WATCH By THEODORE R. DANIELS Getting a Handle on Mutual Funds (Part I) For an investor who lacks the time or desire it takes to research and select common stock investments, a mutual fund investment may be the answer. A mutual fund is an "open-end investment company" which sells shares of stock in the company to the public, pooling your money with other assets and contributions from other investors to pur chase a large and widely diversified stock portfolio that the typical small investor could not otherwise afford. A diversified stock portfolio is a selection of stocks of companies that are different when compared to one another ? as to industry group, size, earnings growth, geo graphical region, interest rate sensitivity. A mutual fund's stock port folio may include as many as 100 different companies. Other things being equal, if the managers of a mutual fund pick more winning stocks than losing stocks, the total asset value of the mutual fund will rise, and the value of the mutual fund will rise, and the value of the individual mutual fund shares will increase accordingly. The positive aspects of either closed-end or open-end mutual funds are: ? Diversification of loss of income risk and loss of market value risk. Since the fund managers choose stocks of different types of com panies, it is less likely any one economic event will cause you to lose your entire investment ? Professional management of the fund's investment portfolio. In all professions, there are both good and bad professionals. To choose a good professional manager, you must look at the manager's track record during good ("bull") and bad ("bear") markets. If a fund has performed relatively well during both bull and bear markets, when compared to the market performance as a whole and compared to the performance of other funds, we could then say that fund is managed by "good" professionals. One of the best sources to make this determina tion is Forbes annual mutual funds survey, usually published in August each year. ? Convenience mutual funds provide many services, such as auto matic reinvestment of dividends, capital gains, limited check-writing withdrawal services and monthly investment plans. Mutual funds can offer small and large investors the same oppor tunity to participate in the stock market without having to devote a lot of time to investment management. An investor who puts $1,000 in the fund gets the same rate of return on his/her money as the investor who puts $10,000 in the fund. A mutual fund distributes its earnings and appreciation (increase in value) in value of the mutual fund shares to its shareholders. The managers of the mutual fund try to select stocks and bonds that are relatively cheap with the expectation that they will increase in value. When the managers believe the security has reached its highest price, they sell the security and receive capital gains which they pass on to you or reinvest in other securities. Most mutual funds allow stockholders to redeem their shares at any time for the current net asset value per share (market value of fund's assets less liabilities divided by total shares outstanding). ; Sato*1 ( ? c Salon, " SJ it* t : This effl? uP T to ha-e a minimal Prevention Award""' Pr?tK"?" Whon%^*" acknow,ed?d |evej rf A car'ng attitude is the itS *"?*? jevei of commitment-? i-k i foundation for rhp rt, thatACP kV giVing back the Ch,3'? SCe" the Fair Share f0rP0rati0n's high Can be measured in more th?^ C?rporation continues8^?11? With the " ? "Mn cc?nomic terms. receive r?urns ' '?<" ? regWred |radcmjrk ' ? ? tr ( orfHir,irion ? 'AIK s"are/good business ^Shrysub tHpy$lfp