By Lee Andersons

Everybody today seems to be offering mutual fund investment advice to everybody else. They all swear up and down on whatever system or method they use, or whatever they heard or read about elsewhere. Who can you really trust, and what can you really make of all of this? Put all of the contrasting mutual fund investment advice aside and instead focus on narrowing down your options to find something that's a great fit.

People always seem to be asking who is the best company for mutual funds? Which company has the best mutual funds guaranteed? The answers to these kinds of questions can become complicated, because certain organizations might have a great option in one category, and other groups may have great options in others. No one, single organization truly stands hands down above all of the others.

There are a ton of great, recognizable and trustworthy names that deliver high returns to their clients and investors. Some of these companies include Charles Schwab, Vanguard and T. Rowe Price. Other big names include American Funds, Meridian, Wells Fargo and on down the line. There are plenty of options that are available in terms of the organization in charge, but more important is finding a fund that you are actually interested in.

For example, many investors today like to minimize their expenses and their fees. To do this, they choose index funds as opposed to standard, managed mutual funds. Because they aren't being actively traded - you have the entire index - you get to sit back and enjoy the growth while avoiding extra costs. With managed funds, you hope to beat the performance of the entire index or whatever segment of the index you're invested in, and hope that the improved performance covers the added fees.

You'll be collectively purchasing shares from a wide variety of stocks, bonds and other investment outlets in order to maximize your potential. Some analysts feel that index funds are simply better due to their simplicity and expected steady growth, while minimizing expenses. Of course, many other analysts disagree.

You can choose mutual funds that are entirely composed of stocks, also known as equity funds. You can also choose bond funds or money market funds, and you can even use ETFs, or exchange traded funds. The individual shares of the fund itself can be traded on the open stock market with these, adding a new level of potential growth and profitability, as well as complexity.

So is there one group or business that can promise you much more than any other? In the majority of cases, no, there isn't. You need to find an organization that offers you the kind of mutual fund that you're interested in. Think about the risk you're willing to take, the length of your investment, whether you want managed or index funds, ETFs or anything else and you'll begin to see what's really out there. Mutual fund investment advice can only take you so far, after that you have to make a choice based on what you really want.