Capital from individual investors are pooled together to buy a basket of securities. Thus, in spite of lower minimums (as low as P5,000 for initial investment and P1,000 for subsequent subscriptions), the mutual fund is able to buy various bonds, stocks, or a combination of both thereby providing automatic diversification to the investor. Buying and selling of investments is done by professional fund managers, and friction costs paid by the fund. And since you are just one of the many investors in the fund, your ownership is represented by the number of shares you hold (your slice of the pie). The value for each share is referred to as Net Asset Value Per Share or NAVPS.