Vlado is looking to purchase a mutual fund with the primary objective of growing his...

An equity index fund is most appropriate because Vlado believes markets are efficient and wants to control investment costs. IFC explains that passive management is based on the view that markets are efficiently priced, making attempts to identify consistently mispriced securities unlikely to add value. Passive managers therefore seek to replicate a market index rather than engaging in extensive security selection or market timing. Index funds generally involve lower portfolio turnover and less active research than actively managed equity growth or specialty funds, which can help reduce operating and trading costs. A balanced fund would also include fixed-income holdings and therefore would not meet Vlado ' s specific requirement for an equity fund. His belief in market efficiency and concern about costs point directly to a passive equity index strategy.

================