Issues Of Premarital Sex And Promiscuity

Issues Of Premarital Sex And Promiscuity This essay will discuss the issues of premarital sex and promiscuity of both Ellistons and Punzos theories. Premarital sex (Punzos definition) means two persons engaging in sexual intercourse without full commitment while promiscuity (Ellistons explanation) is characterized as to have sex with various people without commitment. In the comparison of both philosophers, Punzo is considered the conservative theorist while Elliston is supporting casual sex with a variety of people. In Punzos theory, sexual intercourse, such intimate act, must involve a deep commitment between the two persons. However, Elliston would argue that sexual intercourse does not require any deep thinking or consideration of commitment as if it is not a big deal. How would Punzo react to Ellistons theory of promiscuity-to have sex with a series of people with no intention to any commitment other than the act of sexual intercourse? How does Elliston support his argument that promiscuity should be allowed and under what conditions is promiscuity morally permissible? Other issues such as sex with someone one hopes to love, sex with a friend, or recreational sex with an acquaintance is wrong or not will also be included. All these issues will be discussed in details with both philosophers arguments and theories. Elliston: Elliston defines promiscuity with the elaboration and combinations of the definitions of Oxford English Dictionary and Websters New Twentieth Century Dictionary. Promiscuity, according to Elliston, the word has no descriptive content, but only emotive and/or hortatory forceà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦It is to condemn a practice or person as promiscuous is simply to express feelings of disapproval, or issue a prohibitive Stop! This position attempts to resolve the issue of meaning by limiting promiscuity to its emotional or prescriptive force. The Oxford English Dictionary defines promiscuous as: without distinction, discrimination or order. Websters New Twentieth Century Dictionary adds: engaging in sexual intercourse indiscriminately or with many persons.Promiscuity, according to Elliston, is too broad and begs the question at hand. For the promiscuous person clearly does draw some distinctions: typically he or she does not derive sexual satisfaction from a lovers shoe or copulate with a dead body or a sibling. These would be more precisely called fetishism, necro philia, or incest. Promiscuity is sometimes identified with free love. This persuasive definition may induce some to accept this sexual pattern because freedom, like motherhood, is a good everyone is supposed to espouse. Promiscuity may be identified with recreational sex-intercourse just for the fun of it(Elliston 142- 143.Despite the above definition, Elliston created his own definition of promiscuity that better suits his arguments. Promiscuity is defined as sex with a series of other adults not directly related through marriage and with no commitments; no promises of affection, sexual exclusivity in future (Elliston 144). In Ellistons definition of promiscuity, it must include the following 5 components: I. Promiscuity demands copulation-its telos is sexual intercourse. II. Repetition is essential-the pursuit of a new partner must recur. III. Both partners must be adults IV. The couple cannot be directly related throughmarriage. V. Promiscuity is noncommittal sex.Elliston explains his objections to sex without commitment would lead to deception and exploitation by clarifying the personality of promiscuous people that would cause such results. According to the popular prototype, promiscuous people are unfaithful and unreliable: they break promises, say things that are not true, and use others for their own sexual gratification. If this prototype were true, promiscuity would indeed be wrong, because it would violate familiar moral rules: people are supposed to keep their promises, tell the truth, and not deceive or exploit others (Elliston 146). People who only want to get others in-bed just to have sexual intercourse with the other by lying, deceiving, and exploiting, and similar acts, are wrong. It is wrong because it violates the well-established ethical principles, not promiscuity. The moral fault lies not in noncommittal sex but in the lies, deceptions, and exploitation to which some happens to have recourse in order to have intercourse. This defense is complicated by the fact that a double standard is operative within large segments of society: men are allowed to sow their wild oats, whereas women are denigrated as loose or fallen for the same behaviour. Promiscuity is to the advantage of males and to the disadvantage of femalesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦it becomes exploitive in a more subtle fashion: men receive sexual gratification; women receive social condemnationà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦it is not promiscuity that is wrong, but the double standard that places promiscuous women at a disadvantage in comparison to promiscuous menà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦since promiscuity cannot be shown to be wrong in all cases, the charge that it necessarily violates generally accepted moral principles is false(Elliston 146). The above statements from Elliston are saying that the double standard should be removed, not the promiscuity, because it is the double standard that puts female in a disadvantage situation to promiscuous women. Elliston explains his objections to sex without commitment would threatens personal emotional security and growth by using Bertoccis theory to support his argument. According to Bertocci, premarital sex is wrong by implication against promiscuity which threatens personal emotional security. He argues that the sexual demand outside of marriage demonstrates a lack of self-discipline in people who cannot control their desires, and fails to show respect and consideration for those on who the demand is placed. Such undisciplined and inconsiderate behavior places needless strain on the relationship, threatening to destroy whatever values it embodies (Elliston 147). Elliston explains that Bertoccis perception of incoherent or irrational behaviour is actually a self-conscious refusal to be directed by the western norm and that promiscuous people should not be faulted for failing to regulate their actions according to a principle they reject (Elliston 147). Elliston also agrees that promiscuity entail inconsiderateness only if respect is defined in terms of the western norm is promiscuity necessarily disrespectful Acknowledging the others freedom to engage or not engage in noncommittal sex demonstrates some degree of respect (Elliston 147). Promiscuity threatens the values of the relation (of the committed couples) which depends on what really is considered valuable; it could be pleasure, freedom, and respect which it should not and need not be jeopardized. Bertocci believes that emotional tensions and guilt feelings that arise from violating the taboos against non-marital sex corrode the relation. The act of promiscuity is also considered risk an d challenge to the marriage or the committed relationship. Sex is body language through the form of bodily interaction of two persons that leads to pleasure, but also has more in-depth meanings behind that; according to Elliston, sex is more than thrusts and moans, caresses and sighsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦just as verbal language has a dimension of meaning beyond phonemes and morphemes, so body language has a significance beyond the intertwining of two bodiesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Promiscuity has instrumental value in that it can facilitate the mastery of one kind of body languageà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦sexual body language is learned through sexual interactionà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦experiences enable an individual to develop a repertoire of gestures for communicating desire and affection and of decisive movements that clearly state intentions of love or amusement. People can be moved not only by the things we say but also by the things we do-with them, for them, or to themà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦desire and satisfaction can be communicated not only through verbal exchanges, but also through a lingering look and an appreciative caress. To a shattered ego a physical embrace may express far more reassurance than its verbal counterparts, and a kiss may convey desire more eloquently than pleas or poemsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦The observance of this etiquette is an acknowledgement of the selfhood of the other. The acquisition of it is one of the opportunities promiscuity provides(Elliston 149). Based on Ellistons statements above, promiscuity in the sex as a body language will improve ones language skills through the practices of promiscuity with a variety of sexual acts with a wider range of people outside of marriage or committed-relationships. The point of his analogy between sex and dining are both appetites whose satisfaction is socially regulated (Elliston 150). As married couples would be seen in the views of the society as one man is only allowed to dine with one woman; which is referring that dining with only one person means that in a marriage, both of the couples are (traditionally) only allowed to have sexual intercourse within themselves and no third party is acceptable. Since having sex and dining both satisfies ones appetites and while eating can be accompanied by zero to many people, then masturbation (alone) and sex with more than one person should be allowed with different sex positions or styles. Dining with a variety of menu choices or having sex with more than one person will increase the variety of choice which will also maximize the spice of life; therefore, one will not be bored of the having the same meal or sexual experience through repetition. The results of the above changes of menu or sex partners would guarantee to enhance sex lives physically and mentally (meaningful). This practice of promiscuity has expanded the form of sexual behavior from mere bodily interaction for pleasure to a form of corporeal dialogue (Elliston 150). Elliston made his existential defense of promiscuity by analyzing Heideggers theory to elaborate and explain his argument of authentic sexuality as an existential defense of promiscuity. (150). Authentic sexuality, in Ellistons definition, requires a similar openness to others. Commitments are changes that bind us to some and excludes us from others, blinders that narrow down the field of social praxis to a privileged one (monogamy) or few (friendship (Elliston 150). So to extract a variety of aspect of the human personality involves a wide range of networking and social interaction (in this sense, social means sexual interaction). To maximize healthy sexual development, one needs be open to various erotic aspects of social existence. Furthermore, promiscuity provides this openness through freedom from emotional and sexual commitment (Elliston 151). According to Elliston, having sex with a person first is compulsory before deciding whether to love that person or not; basically, having sex first would be the pre-stage of whether that persons sexual skills or chemistry through sexual intercourse would allow one to decide whether to love this person is feasible or not. Therefore, Elliston agrees that promiscuity would work or should be allowed because one can have sex with many others in order to build a profile of sexual skills and experiences which would increase the harmony of ones sexual gratification in his/her marriage. For example, sex with many others thats not the spouse would increase ones skills and expertise in sexual experience, then one can use such increased knowledge and skills to satisfy his/her beloved spouse to a higher extent; therefore, it would lead to happier sexual experience in the marriage which would also satisfy both spouses sexual desire and increase love affections for one another. Having sex with many others, one will know the ideal person he/she would find compatible to commit with and have sex with love would lead them to a higher degree of satisfaction of not only physically, but also mentally; sex with someone who one loves and with that persons appreciation, understanding and acknowledging ones complete self, one would become more complete and satisfied as a full person. Elliston would think that having sex with someone one hopes to love is ideal because sex with that person with pre-mindset of hoping to love him/her would increase the mental satisfaction; so having sex with that person would actually give one a clearer view of whether to really love that person or not. This is because one has already experienced the most intimate contact, sexual intercourse, with that person and one would recognize the feasibility of loving that person or not in the long run. Recreation sex with an acquaintance, in Ellistons view, would be ideal but so long as both parties have the mutual understanding of whether commitment is included or not. Therefore, recreational sex or any sexual encounter should be allowed as long as the act does not violate the ethical principles; no one is or should be deceived, misinterpreted, or have sex under the commitment of lies. Punzo: Sex before marriage or sex without commitment is wrong in Punzos opinion. Punzo answered the first question of is pre-marital sex without commitment wrong? by using Wilsons theory of sexual intercourse to compare with playing tennis and Chessers theory of two persons engaged in premarital sex has no difference comparing to going to see movies together. Basically both Wilson and Chesser find it normal and nothing morally wrong about premarital sex. Meanwhile, Punzo disagrees with both of them that it is the acquisitive character of our society that has blinded us to the distinction between the two activities (Punzo 118). Going to the movies or playing tennis with many others are general activities that everyone can encounter; it does not necessary have to be the same people that one would engage in sexual activity with. However, sexual intercourse, in Punzos view, must be only between two committed persons; therefore, sex without commitment is wrong. In Punzos argument of existential integrity is explained by his statements below: It is the unchaste person who is separating himself from his sexuality, who is willing to exchange human bodies as one would exchange money for tickets to a baseball game-honestly and with no commitment of self to self. The sexuality of man is seen as an integral part of his subjectivity. Hence, the chaste man rejects depersonalized sexual relations as a reduction of man in his most intimate physical being to the status of an object or pure instrument for another. He will not freely make of himself in his bodily existence a thing to be handed over to anothers possession, nor will he ask hat another treat his own body in this way. The total physical intimacy of sexual intercourse will be an expression of total union with the other self on all levels of their beings. Seen from this perspective, chastity is one aspect of mans attempt to attain existential integrity, to accept his body s a dimension of his total personality(Punzo 119). Punzo agrees that sex involves reveling oneself psychologically to the other in a way that is potentially self-, or life-, altering because commitment is a must before sex. Through sex, two persons give themselves to each other in the aspects of trust, expressing one anothers mind, feelings and affections through the most intimate activity-sexual intercourse. Although, Elliston agrees that sex involves reveling oneself psychologically to the other in a way that is potentially self-, or life- altering (in the future sense), but his theory is within a lesser serious extent; in the early stage, one only gives itself physically to many possible partners, then he/she will find a person that is compatible to commit with and then gives that person all his/her psychological self. Punzos view of Ellistons analogy between sex and dining is a faulty analogy because dining and sex are different in an extreme that it has nothing to connect both as if they are the same in terms of moral and social aspects. Dining can be with any or many others that does not involve sexual intimacy while sex is the most special activity that must be encountered with ones most special person (spouse). Dining (eating) and sex gives people satisfactions, but these satisfactions are totally different; food gives people satisfaction of hunger, while sex gives people a deeper sexual connection of two peoples bonding; this satisfaction occurs to enhance the intimate (romantic) personal relation. Ellistons theory is to have sex with one or many others before love exists, while Punzos theory is to have love or commitment before sexual intercourse. The moral perspectives of both philosophers are totally opposite in this perspective; therefore, Punzo would not agree with Ellistons analogy of s ex and dining because it violates his own philosophy. Evaluation and original position: A defect of Ellistons arguments or views is that the benefits of having sex with a series of persons is actually not only increasing the skills of ones sexual ability, but also diminishing the value of the specialness of the most intimate activity of sexual intercourse. As we all know that having sex with someone (only one person) that we love is the most fantastic feeling of being complete as full persons with the one we love (spouse or beloved one). Engaging in sexual activities with a variety of people and then claiming to be in love with their spouse is not a rational theory; it is also confusing and unreasonable that promiscuity does not damage the committed relationship. It is hard to understand or imagine how one could love a person so much that he/she would still have sex other people? Maybe the excuses would be to increase or maximize the sexual skills or abilities to satisfy ones beloved through outsourcing, but the actual reason is to satisfy ones ego of being better or the best at that activity. If such ego is more important, then sex with anyone would increase ones satisfaction and it doesnt have to be with love. So the value and specialness of having sex the committed one would decrease; since he/she does it with a lot of others, how can one prove that having sex with the spouse is better or more special? Sex without full commitment, one alienates oneself through uncommitted sex; this view may not be completely correct, one can have sex without full commitment but he/she may find out more of oneself-it does not necessarily alienate oneself just because one does not have the full commitment for the other person. A flaw of Punzos statement of full commitment is not clarified; what is full commitment mean? Does full commitment have to be a legal documentation that proves two persons are married or common-law couples are not considered fully committed? Commitment can be personal views; for example, a couple that is only dating but they have the hope to marry each other in the future. Does their engagement of sexual intercourse consider without full commitment? Punzo should clarify his definition of full commitment because different people have different perspective based on the term. Punzos philosophy is more reasonable in that sex must involve commitment at some point. Sex union is not simply a union of organs, but is as intimate and as total a physical union of two selves as is possible of achievement (Punzo 118). When having sex with a person (obviously with commitment), one is definitely giving his/her most intimate expression and feelings that one would not normally show to any other people. Under the conditions of mutual understanding and respect that pre-marital sex is not going to affect each other negatively, but to promote and increase the harmony of the two persons relationship. If pre- marital sex involves the intention of future commitment, such as marriage, it would be ideal. If pre-marital sex is allowed, then protection such as pregnancy control must be involved because unprotected sex is not desirable and it would be considered as a negative impact to the couples. The above arguments rely on the prescription of understanding and respect of both persons; concerns to avoid harms such as to prevent unprotected sex and pregnancy would not destroy the foundation they are building. It also promotes future harmony between those two such as working hard to build their own future or start a family. Other moral principles may be the friends and familys perceptions of how they perceive pre-marital sex; if they think it is morally unacceptable or degrading the traditiona l value of sex, then it may cause pressure and limit the couples activities. Conclusion: In conclusion, both philosophers have their pros and cons. Premarital sex should follow Punzos theory of sex and must involve commitment, but not necessarily full commitment. If full commitment means at the stage of marriage, then engaged couples or ready-to-marry couples are not really under his theory of full commitment. For instance, these committed couples whom engage in the act of sexual intercourse should not be consider immoral. Furthermore, Punzos statement of two persons union is not simply a union of organs, but is as intimate and as total a physical union of two selves as is possible of achievement is true; engaging in sexual intercourse two persons is not only giving one another their physical selves, but also psychological selves. In addition, promiscuity must involve all of the five components and should be permitted only if no one is deceived or hurt as a result of promiscuous acts. Furthermore, it is true that Ellistons argument of double standard, that places disadvantage to promiscuous women, should be removed and not promiscuous. Moreover, promiscuous acts are good practices to increase the sexual skills and ability; it is true that the term of practice makes perfect would suit the act of promiscuity.

The Korean War

Korea, recovering from the Korean war and getting rid of the Japanese colonization since the mid-20th, welcome its social upheaval. This tumultuous change not only is presented in social life but also related to the perspectives and values of the public. For instance, women have wakened up to seek their status in this society and rights to pursue their ideal lives; as the time goes by, the culture-encounter has become a normalcy. On top of that, nothing could better than the film industry to reflect the realistic Korean society in this era via an artistic method. The revolution of the filmmaking also brings an underlying information about the postwar Korea. † Madame Freedom† is a film which resonates with the majorities of women and brings a profound meaning ever since it was released. Besides, the novel arrangement of plots also broaden the eyes of the public and it is worthwhile to refer to. Madame Freedom was released in 1956, it fixated on the life of a woman who married to a university professor. Unlike the heroine in the previous Korean cinema, the main character —Son-Yong is a housewife who has a desire for pursuing her life. Not surprisingly, she has an affair with her boss and meets her neighbor secretly. Not to mention heroin, each female character in this film has their unusual lives. Such as office lady admires her teacher, up-middle class women pursue financial independence and modern girl dating with a foreigner to study English. These various female are epitomes of Korean in mid-20th. As we know, the surrender of Japan represents the ending of the Japanese colonization. However, Korea was controlled by the other power after coming of American one month later. From 1948 until 1992, Korea was in a political chaos and the first republic happened from 1948 to 1960. Under the power of the Lee Sung Man, civil war seems inevitable then. After the Korean War, South Korea kept accepting the financial support from the U.S while there was no conspicuous progress. However, with the contact with the Western world increasing, filmmaking got the underlying influence from the western half-formulated genre of movie and the contentious film â€Å"Madame Freedom† came out. According to the papers of several scholars, the reason why this movie could be one-of-kind is not only its innovational arrangement of plots but also the metaphor of each scenario. All in all, it is the historical background entrusting the elusive meaning to this movie.

Big business affects advertising ethics Essay

It has been clear to us that advertising is the most important tool in the success of a business. Media is one of the biggest or perhaps the biggest factor in influencing people’s lives. Through media, we can convey any information we want using the internet, radio, television and others. It is the most powerful tool of communication these days. Media connects people and it bridges gap and distance. But media not only inform people. Media also influences their way of life. People spend majority of their time with the exposure to media not knowing that they are subliminally dictated and governed by it. In short, our lives today are mostly a product of the influence of media. Advertising ethics is clearly articulated in rules providing guidance to advertisers so that they do not abuse the communicative power to influence consumers. Advertising shall tell the truth, and shall reveal significant facts, the omission of which would mislead the public. Advertising claims shall be substantiated by evidence in possession of the advertiser and advertising agency, prior to making such claims. ?Advertising shall refrain from making false, misleading, or unsubstantiated statements or claims about a competitor or his/her products or services. Advertising shall not offer products or services for sale unless such offer constitutes a bona fide effort to sell the advertising products or services and is not a device to switch consumers to other goods or services, usually higher priced. ?Advertising of guarantees and warranties shall be explicit, with sufficient information to apprise consumers of their principal terms and limitations or, when space or time restrictions preclude such disclosures, the advertisement should clearly reveal where the full text of the guarantee or warranty can be examined before purchase. Advertising shall avoid price claims which are false or misleading, or saving claims which do not offer provable savings. ?Advertising containing testimonials shall be limited to those of competent witnesses who are reflecting a real and honest opinion or experience. Advertising shall be free of statements, illustrations or implications which are offensive to good taste or public decency. *Adopted by the American Advertising Federation Board of Directors, March 2, 1984, San Antonio, Texas. It is also an unquestionable fact that big businesses put large sum of money in advertising for the advancement of their products. In America, in 2003, tobacco companies spent a total of $15. 15 billion or more than $34 million a day to promote, market and advertise their products. This is the most ever reported. This is a significant increase in terms of the expenditures of cigarette companies on advertisement. The Philip Morris in 1999 even launched a new campaign targeting women, particularly minority women, with the slogan â€Å"Find Your Voice† that cost $40 million. This is only one of many facts that companies are willing to spend big amounts for the advertisement of their company and products. Given the willingness of big businesses to put large amount of money for advertisement, this fact slowly degrades advertising ethics. Independent advertising bodies are most likely enticed by the big amount of money that a company is willing to spend. Blinded with money, advertising agencies don’t look at the product to be endorsed itself. They just focus on the amount of money their office will receive. Most agencies don’t care anymore if the product they will advertise really gives benefits to the consumers. They are not after of the truth behind the product’s performance. What is important for them is to be paid and to be paid big time. For some companies that advertise their own products, still, most of them don’t also care for the welfare of their costumers. All they are up to is the profit that can be made through advertising their own product. Some companies even deceive people in their advertisements just to profit big. Indeed, the tempting value of money is very powerful. As we look at the business world today, there are a lot of advertising cases being filed to different companies. Some of these cases are the Italy’s Alitalia Airlines for misleading consumers with an advert on round-trip flight fares showing only the one-way ticket cost, Rexall Sundown Inc. for an alleged false and unsubstantiated claims that its dietary supplement, Cellasene, would reduce or eliminate cellulite and USA Pharmacal Inc. for alleged false and unsubstantiated efficacy and safety claims for weight loss products, â€Å"Fat Sponge in a Pill† and â€Å"Calotrol/MD†, one, â€Å"Meta-Biological† containing ephedra, and for a product for erectile dysfunction, â€Å"Virile V† containing androgen and yohimbe. These cases are only a little picture of the deception in advertising. These cases are only a parcel of a giant reality that eats the advertising world, a reality that no person would dream of but it is there right in front of all of us. Indeed, the advertising ethics in our time is deteriorating. Most advertisements now do not preach truth. Most testimonies regarding any product are scripted. Moreover, many advertisements only corrupt the minds of the people specially the youth and the children. This is due to the fact that money offered by big businesses becomes the criteria of advertising. Consumer welfare has been undermined.

Purchasing The Individual Stock Investment Finance Essay - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 8 Words: 2276 Downloads: 2 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Finance Essay Type Narrative essay Did you like this example? Nowadays, everyone will start investment rather than saving. According to Dan Weil (2011), almost all financial advisers will recommend people have at least some of their money to invest in stock market. For investors who are following that advice, the major question for them was whether investing in mutual funds makes more sense than purchasing in individual stock investment. There is no simple answer for this question. It was depend on the investor; investor can either choose low, medium, or high risk, capital, and return to invest. Also, investor can invest in both mutual funds and individual stocks investment. According to Alexis Tech (2012), mutual funds investments have given great returns to investors over the years and so have stock investments. However, if those investors have not enough knowledge of stock market, then mutual funds might be the right choice for them. Besides, those investors who are interested in the market, but do not have time to manage their investment portfolio themselves should also went to mutual funds. Besides, a mutual fund is an investment vehicle that accepts money from various investors and creates a large pool (Michelle Smith, 2011). Mutual fund is a group investment, it gather money from several investor then only invested in the stock market by fund manager. Furthermore, there are different types of mutual funds, which is high risk high return, medium risk medium return and low risk low return for defensive investors. The investors can decide to choose a fund as per their needs, financial strength and risk taking capability. After that, investors only check for the funds when free, not daily basis and yet get returns on selected period. On the other hand, individual stock investment is for those who are professional in stock market. These kinds of person have technical knowledge of stocks, their charts and can predict the future stock price based on the intensive stock research. Public w as named them stock market trader. Therefore, for those who lack of knowledge or experience of stock market, stock investment can cause a huge capital loss. Also, the types of stock investment was similar with mutual funds, it has high risk high return, medium risk medium return and low risk low return for defensive investors. Investors will decide to choose based on their need or expectation. The only different between stock investors and mutual fund investors was stock investors need to keep a track of the market on daily basis, because the investors are manage the stock by their own. In additional, the investor should educate himself about the way of the mutual fund industry functioning before investing in mutual funds (Alexis Tech, 2012). Investors should do research and find out which mutual fund companies have given consistent returns to investors over a period of time, check the performance of the mutual funds in the times of crisis such as economic recession as well. Otherwise, individual stock investments can give more monetary benefits than mutual funds if done in an organized manner. On the other hand, factors that affects investors choosing mutual fund rather than individual stock investment was risk management, return, time, and capital. According to Joe Light (2011), risk management was one of the main concerns by investor during making decision. The main objective for an investor is to maximize the return and minimize risk. Also, asset allocation and risk management are widely recognized as being the keys successful investing, whether via mutual funds or individual stocks investment. Keeping the investment risk low is the best way to limit losses and maximize returns (Chuck Epstein, 2011). Mutual funds can lower the investors risk through professional managing group or funds manager. According to Certified Financial Planner (CFP), mutual funds are managed and supervised by investment professionals. As per the stated objectives set forth in the prospectus, along with prevailing market conditions and other factors, the mutual fund manager will decide when to buy or sell securities. This will eliminate the investor of difficult task of trying to time the market. Compare to individual stock investment, Lindsey Gardner (2008) has shown that the risk of stock investment was higher than mutual funds. The value of the stock was highly depended on the financial capability of the shares issued company. Once the company went into bankrupt, the share price will fall sharply; the shareholders will lose their money. Also, the general status of country economic wills determines how a company fares in the stock market. In other word, the stock price will go down during the recession period of economic. Therefore, the risk of individual stock investment was higher than mutual funds based on the literature review. Furthermore, Austin Pryor (2008) has shown that mutual funds could reduce risk through diversificatio n. Diversification involves the mixing of investments within a portfolio and is used to manage risk. For example, choosing to buy stocks in the retail sector and offsetting them with stocks in the industrial sector, the investors can reduce the impact of the performance of any one security on their entire portfolio. In order to achieve diversified portfolio, investor may invest widely such as invest in stock and bond or securities at the same time. Mutual funds typically hold from 50 to 500 stocks in their portfolio. Therefore, any loss caused by the unexpected collapse of any one stock will have only a relatively minor effect on the pool as a whole. On the other hand, according to Dan Weil (2011), if an investor wants to achieve diversification through individual stocks, the investor at least has to invest 20 different stocks. Also, the risk will increase through invest in many stocks; because the investor has to manage 20 different risks from different stocks, it was not the objective for diversification. Based on their survey, mutual fund was safety than individual stock investment through diversification. The second factor was return. Investment return was means the profit gain from the investment. The first concern of an investor was the return from investment, so return will be the factor to affect investor decision making. When investors decide to make an investment, they will evaluate the expected return from those investments before investing, and then only evaluate other factor such as level of risk. The return from mutual funds was not as high as individual stock investment, because mutual funds mostly invest in medium risk or low risk stock market. It has very low percentage to invest in high risk stock market (Alexis Tech, 2012). A good mutual fund can gain returns in the range of 15 to 25 percent on a yearly basis to investors. Compare to individual stock investment, Disqus (2012) has shown that individual stock investment has p otential for delivering very large gains. Annual return-on-investment (ROI) of over 100% has occurred on a somewhat regular basis. According to Maggie OHoulihan (2012), common stocks have no limit for return, because the stock may growth for long time, which is means that the investor can gain for no limit. The following factor was time. In finance, time was divided into three types, which is short-term, medium-term, and long-term. Short-term was referring to any investment or financial plan within one year. Medium-term or call intermediate-term is referring to a plan with a term longer than short-term but shorter than long-term. The exact length varies according to the usage; it could be few weeks of few years. Long term was referring to a plan with a term of longer than one year. The exact number of year varies according to the usage. Time is very important for investors because time will help investors in their investment planning, such as choosing suitable investment pr oduct, monitoring the performance and the most importantly was monitoring the risk. One of the advantages of mutual fund was time flexible. Time flexible was means the investor can choose the time for investment period. As this report mention before, time for investor was very important, some of the investors like to invest in short-term, some like medium-term and long-term as well. Mutual funds investors can choose any period based on their need. Besides, the mutual fund investor can reduce the time to monitoring the status of the fund due to the professional management. However, individual stock investor has to spend time to monitoring the performance of stock, therefore stock investment was consume more time than mutual funds. The final factor was capital. Capital was another main concern of investor. The meaning of capital is means the money of investor spends for investment. Investor will choose those investment product bases on their capital, because capital is the mo ney they willing to spend for investment. According to Bryan Lorin Sudweeks (2011), mutual funds will minimal transaction costs. Mutual funds offer the advantage of economic scale in purchase or sale, because the transaction of mutual funds was large. Economic scale refers to the fact that mutual funds cost may decrease as the assets size of mutual funds increased. Brokers may lower the fees try to get more of the mutual funds business. Furthermore, mutual fund can eliminate the cost of an investor would incur when doing research of securities. The cost of managing numerous securities is dispersed among all the investors according to the amount of shares they own. In other word, the fund managers have more money to research more securities. Transaction cost is a cost incurred in making an economic exchange. For example, when people purchasing or selling a stock, must pay a commission to the stock broker, that commission is a transaction cost of doing stock deal. In order wo rd, transaction cost was a part of the investment fees. Based on this point, the researcher realize that mutual fund will reduce the investment fees, which means the investor can spend more to invest and pay lesser fee. Besides, investors can sell their shares and collect money from open-ended funds, which is a fund that can create and redeem shares on demand usually within two business days. If the open-ended fund was no-load funds, investors are not require to pay transaction costs when they buy or redeem shares (Bryan Lorin Sudweeks, 2011). Also, according to Austin Pryor (2008), mutual fund shares can be purchased in such small amounts, so its easy to get started. Investing in mutual funds usually does not require a large sum of money, because mutual funds is not like stock market, it is like a pool and investors put money inside the pool then only invested by professional. Most fund organizations do have minimum amounts needed to open an account, but minimums are often dramatically lower for Individual retirement account (IRAs) and for automatic deposit accounts where an account those investors agree to make regular monthly deposits to build their account. However, according to DF (2010), stock investment has attached with brokerage commission fee. Every transaction of stock investment order executed costs some money. It makes the purchasing or selling the stock become prohibitively expensive and even reduces the profit from investment. Based on the research, the capital involved in stock investment was higher than mutual funds, which is means the cost for individual stock investment was more expensive than mutual fund investment. On the other hand, there are some models or theories will be used in this study. The first was Modern Portfolio Theory (MPT). MPT was developed by Edwin J Elton and Martin J Gruber at 1995, and they are from New York University. MPT was a theory of finance which attempts to maximize portfolio expected return fo r a given amount of portfolio risk, or minimize the risk for a given level of expected return by choosing the proportion of various assets. MPT was a mathematical formulation of the concept of diversification in investing, which means MPT was selecting a collection of investment assets that had collectively lower risk than individual investment. According to Edwin J Elton and Martin J Gruber (1995), MPT models an assets return as a normally distributed function, defines risk as the standard deviation of return, and models a portfolio as a weighted combination of assets. The fundamental concept of MPT was the assets in an investment portfolio should not be selected individually, each of their own merits. For given amount of risk, MPT describe how to select a portfolio with highest possible expected return. Or given the amount of return, MPT describe how to select a portfolio with lowest possible risk. Therefore, MPT was a form of diversification, and explain how to find the best possible diversification strategy. The optimal portfolio concept was under Modern Portfolio Theory. It was used in 1952 by Harry Markowitz, and it shown us that are possible for different portfolio to have varying levels of risk and return. According to Harry Markowitz (1952), the theory was assume that the investors try to minimize risk when acquire higher return possible. It states that investor will act rationally, always making decision aimed at maximizing their return for their acceptable level of risk. Besides, optimal portfolio concept was to remind the investor must decide how much risk they can handle and then allocate their portfolio according to it. Furthermore, the study were applied risk and return tradeoff concept. Risk and return tradeoff is the balance between the desire for the lowest possible risk and the higher possible return. A common misconception is that high risk equal to high return. The risk and return tradeoff concept has shown that the higher risk has provide the possibility of higher returns, no guarantees. Just as risk means higher potential returns, it also means for higher losses. Finally, the previous research has provided evidence and the result that meet the objective of the study. However, there are some weakness exist in the previous research. Therefore, the researcher will continue the study to solve the weakness that appears in the previous research. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Purchasing The Individual Stock Investment Finance Essay" essay for you Create order