Mutual funds, Nov. 14 -- Early investors often fiddle with different investment options. Some prefer to invest in stocks, whereas others opt for mutual funds. For the uninitiated, there are two broad categories of mutual funds based on the route of investing: regular mutual funds and direct mutual funds.

While regular mutual funds are typically the ones that you buy through a mutual fund distributor, direct mutual funds refer to those that can be bought directly through a digital platform such as Groww or Zerodha (Coin).

It is the same mutual fund scheme that you invest in, but the route you use to invest determines whether the fund is regular or direct.

It is advantageous to invest in a direct mutual fund because it carries a lower ex...