Fixed-income mutual funds are the funds for bond investing. If you are planning to invest your money without any risk, this can be a very attractive option for you. The risk levels are very low. Professional management and automatic diversification are some of the other important benefits of these types of funds. However, before you start investing in the same, it is always worth educating yourself about the various aspects associated with it.  

Why Should One Invest In These Funds?
There are several reasons why you may like to invest your money in fixed-income mutual funds. For example, it can help you improve your current income without any risk or uncertainty. You get peace of mind, as it ensures safety for your money. There's no fear of losing anything. Another reason why you may consider investing in these funds is that it can provide diversification from stocks. Besides that, your investment gets broad exposure to bonds without requiring you to buy the bonds yourself. 

Does It Really Provide Fixed Income? 
There is a common misconception about fixed-income mutual funds that they provide fixed income, which is not true. The term "fixed-income" means that you are actually investing in "fixed-income" securities. These Individual securities offer a certain amount of income, but when we talk about mutual funds that can have different securities in different times, it cannot be a fixed return. The pool of securities that these funds consist of may not be static all the time. 

Advantages
There can be several advantages of investing in fixed-income mutual funds. In this kind of investment, you don't have to purchase bonds directly. As comp0ared to investing in stocks, investment in bonds can be a very complicated process. The bond market is very different from the stock market. If you are a retail-level investor, you will be able to make trades in bonds only through a brokerage bond desk. However, there are no such complications when you invest in fixed income funds.

Risk Level    
The risk level in these kinds of mutual funds is very low as compared to others, but it is not a "no-risk" investment. There can be several types of bonds and some of them might be very risky.

There are different types of fixed-income mutual funds. The categorization is basically done on the basis of the types of bonds they consist of. Most of these funds deal in either issuer or rating. However, if you do a thorough search, you can find many blend funds as well. In general, some of the options available to you is to invest in international or foreign funds, US funds, government-bond funds (U.S. and municipal), high-rated (low yield bond) funds, and high-yield (junk bond) funds.