A collective investment scheme pools money from many people and buys one portfolio with it. You own units in the pool rather than any particular asset in it.

One approved scheme usually holds several funds. "CIC Unit Trust Scheme" is a single entry on the register and contains a money market fund, a balanced fund and others besides — which is why the register's count of schemes is much smaller than the number of funds you can actually buy.

The money market fund is the one most people mean. It lends short-term to banks and the government and pays out the interest, and it is the closest thing in Kenya to a savings account that pays a real rate.

Apply to the fund manager directly — most now onboard online with an ID, a KRA PIN and a selfie — or through a bank or an app with an intermediary licence. Minimums are commonly a few thousand shillings and sometimes less.

Money goes to the scheme's own account at its custodian bank, never to an individual. A fund that asks you to pay a personal number is not a fund.

You can usually withdraw in two to four working days. There is no penalty and no notice on a money market fund, which is most of why people use one.

Real, published, and the most comparable number in Kenyan retail investing — once you have fixed the two things that make published rates disagree. A quoted rate may be a daily yield annualised or an effective annual rate, and it may be before or after the 15% withholding tax. Two funds quoting the same number can be paying different money.

That is exactly what Ipahco's comparison normalises: every rate on it is stated on one after-tax basis with the date it was true.