Regulated Investment Company - RIC

Whales, dingoes, antelope, flying squirrels, aardvarks, and woolly mammoths...these may seem like very different creatures, but they all fall under one category in animal taxonomy: they're all mammals.

The term "mammal" represents a general term covering myriad beasts, some of which share only a slight external resemblence. Similarly, a regulated investment company is an umbrella term that includes a lot of popular investment vehicles. Mutual funds, ETFs, REITS, etc. can all fall under the title of RIC.

The underlying similarity comes from an IRS distinction. Tax authorities have approved the setup to pass through taxes to individual investors. The taxes aren't paid at the corporate level. The dividends, capital gains, and interest earned all get passed through to the investors, who then pay taxes on an individual basis.