My Top Mutual Funds For 2009
Keeping a solid investment Mutual Fund portfolio can be very hard work. Now throw in today’s troubling times and you have all you can do to stay in the green.
With thousands of Mutual Funds to choose from, how can you tell which ones are the best?
Today I am going to give you some of my top selections for 2009 in the Mutual Fund area. These funds will boost your portfolio and enhance your retirement. You age group and risk tolerance will play into what you choose but these are a few funds that I think should be a mix in everyone portfolio.
1. First of all Income-Dividends. One of the parts of my selection process was to find mutual funds with cash flow, either through dividends or bond interest. In this area I love BJBHX Artio Global High Income. This fund is run by Greg Hopper and he has been at the helm since 2002. The minimum investment to open this fund is $1,000. With a juicy 11.75% dividend yield this is my top pick in this area. The fund normally invests at least 80% of net assets in a diversified portfolio of high income producing instruments of issuers located throughout the world, including in emerging-market countries. It invests at least 60% of net assets in U.S. dollar-denominated securities. The fund invests in fixed-income securities, bank loans, debt instruments convertible into common stock, preferred stock, income trusts, structured notes and swaps. Through dividends you can know that you will have an income of the yield percentage no matter what the market as a whole is doing.
2. This should be a larger percentage of your overall portfolio Long Term Performance Large Growth. Almost any one stock or mutual fund can perform really well over one or two years by luck, but it takes true skill to manage a portfolio that has good returns over a five & ten year period. In this area I love NMYCX Columbia Marsico 21st Century Fund. This fund is managed by Corydon Gilchrist and he has been running the show since 2003. The minimum investment in this fund to get started is $2,500. I like this fund because Cory always seems to beat the market on the up days and loses less on the down days. Now everyone got destroyed during 2008 but an example would be Friday’s prices. The Dow was up 2.70%, the Nasdaq was up 2.94% and the S&P was up 2.69%. As you can see NMYCX was up 3.41% beating all indices. The fund is an aggressive growth fund that invests in equity securities of companies of any capitalization size. It generally holds a core position of between 35 and 50 common stocks. The fund may invest without limit in foreign securities, including in emerging-markets securities.
3. A favorite name of mine in the Mid Cap Growth area is HDPMX Hodges Fund. As with NMYCX the Hodges Fund does a great job of out performing the market on up days. Going by the Friday numbers posted above the Hodges Fund was up 3.91% beating the market by 1%. The fund is managed by Donald Hodges since 1992. The fund primarily invests in common stocks of domestic companies of any market capitalization, from larger well-established companies to smaller, emerging growth companies. It may invest 25% of net assets in short-sale transactions.
4. Next is Inflation Protection, As you know the Government is printing money at a break neck pace (Trillions) and as history has shown 100% of the time inflation was the result down the road. A fund I like for a small part of your portfolio is VIPSX Vanguard Inflation Protected Secs. The man at the helm here is Kenneth Volpert and he has been in charge since 2000. To get started in this fund you will need a minimum of $3,000. The fund invests at least 80% of assets in inflation-indexed bonds issued by the U.S. government. It may invest in bonds of any maturity, though the fund typically maintains a dollar-weighted average maturity of seven to 20 years.
5. Finally Small Cap Growth also needs to be part of your portfolio. In this area I like RYVPX The Royce Value Fund. This fund is managed by W Whitney George since 2001. The minimum to get you started here is $2,000. The fund normally invests at least 80% of assets in equities securities of small-, mid-, and micro-cap companies. It may invest up to 25% of assets in the securities of foreign issuers that it believes are trading significantly below its estimate of their current worth.
As with any investment be sure you do your due diligence. Getting yourself into this kind of diversity is what you need in volatile markets such as those I see continuing in 2009.
Good Luck and as always good investing