to taxable Treasuries or corporate bonds. “Municipal bonds usually make sense for almost any investor who is in a 28% federal tax bracket or higher, because they offer a higher after-tax yield than Treasury bonds,” says Louis Stanasolovich, a financial planner in Pittsburgh. “Recently, municipal bonds offered yields that were 93% of those on 30-year Treasury bonds.” That is, if Treasuries are yielding 6.5%, which might translate to a 4.5% after-tax return, you’d be better off earning 6% with tax-exempt municipal bonds.
To help you round out your portfolio, we’ve included top long-term bond funds (taxable and tax-exempt) on the accompanying honor roll, as well as balanced funds (hybrids) that include both bonds and stocks. Don’t get carried away with bond funds, though. The bull market that has stampeded through the 1980s and 1990s shows no signs of ending, so you’ll need a healthy portion of stock funds to keep your portfolio headed in the right direction-up.
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B.E.’s TOP MUTUAL FUND PERFORMERS |
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AVG. ANNUALIZED TOTAL RETURN |
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FUND NAME |
TICKER |
1-YEAR TOTAL RETURN |
3-YEAR |
5-YEAR |
PHONE |
MIN. INIT INVEST. |
ASSETS (in millions) |
| Large Growth | |||||||
| ProFunds UltraOTC Inv | UOPIX | 233.25% | N/A% | N/A% | 888-776-3637 |
$15,000 |
$337.45 |
| Berkshire Focus | BFOCX | 142.90 | N/A | N/A | 877-526-0707 |
5,000 |
13.00 |
| Reserve Informed Investors Growth R | RIGAX | 129.86 | 51.43 | 35.61 | 800-637-1700 |
1,000 |
4.72 |
| Potomac OTC Plus | POTCX | 129.41 | N/A | N/A | 800-851-0511 |
10,000 |
74.54 |
| IPS Millennium | IPSMX | 118.80 | 55.05 | N/A | 800-232-9142 |
1,000 |
61.65 |
| Mid-Cap Growth | |||||||
| Nevis Fund | NEVIX | 286.53 | N/A | N/A | 877-446-3847 |
10,000 |
31.33 |
| Strong Enterprise | SENTX | 187.84 | N/A | N/A | 800-368-1030 |
2,500 |
110.28 |
| IPS New Fr ontier |
IPSFX | 182.09 | N/A | N/A | 800-232-9142 |
1,000 |
2.50 |
| PBHG Select Equity | PBHEX | 164.68 | 49.86 | N/A | 800-433-0051 |
2,500 |
196.36 |
| Berger Mid Cap Growth | BEMGX | 151.46 | N/A | N/A | 800-333-1001 |
2,000 |
25.45 |
| Small Growth | |||||||
| Van Wagoner Post-Venture | VWPVX | 237.22 | 59.71 | N/A | 800-228-2121 |
1,000 |
128.50 |
| BlackRock Micro-Cap Equity Class A | BMEAX | 220.64 | N/A | N/A | 888-825-2257 |
5,000 |
.69 |
| Van Wagoner Micro-Cap | VWMCX | 207.88 | 40.85 | N/A | 800-228-2121 |
1,000*** |
139.81 |
| RS Emerging Growth | RSEGX | 182.51 | 62.45 | 44.36 | 800-766-3863 |
5,000 |
1,388.29 |
| RS Diversified Growth |
ACROSS THE WEB
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