Templeton Global Bond Fund (TPINX)

Templeton Global Bond Fund (TPINX) Fund is a popular fixed income mutual fund. This Franklin Templeton fund invests in government and corporate bonds.

Franklin Templeton is among the top fund family in the US. One of the best taxable bond funds is Templeton Global Bond A fund. This fund has performed consistently for the past 24 years. The following is the fund's review.

Templeton Global Bond A (Ticker: TPINX)

The Templeton Global Bond fund seeks current income with capital appreciation and growth of income. The fund normally invests at least 80% of net assets in bonds including debt securities of any maturity, such as bonds, notes, bills and debentures. It may invest <25% of total assets in bonds that are issues rated in the top of four rating categories by independent rating agencies such as S&P or Moody’s Investors Service or, if unrated, determined by the fund’s investment manager to be comparable. This Templeton Global Bond fund is non-diversified.

TPINX Fund Details

• Fund Inception Date: September 1986
• Ticker Symbol: TPINX
• CUSIP: 880208103
• Beta (3yr): 0.79
• Rank in category (YTD): 32
• Category: World Bond
• Yield: 2.16%
• Expense Ratio: 0.90%
• Sales Load: 4.25%
• Capital Gains: N/A
• Number of Years Up: 21 years
• Number of Years Down: 3 years
• Average Duration: 0.28 years
• Average Maturity: 3.80 years

Updated May 2017

Top Performer Real Estate Closed End Funds July 2011

Real Estate investment can be done in two different ways such as direct real estate investment and indirect real estate investment. Individual can buy a residential house or investment property directly for this real estate investing. The other way is by investing in REIT mutual fund.

REIT or Real Estate Investment Trust is a publicly-traded company that owns and operates income-producing commercial real estate, such as offices, apartments or residential, shopping centers, hotels or motel and warehouses or storage. REITs and funds that invest in them typically are designed to provide attractive, growing dividends or yields based on rents or consistent income received from the real estate investments. REIT performance is linked to the performance of the commercial real estate market. Property values and rents may fall due to economic, legal, or cultural developments.

Intro about CEF or Closed End Funds

More details about CEF can be found on my previous article. CEF can be very attractive hence:

Top Performer REIT CEF 2011

• Closed End Funds are traded like stocks in stock exchange such as NYSE, Nasdaq, AMEX, etc
• CEF can be traded on deep discount from its Net Asset Value (NAV)
• It consists of variety of REIT stocks either domestic REITs or international REITs

The 10 Top Performer Real Estate Closed End Funds July 2011 are:

1. Cohen & Steers REIT & Preferred
2. Cohen & Steers Quality Income Realty
3. Nuveen Real Estate Income
4. RMR Real Estate Income Fund
5. ING Clarion Global Real Estate
6. Neuberger Berman Real Estate Securities
7. Nuveen Diversified Dividend & Income
8. LMP Real Estate Income
9. Alpine Global Premier Property
10. RMR Asia Pacific Real Estate

Vanguard PRIMECAP Fund (VPMCX)

As the most popular fund family, Vanguard also offers variety of actively managed mutual fund. One of the best US domestic stock funds is Vanguard PRIMECAP fund. This fund has a very good long track record. Details about the fund's review is below.

Vanguard PRIMECAP Inv (VPMCX)

The Vanguard PRIMECAP fund objective is to seek long-term appreciation of capital. This Vanguard fund invests in stocks considered to have above-average earnings growth potential that is not reflected in their current market prices. Its portfolio consists predominantly of mid- and large-capitalization stocks.

Vanguard PRIMECAP fund details

VPMCX Fund Details

• Fund Inception Date: November 1984
• Ticker Symbol: VPMCX (Investor Class)
• CUSIP: 921936100
• Beta (3yr): 0.98
• Rank in category (YTD): 31
• Category: Large Growth
• Type: Large Cap Stock Fund
• Yield: 0.86%
• Capital Gains: N/A
• Expense Ratio: 0.45%
• Sales Load: 0%
• Net Assets: $32.42 billion
• Number of Years Up: 21 years
• Number of Years Down: 5 years

updated on 7/5/2011

TCW Total Return Bond Fund (TGLMX)

TCW Total Return Bond Fund (TGLMX) is one of the best fixed income mutual funds. This taxable bond fund objective is to provide total return with income. The fund review can be found in this post.

TCW Total Return Bond I (Ticker: TGLMX)

The TCW Total Return Bond fund is seeking to maximize current income and achieve above average total return consistent with prudent investment management over a full market cycle. This TCW fund invests >80% of net assets in debt obligations. It invests mostly in mortgage-backed securities of any maturity or type guaranteed by, or secured by collateral that is guaranteed by, the United States Government, its agencies, sponsored corporations, and in privately issued mortgage-backed securities rated Aa or higher by any nationally recognized statistical organization.

TGLMX Fund Details

• Fund Inception Date: June 1993

  

  TGLMX fund details

  
  

• Ticker Symbol: TGLMX (Institutional Class)
• CUSIP: 87234N880
• Beta (3yr): 0.42
• Rank in category (YTD): 50
• Category: Intermediate-Term Bond
• Distribution: 7.13%
• Capital Gains: N/A 
• Number of Years Up: 15 years
• Number of Years Down: 2 years
• Average Duration: 3.8 years
• Average Maturity: 7.4 years

updated on 7/2/2011

BlackRock Equity Dividend A Fund (MDDVX)

Value investing has been preached by various investors such as Warren Buffet, Ben Graham. One of the best large value domestic stock funds is BlackRock Equity Dividend. This BlackRock fund is also rated 4 stars. Please find the following fund's review.

BlackRock Equity Dividend Inv A (Ticker: MDDVX)

The BlackRock Equity Dividend investment seeks long term total return and current income. This BlackRock fund invests most of assets in a portfolio of equity securities. It typically invests >80% of assets in equity securities and >80% of assets in dividend paying securities. This MDDVX fund may invest in securities of companies with any market capitalization, but will generally focus on large cap securities. It may invest some of total assets (<25%) in securities of foreign issuers. The fund may invest in securities denominated in both U.S. dollars and non-U.S. dollar currencies. It may also invest in convertible bonds and non-convertible preferred stock.

MDDVX Fund Details

BlackRock MDDVX fund details

• Fund Inception Date: October 1994
• Ticker Symbol: MDDVX (Investor A Class)
• CUSIP: 09251M108
• Beta (3yr): 0.88
• Rank in category (YTD): 34
• Category: Large Value
• Distribution: 1.73%
• Sales Load: 5.25%
• Expense Ratio: 1.04%
• Morningstar Rating: 4
• Capital Gains: N/A
• Number of Years Up: 13 years
• Number of Years Down: 3 years

updated on 6/28/2011

Baron Growth Retail Fund (BGRFX)

This next fund has been one of the good performing fund for the past few years. As part of growth stock fund, Baron Growth fund is among the top rated US domestic stock fund. Details review can be found below.

Baron Growth Retail (Ticker: BGRFX)

The Baron Growth fund seeks capital appreciation. This Baron fund invests for the long term mainly in equity securities in the form of common stock of small-sized growth companies with market capitalizations of under $2.5 billion at the time of purchase selected for their capital appreciation potential. It purchases securities in businesses that BAMCO Inc believes could double in value in four or five years, and then hopefully, double again in the next four or five years.

Baron Growth Fund characteristics

BGRFX Fund Details

• Fund Inception Date: December 1994
• Ticker Symbol: BGRFX
• CUSIP: 068278209
• Beta (3yr): 1.04
• Rank in category (YTD): 52
• Category: Mid-Cap Growth
• Distribution: 0.0%
• Net Assets: $6.9 billion
• Sales Load: 0%
• Expense ratio: 1.32%
• Capital Gains: N/A
• Number of Years Up: 13 years
• Number of Years Down: 3 years

Updated on June 24th, 2011

PIMCO Investment Grade Corporate Bond A Fund (PBDAX)

This next fund is another PIMCO fund with the highest Morningstar rating. This fund is also part of bond fund. As described before, bond fund can be classified into variety of sectors such as corporate bond, government bond, global bond, emerging markets bond, US Treasury, municipal bond, foreign bond, high yield bond, bank loan, etc. These bond funds also have various type of duration ranging from short term to long term. The following PIMCO Investment Grade Corporate Bond fund will focus its asset by investing in investment grade corporate bond with 3-7 years average duration. Details can be found below.

PIMCO Investment Grade Corporate Bond A (PBDAX)

PIMCO PBDAX fund characteristics

The PIMCO Investment Grade Corporate Bond fund investment objective is to seek maximum total return consistent with capital preservation and prudent investment management. The fund typicall invests majority of assets (>80%) in a diversified portfolio of investment-grade corporate fixed-income securities of varying maturities.

This PBDAX fund invests may invest some of its total assets (<15%) in high-yield securities or non investment grade bonds (i.e. junk bonds). In addition, this fund may invest up to 30% of total assets in foreign currencies securities, and may invest beyond this limit in U.S. dollar-denominated securities of foreign issuers.