Bruce Fund (BRUFX)

Bruce fund (BRUFX) is among the top performer and best rated moderate allocation balanced fund. It invests in bonds and stocks. You may find the fund review below.

Bruce Fund (MUTF: BRUFX)

The Bruce fund objective is to achieve long-term capital appreciation. The fund invests primarily in domestic common stocks and bonds, including convertible bonds and zero coupon treasury government bonds. This Bruce fund invests in domestic common stocks of any capitalization where the overriding strategy is long-term capital appreciation. It may also invest in foreign securities.

Rated forth in the best funds of Forbes list, this Bruce fund has been managed by Robert B. Bruce since its inception in October 1983. He has been president of Bruce & Company since 1974. This moderate allocation balanced fund is categorized in Moderate Allocation category. The fund has no management fee and no front-end sales load fee.

Bruce fund details

The minimum balance needed to open a brokerage account in this fund is $1,000 with $500 minimum subsequent investment. For retirement (IRA) account or tax deferred account, please check with your account administrator. According to the fund’s website, this fund is currently not available for sale in Nebraska or Texas.  For 2011 year-to-date, this BRUFX fund has returned 9.49%. This 5 stars rated fund has returned 23.93% over the past year, and 17.19% over the past decade. There is no other class available for this best rated fund.

The top holdings of this balanced mutual fund as of June 2011 represent 35.34% of the total portfolio. The assets allocation of BRUFX fund is 40.33% in Stock, 25.73% in Bond, 16.95% in Cash and 16.99% in Other. The top sectors of Bruce Fund are Healthcare (17.14%), Consumer Cyclical (14.94%), Industrials (13.32%), Technology (12.22%) and Utilities (11.92%).

Disclosure: No Position

If you are interested in balanced fund, please check my previous articles.

• Oakmark Equity & Income I
• Top Performer Moderate Allocation Balanced Mutual Funds May 2011: Pt 1

Top Performing Exchange Traded Funds Oct 2011 During 3rd Quarter

Exchange Traded Funds are another popular investment fund vehicle. The following is the top performing ETFs for the past third quarter. The top performer funds include iShares Barclays 20+ Year Treasury Bond, PIMCO 25+ Yr Zero Coupon U.S. Treasury Index ETF, Vanguard Extended Duration Treasuries Index ETF.

The funds are sorted based on its past quarter performance. I also included some details about the fund on the next table. More review can be found below. None of these funds is part of leverage ETF.

The 10 Top Performing ETF Exchange Traded Funds October 2011 (past quarter) are:

1. iShares Barclays 20+ Year Treasury Bond
2. PIMCO 25+ Yr Zero Coupon U.S. Treasury Index ETF
3. Vanguard Extended Duration Treasuries Index ETF
4. PIMCO 15+ Year US TIPS Index ETF
5. SPDR Barclays Capital Long Term Treasury
6. Vanguard Long-Term Government Bond Index ETF
7. iShares Barclays 7-10 Year Treasury
8. iShares Barclays 10-20 Year Treasury Bond
9. PowerShares 1-30 Laddered Treasury
10. PIMCO 7-15 Year U.S. Treasury Index ETF

updated on 10/1/2011

CGM Focus Fund (CGMFX)

As part of Forbes best fund, CGM Focus has outperformed many funds over the long term period. While it has been lagging its peers for the past 3 years, it is still one of the choice by investor to diversify his/her portfolio. The following is details CGM Focus fund review.

CGM Focus (MUTF: CGMFX)

CGM Focus fund details

The CGM Focus fund is seeking long-term growth of capital. This fund normally invests in the stock of between 20-100 companies at any one time. It may invest in companies of any size, but primarily invests in companies with market capitalizations of more than $5 billion. The fund may also invest in debt and fixed income securities (investment grade & non-investment grade or junk bonds).

G. Kenneth Heebner is the fund's manager since September 1997. This CGM fund has $2.58 billion net assets. The annual expense ratio is 1.03%. Morningstar has rated this fund with 2-stars rating. It has 1.29% beta for over the last three years. The annual holdings turnover of this rate is quite high (363.0%) compared to the average in Large Growth category which is 87.49%. This CGMFX is a no load fund, there is no 12b1 fee and no sales load fee as well.

American Century CA Intermediate Term Tax-Free Bond Fund BCITX

California is one of the largest states in USA. It also contributes significantly to total GDP of United States of America. To invest in California, you can do so in variety of ways. One of the safest ways is investing in California Muni bond mutual fund. One of the best California muni bond fund review is listed below. If you are interested in other best mutual fund, please check MEPB Financial. Single state muni bond fund can be more volatile than national muni bond fund. The following is the top national muni bond funds:

• Fidelity Intermediate Municipal Income
• AllianceBernstein Diversified Municipal

American Century California Intermediate-Term Tax-Free Bond Fund (Ticker: BCITX)

The American Century California Intermediate-Term Tax-Free Bond fund’s objective is to achieve safety of principal and high current income that is exempt from federal and California income taxes. The fund invests >80% of assets in investment-grade debt securities with interest payments exempt from federal and California income taxes. This Municipal bond fund may also invest <20% of assets in below investment-grade securities. The fund’s weighted average maturity is about three years to ten years. However, there is no maturity limit on individual securities.

BCITX fund details

Fund Details

• Fund Inception Date: November 9. 1983
• Ticker Symbol: BCITX (Investor Class)
• CUSIP: 025075508
• Beta (3yr): 0.87
• Rank in category (YTD): 8
• Category: Muni California Intermediate
• Distribution Yield: 3.54%
• Net Assets: $ 826.33 million
• Sales Load: 0.0%
• Expense Ratio: 0.48%
• Capital Gains: N/A
• Number of Years Up: 24 years
• Number of Years Down: 3 years
• Average Duration: 5.11 years

Updated on 10/1/2011

Royce International Smaller-Companies RYGSX Service Class Fund

Another alternative investment strategy is investing in small /mid cap international stock fund. As we know, international stock funds don’t have a straight correlation to domestic stock funds. These international stock funds also have outperformed some of the domestic stock funds. These funds can also be useful for portfolio diversification. One of the best rated international stock funds is listed below. More of top fund review can be found in my MEPB Financial website.

Royce International Smaller-Companies Service Class (MUTF: RYGSX)

The Royce International Smaller-Companies fund’s objective is to seek long-term growth of capital. The fund invests >80% of assets in the equity securities of companies with market capitalizations up to $5 billion at the time of investment. The fund also typically invests majority of assets (>65%) in the equity securities of international companies domiciled in >3 different countries. The fund invests <35% of assets in the securities of companies domiciled in developing countries. Generally, developing countries include every country in the world other than the United States, Japan, Western European countries, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, etc.

RYGSX Fund Details

Royce International Smaller Companies

• Fund Inception Date: June 30, 2008
• Ticker Symbol: RYGSX (Service Class)
• CUSIP: 780905139
• Beta (3yr): 0.96
• Rank in category (YTD): 76
• Category: Foreign Small/ Mid Value
• Distribution: 0.75%
• Net Assets: $ 22.01 million
• Sales Load: 0%
• Expense Ratio: 1.69%
• Capital Gains: N/A
• Number of Years Up: 2 years
• Number of Years Down: 0 years

Updated on 10/1/2011

Top 25 Balanced Mutual Funds of Sep 2011 for past 3 months

The following is about the 25 top performing balanced mutual funds September 2011. The top performers include PIMCO Real Income 2029 A, Invesco Balanced-Risk Retire 2050 A, Federated Market Opportunity A, Hussman Strategic Total Return and more.

Volatility for the past 3 month has reminded us (i.e. investor) to remember to diversify our portfolio allocation. One of the easiest ways is to use balanced funds. Balanced funds or hybrid funds invest in equity and bond. Depending on their objective, these balanced mutual funds can allocate their asset accordingly. With European monetary crisis, this fund has relatively outperformed other classes of mutual funds, especially stock funds or equity funds.

For a refresh, there are several balanced funds. They can be classified as: Aggressive allocation balanced funds, conservative allocation balanced funds, moderate allocation balanced funds, world allocation balanced funds, retirement income funds, and target date balanced funds (Target date 2000-2010, target date 2021-2025, etc).

The 25 Top Performer Balanced Mutual Funds September 2011 for the past 3 month are:

Top Performer Balanced Funds 2011

1. PIMCO Real Income 2029 A (POIAX)
2. Invesco Balanced Risk Retire 2050 A (TNEAX)
3. Invesco Balanced-Risk Allocation A (ABRZX)
4. Invesco Balanced-Risk Retire 2030 A (TNAAX)
5. Invesco Balanced-Risk Retire 2020 A (AFTAX)
6. Invesco Balanced-Risk Retire 2040 A (TNDAX)
7. Federated Market Opportunity A (FMAAX)
8. Hussman Strategic Total Return (HSTRX)
9. JHFunds2 Retirement 2010 Portfolio 1 (JRTOX)
10. Invesco Balanced-Risk Retire Now A (IANAX)

25 Top Performer Taxable Bond Mutual Funds 2011

Bond mutual fund or fixed income fund has enjoyed one of the longest bull markets for the past 30 years. While stock funds have stagnant for the past 10 year, bond funds have outperformed. With market volatility for the past 3months, bond funds have relatively stable and achieve better return. There are two types of bond funds: taxable bond funds and municipal bond funds. The following is the 25 top performing bond funds (3 month performance). I also include the short fund review.

Note: Bond funds include: Government bond, inflation protection bond fund (TIP), general bond, bank loan bond fund, world bond fund, multisector bond fund, emerging market bond fund, municipal bond fund, etc.

The 25 Top Performer bond mutual funds September 2011 for the past 3 month are:

Top Performer Bond Funds 2011

1. PIMCO Extended Duration Instl (PEDIX)
2. Vanguard Extended Duration Treasury Index Instl (VEDTX)
3. ProFunds US Government Plus Inv (GVPIX)
4. Rydex Govt Long Bond 1.2x Strategy Inv (RYGBX)
5. Wasatch-Hoisington US Treasury (WHOSX)
6. American Century Zero Coupon 2025 Inv (BTTRX)
7. Fidelity Spartan L/T Term Bond Index Inv (FLBIX)
8. Vanguard Long-Term Treasury Inv (VUSTX)
9. Vanguard Long-Term Government Bond Index Instl (VLGIX)
10. T. Rowe Price US Treasury Long-Term (PRULX)