Vanguard Inflation Protected Securities Fund (VIPSX)

To protect against inflation, investor can buy TIPS (Treasury Inflation Protected Securities). Choosing the individual TIPS bond may be tedious. Easiest way is to choose the inflation protected bond fund through mutual fund or exchange traded fund (ETF). One of the big and popular TIPS bond funds is Vanguard Inflation-Protected Securities fund.

Vanguard Inflation-Protected Securities Investor (VIPSX)

The Vanguard Inflation Protected Securities fund objective is to provide inflation protection and income consistent with investment in inflation-indexed securities. This Vanguard fund invests majority of assets (>80%) in inflation-indexed bonds issued by the U.S. government, its agencies and instrumentalities, and corporations. It may invest in bonds of any maturity, typically its dollar-weighted average maturity is in the range of 7 to 20 years. This fund will invest in investment grade bonds.

Fund Details

• Fund Inception Date: June 29, 2000
• Ticker Symbol: VIPSX
• CUSIP: 922031869
• Beta (3yr): 1.16
• Rank in category (YTD): 45%
• Category: Inflation-Protected Bond
• Yield: 3.61%
• Capital Gains: 0%
• Expense Ratio: 0.20%  
• Net Assets: $ 41.80 billion
• Number of Years Up: 10 years
• Number of Years Down: 1 year
• Annual Turnover Rate: 28%

updated on 5/23/2012

Artisan International Value Fund (ARTKX) Investor Class

This next fund, Artisan International Value Fund, is one of the best performing and top rated international stock funds. This Artisan fund invests mainly in undervalued international companies which are located outside U.S. It is also one of the best performing international stock funds for year 2011.

Artisan International Value Investor (ARTKX)

The investment objective of Artisan International Value fund is to pursue long term capital growth. This equity fund invests most of assets in undervalued Non-U.S companies of all market capitalizations. The fund’s performance is compared with the index benchmark, MSCI EAFE Index, over a full market cycle. This international stock fund typically holds about 40-60 stocks, diversified across most major sectors. It also invest in >5 countries. It may invest small part of its assets (<20%) in emerging markets countries.

ARTKX Fund Details

Artisan International Value fund

• Fund Inception Date: 09/23/2002
• Ticker Symbol: ARTKX
• CUSIP: 04314H881
• Beta (3yr): 0.90
• Rank in category (2011): 3%
• Category: Foreign Large Blend
• Yield: 0.06%
• Net Assets: $ 2.5 billion
• Sales Load: 0%
• Expense Ratio: 1.18%
• Capital Gains:  $0.0681 (2011)
• Number of Years Up: 6 years
• Number of Years Down: 3 years

Updated on 01/10/2012

Vanguard Equity Income Fund (VEIPX)

Vanguard Equity Income fund (VEIPX) is a top stock mutual fund. This large value equity fund has high dividend yield.

Vanguard is known with its index mutual funds. These index funds provide low cost mutual fund for investors. It also offers several actively managed mutual funds such as Vanguard Wellington fund, Vanguard Wellesley fund, Vanguard Windsor II, and more. Another popular and top rated actively managed stock fund is Vanguard Equity Income fund. This equity fund is recognized as the top performer mutual fund of 2011.

Vanguard Equity Income (VEIPX)

This Vanguard Equity Income fund invests in common stocks of medium-sized and large companies which pay above-average dividend income level and are considered to have the potential for capital appreciation. In addition, the fund’s advisors typically look for companies which commit to paying dividends consistently. The fund invests most of assets (>80%) in stocks or equity securities.

VEIPX Fund Details

• Fund Inception Date: 03/21/1988
• Ticker Symbol: VEIPX
• CUSIP: 921921102
• Beta (3yr): 0.95
• Rank in category (YTD): 4%
• Category: Large Value
• Yield: 2.26%
• Net Assets: $ 27.8 Billion
• Sales Load: 0%
• Expense Ratio: 0.26%
• Capital Gains: N/A
• Number of Years Up: 16 years
• Number of Years Down: 6 years

Updated on May 2017

Top Performing Municipal Bond Mutual Funds of 2011

This article will look into the Top Performing Municipal Bond Mutual Funds of 2011. Among the best performing funds are: Eaton Vance Tax-Advantaged Bond Strategy Intermediate Term A, New Hampshire Municipal, Dupree Taxable Municipal Bond, Oppenheimer AMT-Free Municipals A, etc.

Top Performer Muni Bond Funds 2011

Best of the categories

Municipal bond funds were one of the dislike classes of mutual funds for 2011. Meredith Whitney is one of the well known analyst who predicted the economic crisis on 2008. On December 2010, Whitney said there will be hundreds of municipal bonds goes default on 2011. However, 2011 has passed; municipal bond funds are not only recovered. They are one of the top bond funds which outperformed other fund’s categories such as international stock funds and US stock funds.

As we know, Municipal bond funds are part of fixed income funds or bond funds. Bond funds itself can be categorized into two such as taxable bond funds (government bond, sovereign bond, high yield bond, etc), and municipal bond funds. Municipal bond funds are also known as non-taxable bond funds. These Muni bond funds invest in variety of municipal debts that are tax exempt from federal tax rate.

Artisan Mid Cap Value Fund (ARTQX) Investor Class

US Domestic stock funds have been outperforming the international stock funds. One of the top rated US stock funds is Artisan Mid Cap Value fund. This best equity fund invests in medium sized US companies. Details fund review can be found below.

Artisan Mid Cap Value Investor (ARTQX)

The investment objective of Artisan Mid Cap Value fund is to seek maximum long-term capital growth. This Artisan equity fund invests mainly in medium-sized U.S. companies. This means the company has a market capitalization greater than the market capitalization of the smallest company in the Russell Midcap Index and < 3 times the weighted average market capitalization of companies in that index.

Fund Details

Artisan Mid Cap Value Investor

• Fund Inception Date: 03/28/2001
• Ticker Symbol: ARTQX (Investor Class)
• CUSIP: 04314H709
• Beta (3yr): 1.00
• Rank in category (1yr): 2%
• Category: Mid Cap Value
• Yield: 0.60%
• Net Assets: $ 7.1 Billion
• Sales Load: 0%
• Expense Ratio: 1.20%
• Capital Gains: N/A
• Number of Years Up: 7 years
• Number of Years Down: 2 years

Updated on 1/5/2012

Top Performer Taxable Bond Mutual Funds of 2011

One of the top performer asset classes of Mutual Fund for year 2011 is taxable bond funds. Almost any classes of taxable bond and non-taxable bond funds had beaten the stock funds especially international stock funds. This article will look into the top performer taxable bond funds of 2011. Some of the top performers are: DoubleLine Core Fixed Income N, William Blair Income N, Vanguard Long-Term Bond Index, PIMCO Global Bond (USD-Hedged) A, and more.

Top Performer Bond Funds 2011

There are varieties of taxable bond funds such as intermediate term bond fund, long term bond fund, government bond fund, high yield bond fund, multisector bond fund, world bond fund, and so on. I’ll provide the 5 top performers of each class. More details can be found below.

Note: Although the performance of these funds is outstanding, future performance is not a guarantee. Please review this fund in details. I also provide the tables which show the fund performance in 1 year, 3 year, 5 year, and 10 years.

PIMCO All Asset Fund (PASAX) Class A

PIMCO bond mutual funds are among the top mutual fund for investor to invest in. Pimco CEO Mohamed El-Erian and PIMCO CIO Bill Gross are among the top fund managers managing various mutual funds offered by PIMCO. One of the top balanced funds offered by PIMCO is PIMCO All Asset A (PASAX) fund.

PIMCO All Asset A (PASAX)

The PIMCO All Asset A fund primary objective is to seek maximum real return, consistent with real capital preservation and prudent investment management. This Hybrid fund typically invests all of its assets in Institutional Class or Class M shares of other PIMCO funds except the All Asset All Authority fund, Global Multi-Asset and the RealRetirement funds. This balanced fund is classified as non-diversified mutual fund, however it invests in diversified underlying holdings.

Fund Details

• Fund Inception Date: 04/30/2003
• Ticker Symbol: PASAX
• CUSIP: 72200Q711
• Beta (3yr): 0.71
• Rank in category (YTD): 18%
• Category: World Allocation
• Distribution Rate: 7.32%
• Capital Gains: 0%
• Expense Ratio: 0.76%
• Sales Load: 3.75%
• Net Assets: $ 24.25 billion
• Number of Years Up: 6 years
• Number of Years Down: 1 year
• Annual Turnover Rate: 77%

Updated on 1/4/2012