Top 10 Best Closed End Funds 2012 & 2013

This article will provide best closed end funds for 2012 and 2013. They are PIMCO Corporate & Income Opportunity fund, DWS Municipal Income Trust fund, John Hancock Tax-Advantage Dividend Income fund, etc. Investors will find best stock and bond CEFs review.

Introduction

Closed-end funds (CEFs) are one of investment funds available for investors. This fund can provide an attractive choice for you to get income and capital growth. These CEFs are traded like stocks during intraday trading. You can buy and sell these funds using your brokerage account.
Note: Brokerages: TD Ameritrade, Schwab, Lightspeed, Zecco, Scottrade, etc.

Most of these closed end funds are managed actively by the fund manager. It may trade either at a discount or premium to its NAV. Currently there are more than 600 closed end funds across various classes. Some of the fund classes are: covered call, core stock, growth stock, value stock, preferred stock, real estate stock, global stock, emerging market stock, convertible, corporate bond, emerging markets bond, mortgage bond, municipal bond, high yield municipal, etc.

Best Closed End Funds

These top closed end funds are chosen based on its performance, expense ratio, fund management, holding turnover. More review can be found below.

The top 10 best closed end funds for 2012 and 2013 are:

1. PIMCO Corporate & Income Opportunity (PTY)
2. Templeton Global Income (GIM)
3. PIMCO High Income (PHK)
4. DWS Municipal Income Trust (KTF)

PIMCO Convertible Fund (PACNX)

One of the popular PIMCO mutual funds is PIMCO Convertible fund. This convertible mutual fund invest in variety of convertible securities. You will find this bond mutual fund review below.

PIMCO Convertible A (Ticker: PACNX)

The investment aim of PIMCO Convertible fund is to achieve maximum total return, consistent with prudent investment management. This PIMCO fund uses its assets to purchase a diversified portfolio of convertible securities. It may use forwards or derivatives such as options, futures contracts or swap agreements. This convertible bond fund may invest in both investment-grade and high-yield bonds.

Fund Profile

• Fund Inception Date: May 31, 2011
• Ticker Symbol: PACNX
• CUSIP: 693391849
• Beta (3yr): 1.06 
• Rank in category (YTD): 66%
• Category: Convertibles
• Yield: N/A

Top 8 Best Bank Loan Mutual Funds 2012

As part of taxable bond mutual funds, bank loan funds provide high income for investors. Some of the best bank loan funds are: Credit Suisse Floating Rate High Income fund, Eaton Vance Floating-Rate Advantage fund, Fidelity Floating Rate High Income fund, etc.

Top Bank Loan Funds

Intro

There are several types of taxable bond mutual funds. They are corporate bond, government bond, multisector bond, bank loan, etc. Bank loan are popular among investors who are concerned about rising interest rates. Bank loans or floating rate loans are debts that offered by banks to companies as part of a leveraged buyout deal.

These bank loan funds have limited interest rate risk, but they have high credit risk. These bond funds typically have low credit quality or non-investment grade rating. They also have higher yield than investment grade rated bond funds.

Best Bank Loan Funds

You find the fund review from this top mutual fund list. Investors can find the fund performance, management, expense fee, sales load, top holding, effective duration, etc.

Top 8 Best Bank Loan Mutual Funds of 2012 are:

1. Credit Suisse Floating Rate High Income A (CHIAX)
2. Eaton Vance Floating-Rate Advantage A (EAFAX)
3. Fidelity Floating Rate High Income (FFRHX)

Fidelity Total Bond Fund (FTBFX)

One of the most popular bond mutual funds is Fidelity Total Bond Fund. More about this fixed income mutual fund review can be found below. Investing in diversified bond mutual funds is essential for investors. Diversified bond funds can provide a predictable income stream.

Fidelity Total Bond (Ticker: FTBFX)

The Fidelity Total Bond fund’s objective is to achieve a high level of current income. This bond fund typically invests majority of assets in debt securities of all types. The fund’s adviser uses the Barclays Capital U.S. Universal Bond Index as a guide for allocating its assets through the investment-grade, high yield, and emerging market asset classes.

Fund Profile

• Fund Inception Date: October 15, 2002
• Ticker Symbol: FTBFX
• CUSIP: 31617K881
• Beta (3yr): 0.81
• Rank in category (YTD): 58%
• Category: Intermediate-Term Bond
• Yield: 3.54%
• Capital Gains: 0%

Vanguard Target Retirement 2015 Fund (VTXVX)

Vanguard Target Retirement 2015 fund is suitable for investors who want to retire around 2015. More fund review below. Finding the right target date mutual fund is important for passive long term investor. By selecting Vanguard fund, investor can find a wide selection of target date mutual funds

Vanguard Target Retirement 2015 Investor (VTXVX)

The Vanguard Target Retirement 2015 fund objective is to achieve capital appreciation and current income consistent with its current asset allocation. This balanced fund mainly invests in other Vanguard mutual funds according to an asset allocation strategy designed for investors planning to retire and leave the work force in or within a few years of 2015 (the target year). This fund will allocate its asset to become more conservative over time (fewer stocks and more bonds when over long term).

Fund Details

• Fund Inception Date: October 27, 2003
• Ticker Symbol: VTXVX
• CUSIP: 92202E300
• Beta (3yr): 0.97
• Rank in category (YTD): 45%
• Category: Target Date 2011-2015 
• Yield: 2.39%
• Capital Gains: 0%
• Expense Ratio: 0.00%  
• Net Assets: $ 15.35 billion

How to Distinguish Good Vs Bad Investment in Mutual Funds

Trying to pick individual stocks is a difficult proposition for regular investors. Investors will face with infinite risk and low return with wrong stocks selection. Most investors can achieve the same result by using mutual funds. There are several advantages using mutual funds such as having good management, reduce risk with diversified portfolio, invest in other risky area, and more.

Good vs Bad Mutual Funds

Good Management

Reputable manager or management team or professional analysts will devout many hours of study and research. Fund manager will analyze various stocks or bonds to invest in. Some mutual funds are also known to hire market experts to analyze their portfolio or divide their portfolio to co-managers & advisors. Analyzing various financial reports is not an easy task for investors; you need to sacrifice a large portion of your free time to get the good result. Unless you are willing to do this, then you won’t have as much information to make a decision as a mutual fund manager.

Good managers are staying with the mutual funds longer. Long tenured managers typically have a high level of competence in running the mutual fund business or entity he oversees. Managers usually face steep learning curves when they first enter a new organization, making long management tenure a valuable asset.

Lord Abbett Intermediate Tax Free A (LISAX) Fund

One of the income producing mutual funds is municipal bond mutual fund or muni bond mutual fund. This municipal bond mutual fund provides regular income which is exempted from federal income tax. Some of these muni bond funds also provide tax free income from state tax. One of the popular choices is Lord Abbett Intermediate Tax Free fund. More fund review can be found below.

Lord Abbett Intermediate Tax Free A (LISAX)

The Lord Abbett Intermediate Tax Free fund objective is to seek the maximum amount of interest income exempt from federal income tax as is consistent with sound risk. This bond mutual fund uses its net assets to purchase municipal bonds issued by states, territories, and possessions of the U.S. (including the District of Columbia). The interest from this municipal debt is typically not taxed from federal personal income tax (i.e. tax free).

Fund Profile

• Fund Inception Date: June 30, 2003
• Ticker Symbol: LISAX
• CUSIP: 543912604
• Beta (3yr): 0.94
• Rank in category (YTD): 39%
• Category: Muni National Interm
• Distribution Rate: 3.44%
• Capital Gains: 0%