In contrast to
In spite of the generally poor returns for many (although not all) stock funds during the last year, when we examine how a long-term holder of our suggested funds fared, the picture is almost unanimously quite the opposite!
Note: All returns are thru 5-1-01, except the 10 year return which is thru 4-30-01. If a fund has not been in existence for 5 or 10 years, the figure shown is for the life of the fund.
Fund/Category | Year-to-date | 1 Year | 5 Year | 10 Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Vanguard 500 Index, | -3.8% | -12.7% | 15.8% | 15.2% |
Vanguard Extended Market Index, | -5.5 | -19.5 | 9.5 | 13.1 |
Vanguard International Growth, | -6.6 | -14.8 | 6.9 | 8.8 |
| Vanguard Windsor, Large Value | +6.3 | +21.2 | 14.3 | 15.1 |
Vanguard Growth & Income, | -3.5 | -11.5 | 16.3 | 15.6 |
Vanguard Small Cap Index, | +1.8 | -3.8 | 9.3 | 13.3 |
Vanguard Index Europe, | -9.5 | -13.0 | 12.6 | 12.1 |
Vanguard Index Pacific, | +0.4 | -20.9 | -5.0 | 0.4 |
Vanguard Explorer, | -0.3 | -2.3 | 12.2 | 14.9 |
Vanguard REIT Index, | +2.0 | +15.8 | 9.9 | NA |
Fund/Category | Year-to-date | 1 Year | 5 Year | 10 Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Janus Fund, Large Growth | -5.5 | -24.1 | 17.3 | 15.7 |
Janus Venture, | -9.2 | -38.3 | 9.5 | 12.9 |
Janus Overseas, | -8.9 | -28.8 | 16.7 | 17.0 |
Fund/Category | Year-to-date | 1 Year | 5 Year | 10 Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
T Rowe Price Europe, | -10.0 | -13.4 | 11.5 | 11.5 |
T Rowe Price Value, | +5.7 | +18.5 | 15.7 | 20.5 |
Fund/Category | Year-to-date | 1 Year | 5 Year | 10 Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Fidelity Contra, | -8.4 | -14.7 | 14.1 | 17.0 |
Fidelity Growth & Income, | -4.7 | -6.2 | 14.2 | 15.4 |
Fidelity Magellan, | -3.4 | -13.8 | 14.9 | 15.5 |
Fidelity Extended Market Index, | -5.9 | -19.7 | 4.4 | NA |
Fidelity Low Price Stock, | +11.6 | +26.9 | 15.2 | 17.5 |
Fund/Category | Year-to-date | 1 Year | 5 Year | 10 Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
ICAP Equity, | +2.1 | +8.9 | 16.4 | 20.3 |
American Century Internat. Growth, | -12.4 | -23.2 | 13.4 | 13.4 |
Franklin/Templeton Foreign A, | -1.9 | +3.4 | 7.9 | 9.9 |
TIAA-CREF Growth Equity, | -10.9 | -33.2 | 8.5 | NA |
Tweedy-Browne Global Value, | +0.6 | +7.4 | 15.5 | 15.4 |
Evergreen Fund Y, | -8.4 | -20.3 | 7.2 | 10.7 |
Note: We no longer recommend the Evergreen Fund (any class) due to a management change.
Now look at the the following table showing all the bond funds we have featured in this publication also since our inception:
Fund/Category | Year-to-date | 1 Year | 5 Year | 10 Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Vanguard Long-Term Treasury, | -0.8% | +11.3% | 8.6% | 9.0% |
Fidelity Intermediate Bond, | +3.2 | 11.9 | 6.8 | 7.1 |
PIMCO Total Return Inst., | +2.2 | +12.5 | 8.3 | 8.8 |
Vanguard High Yield Corporate, | +4.1 | +4.0 | 6.4 | 9.5 |
Vanguard Long-Term Corporate, | +2.8 | +13.5 | 7.6 | 8.8 |
American Century Target 2015, | -3.2 | +12.5 | 10.7 | 11.6 |
American Century Target 2025, | -7.8 | +6.4 | 8.4 | NA |
Vanguard California Ins. Long-Term, | -0.9 | +10.6 | 6.6 | 7.2 |
Vanguard Short-Term Treasury, | +3.0 | +10.5 | 6.4 | 6.2 |
American Century International Bond, | -4.3 | +0.6 | 0.7 | 4.5 |
Here too while the news is decidedly mixed when we look at the year-to-date returns, the 1, 5, and 10 yr. returns are almost unanimously good, and certainly are better than what you can get through money markets or CDs.
So, if you want to get the rewards that funds usually provide to investors, you need to stay with good funds over the years. We feel that only in isolated and relatively rare cases can the average investor equal or better these kind of long-term results by jumping in and out of their funds for shorter periods of time. Unfortunately, all too often, this is what a good many fund investors still do.
Keep in mind that we do not argue that you should invest in these exact funds; not all are even open to new or non-institutional investors. There are plenty of other excellent funds in the same category offered by these same or other fund companies. These are merely the ones that we have researched down thru the years and feel are well managed, or in the case of index funds, have substantially low costs.
We will be happy to provide you with free advice (for a limited time only) on setting up or maintaining your fund portfolio for good long-term results. Just email your questions to funds-newsletter@att.net. This is an absolutely free service. No kidding!
Tom Madell, Ph.D.
