The Kiplinger 25: Our Favorite No-Load Mutual Funds
The Kiplinger 25 is a list of our top no-load mutual funds that have proven capable of weathering any storm.
The Kiplinger 25 is a list of our favorite no-load mutual funds. We favor funds run by seasoned managers who take a long view and have proved themselves able to weather many a storm. And we prefer low to below-average fees.
In the tables below, you can see for each of the 25 funds, expense ratios and one-year, and annualized five- and ten-year total returns (the fund's rate of return over a given period of time, including interest, capital gains, dividends and distributions).
The Kiplinger 25 Funds
Header Cell - Column 0 | Symbol | 1 yr. return | 5 yrs. annualized total return | 10 yrs. annualized total return | Yield | Expense ratio |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
U.S. Stock Funds | Row 0 - Cell 1 | Row 0 - Cell 2 | Row 0 - Cell 3 | Row 0 - Cell 4 | Row 0 - Cell 5 | Row 0 - Cell 6 |
DF Dent Midcap Growth | DFDMX | 26.2% | 8.1% | 11.1% | 0.0% | 0.87% |
Dodge & Cox Stock | DODGX | 27.7 | 14.5 | 11.3 | 1.4 | 0.51 |
Fidelity Blue Chip Growth | FBGRX | 47.3 | 22.7 | 17.7 | 0.2 | 0.48 |
Heartland Mid Cap Value | HRMDX | 17.9 | 12.3 | N/A | 0.6 | 1.10 |
Mairs & Power Growth | MPGFX | 35.5 | 14.5 | 11.9 | 0.8 | 0.64 |
T. Rowe Price Dividend Growth | PRDGX | 29.0 | 12.8 | 12.4 | 1.0 | 0.64 |
T. Rowe Price QM US Sm-Cp Gr Eq | PRDSX | 30.5 | 10.3 | 10.7 | 0.0 | 0.80 |
T. Rowe Price Small-Cap Value | PRSVX | 25.5 | 8.8 | 9.0 | 0.6 | 0.80 |
Primecap Odyssey Growth | POGRX | 23.1 | 12.9 | 12.0 | 0.4 | 0.66 |
Vanguard Equity-Income | VEIPX | 26.3 | 11.5 | 10.5 | 2.6 | 0.27 |
International Stock Funds | Row 11 - Cell 1 | Row 11 - Cell 2 | Row 11 - Cell 3 | Row 11 - Cell 4 | Row 11 - Cell 5 | Row 11 - Cell 6 |
Baron Emerging Markets | BEXFX | 24.1% | 4.2% | 3.4% | 0.6% | 1.37% |
Brown Capital Mgmt Intl Small Company | BCSVX | 31.9 | 10.1 | N/A | 0.0 | 1.31 |
Fidelity International Growth | FIGFX | 28.1 | 9.1 | 7.9 | 0.4 | 0.84 |
Janus Henderson Global Equity Income | HFQTX | 21.2 | 7.6 | 5.2 | 3.9 | 0.98 |
Specialized Funds | Row 16 - Cell 1 | Row 16 - Cell 2 | Row 16 - Cell 3 | Row 16 - Cell 4 | Row 16 - Cell 5 | Row 16 - Cell 6 |
Fidelity Select Health Care | FSPHX | 23.5% | 11.9% | 10.0% | 0.0% | 0.65% |
T. Rowe Price Global Technology | PRGTX | 48.6 | 13.6 | 15.0 | 0.0 | 0.94 |
Vanguard Wellington | VWELX | 24.8 | 9.1 | 8.6 | 2.1 | 0.26 |
Bond Funds | Row 20 - Cell 1 | Row 20 - Cell 2 | Row 20 - Cell 3 | Row 20 - Cell 4 | Row 20 - Cell 5 | Row 20 - Cell 6 |
Baird Aggregate Bond | BAGSX | 12.2% | 0.5% | 2.0% | 3.9% | 0.55% |
Dodge & Cox Income | DODIX | 13.5 | 2.1 | 2.9 | 4.8 | 0.41 |
Fidelity Interm Muni Income | FLTMX | 8.6 | 1.5 | 2.2 | 3.0 | 0.36 |
Fidelity Strategic Income | FADMX | 8.9 | 3.0 | 3.3 | 4.4 | 0.66 |
T. Rowe Price Floating Rate | PRFRX | 9.8 | 5.1 | 4.4 | 8.2 | 0.77 |
Vanguard Emerging Markets Bond | VEMBX | 18.9 | 4.6 | N/A | 6.3 | 0.55 |
Vanguard High-Yield Corporate | VWEHX | 14.3 | 3.9 | 4.6 | 5.8 | 0.22 |
Vanguard Short-Term Inv-Grade | VFSTX | 9.5 | 2.1 | 2.2 | 4.0 | 0.20 |
Indexes | Row 29 - Cell 1 | Row 29 - Cell 2 | Row 29 - Cell 3 | Row 29 - Cell 4 | Row 29 - Cell 5 | Row 29 - Cell 6 |
S&P 500-STOCK INDEX | Row 30 - Cell 1 | 36.4% | 16.0% | 13.4% | 1.3% | Row 30 - Cell 6 |
RUSSELL 2000 INDEX* | Row 31 - Cell 1 | 26.8 | 9.4 | 8.8 | 1.3 | Row 31 - Cell 6 |
MSCI EAFE INDEX† | Row 32 - Cell 1 | 24.8 | 8.2 | 5.7 | 3.0 | Row 32 - Cell 6 |
MSCI EMERGING MARKETS INDEX | Row 33 - Cell 1 | 26.1 | 5.7 | 4.0 | 2.7 | Row 33 - Cell 6 |
BLOOMBERG U.S. AGG BOND IDX# | Row 34 - Cell 1 | 11.6 | 0.3 | 1.8 | 4.2 | Row 34 - Cell 6 |
As of September 30, 2024. *Small-company U.S. stocks. †Foreign stocks. #High-grade U.S. bonds. N/A = Fund not in existence for the entire period.
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SOURCES: Fund companies, FTSE Russell, Morningstar Inc., MSCI, S&P Dow Jones Indices. Yields listed for bond funds are SEC yields, which are net of fees; stock fund yields are the yield for the past 12 months.
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Nellie joined Kiplinger in August 2011 after a seven-year stint in Hong Kong. There, she worked for the Wall Street Journal Asia, where as lifestyle editor, she launched and edited Scene Asia, an online guide to food, wine, entertainment and the arts in Asia. Prior to that, she was an editor at Weekend Journal, the Friday lifestyle section of the Wall Street Journal Asia. Kiplinger isn't Nellie's first foray into personal finance: She has also worked at SmartMoney (rising from fact-checker to senior writer), and she was a senior editor at Money.
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