Best Mutual Funds Now

The Vanguard PRIMECAP Mutual Fund (VPMCX) is a large cap large growth fund that is considered a positive stand out amongst the other mutual funds. The investments made by the fund managers us a strategy of acquire long term capital appreciation from company stocks that show above average growth potential. There are six different fund managers whom each have control over a certain percentage of the fund’s assets for which they make the decision on what to invest in.
The strategy is to buy stocks of fast growing companies at a low price because they are out of favor with other stock brokers and fund managers has proven to be a wise investment over the years. The one year return for last year was 38.64% and with expenses at 0.49% are just two of the reasons this fund has received a 5 star rating from Morningstar. This is an average risk fund with above average returns for investors.
The minimum amount needed to invest in this fund is $25,000, but at the present time is closed to new investors.
Of the $28.8 billion in assets, 97.5% are in company stocks with 11.8% of that being from foreign companies. The sectors the stocks are from include healthcare with 22.9% of the fund’s total assets, software with 12.7%, hardware with 12.6%, industrial material with 10.0% and business services with 9.9%. The top 5 holdings of this fund hold a total of 18.09% of the total assets.
The Vanguard PRIMECAP Mutual Fund (VPMCX) is one of the top performers of the Vanguard funds that have consistent and proven results over the years.

There are 9 Vanguard Money Market funds for investors to place their money in with minimal risk. 6 of these funds are tax exempt and 3 are taxable.
There is the Admiral Treasury Money Market fund that has all of its $22.2 billion in assets in US Treasury Bills. Since its inception, this fund has had a return of 3.62%, but at the present time is closed to investors. This is one of the taxable funds.
The Vanguard California Tax-Exempt Money Market Fund has $5.3 billion in assets that is 100% invested in 314 tax exempt securities. The average maturity date of these securities is 38 days which makes this fund highly liquid.
The Vanguard Federal Money Market Fund is another taxable fund that is also closed to investors. There is $7.7 billion in assets that are divided up with 71% in US governmental obligations and 29% in US Treasury Bills.
The Vanguard New Jersey Tax Exempt Money Market Fund has $2.51 billion in assets that are invested in 159 tax exempt securities.
The Vanguard New York Tax Exempt Money Market Fund has $3.8 billion in assets that are invested in 254 tax exempt securities.
The Vanguard Ohio Tax Exempt Money Market Fund has $924.5 million in assets that are invested in 130 tax exempt securities.
The Vanguard Pennsylvania Tax Exempt Money Market Fund has $3.3 billion in assets that are invested in 197 tax exempt securities.
The Prime Money Market is taxable and more diverse than the other MM funds. There is $111.9 billion in assets with 2% in bankers acceptances, 51.3% in CDs, 18.2% in commercial paper, 0.1% in repurchase agreements, 9.0% in US governmental obligations, and 19.3% in US Treasury Bills.
The Tax Exempt Money Market Fund has all of the $20.1 billion in assets in 1,224 tax exempt securities.
These Vanguard funds are extremely low risk and safe investments. Each has a minimum of $3,000 for investors to get shares but they will purchase 3000 shares since all of them have a share price of $1.00. Because of the low risk, the Vanguard Money Market funds are also having very low returns. All of which are less than 5% over 10 years.

The Emerging Markets Stock ETF or VWO has investments in the emerging large-cap markets. With a majority of the holdings in foreign stocks, the developing markets are fully covered with explosive potential like China.
There are 766 different stocks in this funds holding with the top 10 accounting for 14.67% of the total assets. Of those top 10, 4 are in China which includes China Mobile Ltd, China Construction Bank Corp., Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, and China Life Insurance Co. With China about to obtain the status of the second largest consumer market in the world, having an investment there can be beneficial to your overall portfolio. The assets by markets as a percent of assets is China with 15%, Brazil with 13.8%, South Korea with 11.7%, Taiwan with 10.9%, and India with 7.4%.
Morningstar has rated this fund with 4 stars with an average risk and above average returns. The performance of this fund was 76.29% of the market return for the year 2009.
There is over $33.9 billion of total assets in this fund that has an expense ratio of only 0.27%, which makes this fund one of the cheapest in its sector.
The different sectors this fund has distributed the assets are 24.7% in financial services, 18.9% in industrial materials, 14.8% in energy, 10.6% in telecommunications, and 9.8% in consumer goods.
While no one can predict where these markets are heading, China has reported an 8.7% growth to their economy for the year 2009. This is better than the rest of the world. Investment there might be risky, but along with the risk comes potential profits.
When it comes to mutual funds and their chance for profit, the Emerging Markets Stock ETF has the best chance to shine at the current time.

The Vanguard Mega Cap 300 Growth ETF (MGK) is a large growth, large market cap fund. This fund has 100% of all of the assets investing in stocks. The current stock price of this fund is at $42.54 on January 19, 2010. This fund has a total of $382.9 million in assets.
The top five holdings of this fund make up 18.69% of the fund’s total assets. The largest is Microsoft which is 4.93% of the fund. Next is Apple, Inc. with 3.93% of the fund. OIBM is third with 3.76% of the fund’s assets and Cisco is fourth with 3.23% of the fund’s assets. The Fifth is Google that makes up 2.84% of this fund’s total asset.
The top sectors of investment of this fund are hardware with 18.4%, consumer services with 14.6%, healthcare with 13.8%, consumer goods with 13.0%, and software at 8.7%.
This funds attempts to track the performance measurement of its index benchmark with the largest possible return on capital growth stocks in the domestic market. Its one year performance is at 35.02% while the benchmark for which it attempts to copy, the MSCI US large cap Growth Index was at 35.26%.

This is a good investment for those looking to invest in large cap growth stocks at a low price that have a long term investment plan. The expenses associated with this fund are currently at 0.13%.
The manager of this fund is Michael Perre and he has lead this fund since its inception on December 17, 2007.
The Vanguard funds are managed and operated by one of the world’s leaders in equity and fixed income investments. The Vanguard Mega Cap 300 Growth ETF (MGK) is part of this empire.

Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF (VTI) has a current stock price of $58.16 as of January 14, 2010. The 52 week low was at $33.26 and the high was $58.35 which was earlier this week. This fund has $117 billion in total assets. This fund covers the United States stock market with 99.4% of the assets in stocks and only 0.9% of that being from foreign markets. The assets of this fund are made up of 3,380 stocks and 2 long term bonds is the makeup. The top ten holdings make up 15.84% of this fund.

The top ten holdings of this fund include ExxonMobil Corp. with YTD return of 2.19% and 2.87% net asset of the fund. The second is Microsoft Corp. with YTD return of 1.57% and 1.78% net asset of the fund. The third largest is General Electric Co. with a YTD return of 10.38% and 1.49% net assets of the fund. The fourth is Proctor and Gamble Co. with a YTD return of 1.57% and 1.45% net assets of the fund. The fifth is Johnson and Johnson with a YTD return of 1.07% and 1.44% net assets of the fund. The sixth is Apple, Inc. with a YTD return of -0.62% and 1.42% of net assets of the fund. The seventh is JP Morgan Chase & Co. with a YTD return of 7.37% and 1.41% net assets of the fund. Eighth is AT&T with a YTD return of -5.07% and 1.37% of net assets of the fund. Ninth is IBM with a YTD return of 1.08% and 1.36% of net assets of the fund, and tenth is Bank of America Corp. with a YTD return of 11.69% and 1.25% of the net assets of this fund.

Morningstar rates this fund as average risk and average return. Since the low of last March, this fund has made steady improvement on the market. Invest wisely and do your research but the Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF (VTI) is one of the solid Vanguard Funds available to investors today.

The Vanguard Small-Cap ETF (AMEX:VB) has a current stock price of $59.34 today, January 14, 2010. This fund has fluctuated in the past 52 weeks from a low of $29.56 to a high earlier this week of $59.90. The total assets that are in this fund are $16.5 billion. With expenses at 0.15%, there is money to be made with this fund.
This fund is a way for investors to purchase a fund that contains many small capital stocks exclusively in the American market. This fund has 99.7% of its interest in stocks which only 1.1% are from foreign countries. There are a total of 1,748 different stocks in this fund with the top 10 holding 2.91% of the total assets. These top ten include Genworth Financial, Inc. at 0.47% net assets but 16.39% YTD growth. Number two is American International Group with 0.43% in net assets and -3.07% YTD return. Third is Rovi Corp with 0.28% net assets with -0.53% YTD return. Fourth is SL Green Realty Corp. with 0.26 net assets and 1.13 YTD return. Fifth is Dendreon Corp. with 0.25% net assets and 12.86% YTD return. Sixth is F5 Network, Inc. with 0.25 net assets and a YTD return of -1.09%. Seventh is Ashland, Inc. with 0.25% in net assets and a YTD return of 3.91%. Eighth is Human Genome Sciences with a net asset at 0.24% and a YTD return of -2.58%. The ninth is MSCI, Inc. with 0.24% of net assets and a YTD return of 4.87. The tenth stock is Aeropostale, Inc. with a net asset of 0.24% and a YTD return of 2.50%.
Morningstar rates this fund as a high risk but also high return investment. This fund did have a return of 36.61% but with 4 of the top ten stocks in the red. Do your research before you invest in the Vanguard Small-Cap ETF (AMEX:VB). Of the Vanguard Funds, this one has great potential but great risk in a volatile market.

The following is a Vanguard Capital Value Fund review. The stock symbol is VCVLX. As of January 07, 2010, the stock is valued at $9.72 per share. This stock’s 52-week range is a high of $9.72 and a low of $3.81. This fund has total assets of $774.2 million and at the present time is closed to new investors.

This fund heavily invests in domestic stocks of companies in the financial, manufacturing, information technologies and consumer discretionary industries. The annual turnover rate of these stocks is 300.0%. There are a total of 67 stocks in this fund. The net assets of the top ten stocks are 33.6% of all holdings. 17.3% of the holdings of this fund are of a foreign source.

The top 5 holdings of this fund are Wells Fargo Company with a fund weight of 4.37%, Qualcomm, Inc. at 4.07% weighted value of the fund, and Delta Airlines, Inc. at 3.99%. Apple is ranked fourth in weight at 3.81% and was the only one of the top five that is in the red. The last of the top five is Bank of America Corporation with a weight of the fund being at 3.02%.

The after-tax 5 year annualized return of this fund is at 2.99%. The 3 year annualized return is -3.36%. The one year is at 78.65%, and the one month is at 8.26%

Morningstar has this fund rated at high risk with average returns which is average for Vanguard funds.

The direction that the Vanguard Capital Value Fund review is taking since the recession is that this fund’s value is going up and might be a good investment.

The Vanguard High Yield Tax Exempt Fund has a stock symbol of VWAHX. The value of this stock is at $10.30 per share as of January 4, 2010. The 52 week range of this stock is a high of $10.58 and a low of $8.91.
This is the highest yielding of the Vanguard Funds that principally invests in municipal bonds. There is a total of $6.3 billion in assets in their fund with over 700 bonds in its position. The average maturities of these bonds are 11.2 years. The turnover rate of these bonds is 24%.
The after tax annualized return of this fund are since inception date of 12/27/79. The return is 6.89%. The 10 year annualized return is 5.33%. The 5 year is 3.77%. The 3 year is 3.00% and the 1 year annualized return is 20.13%.
The top holdings of this fund are the CMT Municipal Rate 4.01% with a weight of 1.53% of the total fund and a value of $102.5 million on its maturity date of 12/31/2049. The California Hsg Fin Agy Rev Var Rev B has a weight of 0.69% of the total funds and a value of $46.1 million at its maturity date of 02/01/2033. The next top holding is the Texas Mun Pwr Agy Rev Ref Rev B with a weight of 0.64% of the total fund and a value of $43 million on its maturity date of 09/01/2017.
Morningstar rates this fund as a high risk with average return type of investment.
The investment manager of the Vanguard High Yield Tax Exempt Fund (VWAHX) is Christopher W. Alwine who is the head of the Municipal Bond Group for Vanguard.

The Vanguard Diversified Equity Fund with a stock symbol of VDEQX is a fund made up of eight other different Vanguard funds. These eight funds are having active strategies in small, middle, and large domestic companies. These fund managers pick stocks and try to outperform normal market returns, which add to the risk level.
The current stock price of this fund is at $17.90. The 52 week low was $10.45 and the high was $17.92. There are over $1.3 billion in total assets in this fund with a turnover ratio of 2%.
To invest in this fund, investors need a minimum of $3,000. The investment manager is Duane Kelly and had been on the job since June 10, 2005.
The current assets allocation is 2.7% in cash, 97.1% in stocks – 7.7% of which are from the foreign market, 0.20% in bonds and 0.1% in other unspecified investments. The investment allocation of this fund as of November 30, 2009 was the Vanguard Growth and Income Fund at 20.1%, Vanguard Windsor Funds at 15.1%, Vanguard Morgan Growth Fund at 15.1%, Vanguard US Growth Fund at 15.0%, Vanguard Windsor II Fund at 15.0%, Vanguard explorer Fund at 9.8%, Vanguard Capital Value Fund at 5.0%, and the Vanguard Mid-cap Growth Fund at 4.9%.
The performance of this fund for 2006 was at 12.9% of total return, for 2007 it was at 4.4% of total return, -39.5% of total return and YTD in 2009 at 34.9% of total return.
The Morningstar rating for this fund is average return and above average risk.
This Vanguard Diversified Equity Fund is for the investor that has long term goals and is willing to be patient.

The Vanguard Fixed Income Funds are managed by the largest bond managers in America. Their strength comes from over $425 billion in total assets. Because of this, they have a wide range of funds and services that they offer to investors.

Their fixed income investment funds are both passive and active. All of these different funds are managed by in-house staff that have years of experience with proven results. Each fund has goals and clearly defined mandates that any investor can review before making a deposit. These are available both before tax investments and after tax investments.

Because they operate on such a large scale, their expense ratio is lower than the industry norm. Vanguard’s expense ratio is at 0.13% while the industry norm is at 1.04%.

This type of investment is considered low risk, but also low return. The risks that are involved are changes in interest rates over time and inflation risks.

There are a total of seven different fixed income funds offered by the Vanguard group.

Eight times in the year 2009, the combined open-end and ETF monthly reports showed that the Vanguard group has brought in assets exceeding $10 billion. The next most prolific mutual fund company was only able to break the $10 billion barrier twice in 2009. With these types of revenue being brought in while most of the country is in recession prove the ability and skill of the people managing the Vanguard Funds.

The Vanguard Fixed Income Funds might be low return, but at least they are positive gains while most others are losing money.