What worked for mutual fund managers in 2011? According to Barron’s, exactly what worked for individual investors – a focus on low-risk, income-driven securities that included Treasuries, municipal bonds and high-yield dividend stocks.
In it’s annual “Best Fund Families” roundup, Barron’s notes that “The best mutual-fund families guided their investors’ portfolios through 2011’s many dangers without taking undue risk.” Market-moving events last year were almost too numerous to list — including debt fears at home and in Europe, geopolitical unrest across the Middle East and North Africa, a devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan and other unpleasantness.
“Successful fund managers didn’t try to guess where the next problem would pop up; they mostly stayed invested in relatively safe securities, adding to positions they liked when they were cheap,” Barron’s says. “Maybe they didn’t enjoy the rallies quite so much as bigger risk takers, but they didn’t get so badly hurt in the sharp declines.”
Click to EnlargeWhat funds performed best? Here’s the top 10:
- Delaware Management
- Vanguard Group
- Neuberger Berman Management
- First Investors Management
- State Farm Investment Management
- State Street Bank & Trust
- MainStay Funds
- Charles Schwab Investment Management
- American Century Investment Management
- MFS Investment management
You can view the entire list of top mutual fund performers by enlarging the image at the right.
To read the full report on these top fund families and details from Barron’s on what worked in 2011, visit Barrons.com.
