Balanced funds provide investors with the convenience of buying into a single fund rather than holding both equity and bond funds. This category of funds also reduces a portfolio’s volatility, while providing higher returns than pure fixed income investments.
The fund managers also enjoy the flexibility of changing the proportion of equity and fixed income investments in response to market conditions. An upswing may prompt them to hold a relatively higher share of equity to maximize gains whereas a downturn will see them shifting loyalties to fixed income investments to stem losses.
Below we will share with you three top-rated balanced mutual funds. Each has earned a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank #1 (Strong Buy) and is expected to outperform its peers in the future. Investors can click here to see the complete list of balanced mutual funds, their Zacks Rank and past performance.
Fidelity Asset Manager 70% Fund FASGX seeks maximization of returns for the long run. FASGX achieves its objective by investing the lion’s share of its assets in stocks, bonds, short-term instruments and other securities. Fidelity Asset Manager 70% Fund has three-year annualized returns of 7.7%.
Geoffrey Stein has been the fund manager of FASGX since 2009.
AdvisorOne CLS Shelter Fund N CLSHX invests a bulk of its assets in U.S. Treasury bills, money market funds, open-end and closed-end mutual funds and exchange traded funds. each investing in equity securities. CLSHX seeks to minimize the effect of equity market declines. AdvisorOne CLS Shelter Fund N has three-year annualized returns of 8.7%.
As of July 2017, CLSHX held 10 issues with 19.9% of its assets invested in iShares Edge MSCI USA Quality Factor ETF.
T. Rowe Price Balanced RPBAX seeks current income, growth of capital and preservation of capital. RPBAX invests the majority of its assets in common stocks and about 35% in fixed income securities. The fund also invests a minimum of one-fourth of its assets in fixed income senior securities. T. Rowe Price Balanced has three-year annualized returns of 7.8%.
RPBAX has an expense ratio of 0.60% compared with the category average of 0.84%.
To view the Zacks Rank and past performance of all balanced mutual funds, investors can click here to see the complete list of funds.
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Zacks Investment Research