NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Remember the heady days when picking growth stocks was child's play? The market, the economy and investor sentiment are arguably trickier to gauge these days.

That's why it may pay to hitch your hard-earned money to growth funds who have consistently worked hard for investors and whose managers have proven to be good stock-pickers over time.

Here are six solid choices that distinguish themselves from the pack. (They're among the best, but they're not the only top-flight contenders. For a broader "best of" list, try our MONEY 100 and check out Morningstar's Fund Analyst Picks.)

American Funds Growth Fund of America is a favorite core holding both among Morningstar fund analysts and MONEY's editors.

With average annual returns of 7.5 percent over five years and 13 percent over a 10-year period, the Growth Fund of America ranks second in its category for performance over those periods.

And even though, like its peers, it lost money during the bear market, it lost far less than the competition. On a three-year annualized basis it fell 10.7 percent a year, ranking it in the top 8 percent in its category. Year to date, it's up nearly 14 percent.

And it's cheap, relatively speaking. Its expense ratio of 0.78 percent is far below the 1.53 percent category average.

The fund is run by an experienced six-person management team, doesn't place big bets on any one stock and is among the most tax-efficient growth funds.

Marsico Focus also makes the MONEY100 list and the list of top picks from Morningstar analysts.

Created by star manager Tom Marsico after he left Janus Capital in 1997, the fund has a concentrated portfolio of up to 30 stocks, which places it among the more aggressive large-cap picks because of the influence a few stocks can have on the fund's fate.

On a five-year basis, Marsico Focus ranks in the top 11 percent of large-cap growth funds with an average annual return of 1.86 percent, due largely to Marsico's decision to reduce the fund's tech exposure at the beginning of the bear market, Morningstar analyst Paul Herbert notes. Since its inception, the fund has trumped the category's average return in all but one year.

Year to date, it has gained nearly 15 percent and ranks in the top 21 percent of its peers.

It's not the cheapest fund around. With an expense ratio of 1.34 percent, it's only about 0.2 percentage points below the category average.

The T. Rowe Price Mid-Cap Growth Fund is a favorite among Morningstar analysts and certified financial planners Ron Roge and Pat Jennerjohn.

In terms of delivering profits and protecting them in a bear market, this fund more than measures up. "They're very steady," Jennerjohn said.

On a 10-year annualized basis, it ranks in the top 3 percent of funds, with an average 14.1 percent gain a year. On a three-year basis, it beat out 94 percent of its peers, with an average decline of just 2.4 percent a year.

At 0.88 percent, its expense ratio is practically half that of the category average (1.64 percent) and the fund carries below average risk compared with its peers.

Morningstar also lists this fund as an "after-tax star" -- meaning investors in this fund saw fewer of their profits eaten up by taxes than investors in most other mid-cap growth funds. On a five-year basis, for instance, taxes sucked up only about 0.66 percent of the funds' returns, compared with the category average of 1.79 percent.

Turner Midcap Growth is a Morningstar fund analyst pick and recently has been added to Morningstar's own 401(k) fund.

"It's a more aggressive momentum fund," said Russel Kinnel, Morningstar's director of fund analysis, who himself has invested in the fund. "Every time growth is in favor it does great. Then the flipside happens. In that way, it's predictable." That's why, he adds, "you definitely don't want to put a ton of assets in it." His suggestion? No more than 10 percent of your money.

Even though on a three-year annualized basis its returns place the fund in the bottom half of its category, its 13.4 percent average annual returns since its inception in October 1996 is more than double the 6.02 percent category average. On a five-year basis, the fund's 6.7 percent average annual gains rank it among the top 14 percent of mid-cap growth funds.

Buffalo Small Cap Fund is another steady profit maker that's a favorite among Morningstar fund analysts as well as Roge and Jennerjohn.

On a three-year basis, it delivered an annualized average return of 10 percent -- ranking it in the top 2 percent of its peers. On a five-year basis, it gained an average 20 percent a year, placing it among the top 3 percent of small-cap growth funds. Year to date, it's up 31 percent.

Compared with the competition in an asset class notorious for its volatility, the fund's managers "are more patient with their picks. They're more like growth at a reasonable price than momentum growth," Jennerjohn said. More bluntly, she said, theirs is "not the cowboy-wahoo kind of approach."

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That's helped them to make the Buffalo fund one of the most tax-efficient small-cap growth funds for shareholders. On a five-year basis, only 0.67 percent of its annual returns were lost to taxes, ranking it in the top 2 percent of small-cap funds.

FMI Focus, which is a MONEY 100 pick, is a more aggressive choice because manager Richard Lane tends to make bigger-than-usual bets in a given sector than his category peers, Morningstar analyst Kerry O'Boyle notes. But he also takes a value-oriented approach to growth stocks, which is what appeals to Jennerjohn.

For instance, she said, he's not inclined to buy companies without earnings, and favors those companies he thinks will grow like gangbusters but that are currently undervalued.

That blended approach has often paid off. On a five-year annualized basis the fund has gained an average 18.7 percent a year, ranking it in the top 3 percent of small-cap funds. Year to date, it's up nearly 22 percent.

With a 1.46 percent expense ratio, it's not the cheapest fund in the neighborhood but it still falls below the category average of 1.73 percent.

And on a five-year basis, the fund has proven a tax-efficient choice in its category. With a tax-cost ratio of 1.94 percent, it ranks in the top 3 percent of its peers.