Money 70: The best mutual funds you can buy

Money Magazine's list of recommended funds is not about aiming for the highest short-term returns. Our lineup is designed to let you build a well-balanced portfolio that will help you reach your most important financial goals, like putting your kids through college, starting a business or achieving a comfortable retirement.

We focus on criteria that have real predictive value: low expenses, a strong record for putting share-holder interests first and a consistent investment strategy.

A fund that meets our standards typically ends up delivering above-average returns - two-thirds of the actively-managed funds on our list posted returns that ranked in the top half of their category in 2006, and nearly 90 percent did so over five years.

Our roster includes a range of actively managed stock and bond portfolios, as well as low-cost index and exchange-traded funds. Or you can put your investments on cruise control with one of our target-date retirement portfolios, which automatically shift their asset mix to become more conservative as you get older.

See more on how we picked the funds and what changes we've made since last year.