MONEY Magazine

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.

 
 
Vanguard Target Retirement (VTINX)      
Vanguard 2005 (VTOVX) 47.00% 51.00% 2.00%
Vanguard 2015 (VTXVX) 65.20% 33.60% 1.20%
Vanguard 2025 (VTTVX) 80.30% 19.00% 1.14%
Vanguard 2035 (VTTHX) 88.90% 9.90% 1.25%
Vanguard 2045 (VTIVX) 88.70% 9.60% 1.70%
T. Rowe Price Retirement (TRRIX)      
T. Rowe Price 2005 (TRRFX) 54.10% 30.25% 15.60%
T. Rowe Price 2010 (TRRAX) 63.45% 25.20% 11.30%
T. Rowe Price 2015 (TRRGX) 70.40% 21.30% 8.30%
T. Rowe Price 2020 (TRRBX) 77.20% 16.80% 5.90%
T. Rowe Price 2025 (TRRHX) 82.90% 12.30% 4.80%
T. Rowe Price 2030 (TRRCX) 87.60% 7.80% 4.60%
T. Rowe Price 2035 (TRRJX) 89.10% 6.40% 4.50%
T. Rowe Price 2040 (TRRDX) 89.00% 6.50% 4.50%
T. Rowe Price 2045 (TRRKX) 88.90% 6.60% 4.60%

Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.

Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.