(MONEY Magazine) – This is a tricky time of year for mutual fund investors. After advances averaging 27% in 1995, "many funds are poised to make larger-than-average capital-gains distributions this December," says Morningstar president Don Phillips. If you're planning to invest a large sum in a mutual fund between now and year-end, call the fund to learn the date of the planned payout and wait until it passes before sending your check. Otherwise, you'll find a big chunk of your money will come flying back at you--and you'll owe taxes on it.

More than two years after it closed to new investors, $3.1 billion Janus Twenty has reopened its doors. Manager Thomas Marsico, 40, has whittled the large-company growth fund's cash holdings to less than 2% from 15% in early 1993. Up 32.6% in 1995 (vs. 31.2% for the S&P 500), Twenty seems to be recovering from three subpar years, making it worth a look for aggressive investors.

THUMBS UP to the $1.6 billion Thornburg Funds of Santa Fe. While most load fund groups are serving their customers a nasty alphabet soup of A, B, C and other share classes--each with a different set of commissions and expenses--Thornburg is taking a small but firm step in the other direction with its eight stock and bond funds. The family is eliminating class-B shares, with their irksome exit fees and higher annual expenses, and merging them into existing A shares, which carry up-front sales charges of 2.5% to 4.5%. "The market spoke," says Thornburg president Ken Ziesenheim. "The B shares did not sell, and we think getting rid of them is the right thing to do for the shareholders."

THUMBS DOWN to Charles Schwab, which in some ads hawked its new Asset Director Funds (see the adjoining article) with a dubious come-on. "Take advantage of this introductory offer," said the promo. "Until Nov. 17, 1995, you can invest...at an introductory price of $10 per share. After that date, the share price will fluctuate." The problem with that pitch: It implied that buying at the "introductory" price got you a discount. But with mutual funds, $1 always buys $1 worth of assets. And getting in early doesn't protect you against price drops. Says a Schwab spokesman: "Who knows if buying early will turn out to be right or wrong?"

--Prashanta Misra and Jason Zweig