Archive for July 2010

The Mutual Fund Series: Franklin Templeton Investments

This is a continuation of The Mutual Fund Series here on JosephSangl.com.

During each part of this weekly series, we will be looking at a specific mutual fund company.

Today’s company is Franklin Templeton Investments.

FranklingTempleton

Franklin Templeton is a global organization known for frugal and conservative investment management. The company is based in San Mateo, CA and serves in more than 150 countries with offices in over 30 countries. They currently manage $586.8 billion in investments and the number of investments is continually growing.

What I Like About Franklin Templeton Investments

  • Stable History – Franklin Templeton was founded in 1947 and for 63 years it has maintained stability and success.
  • Diversification – Franklin Templeton Mutual Funds offers 11 types of mutual funds for investors: International, Global, Growth, Value, Blended, Hybrid, Sector, Asset Allocation, Fixed Income, Tax Free Income, and Money Funds.
  • Globalization – Franklin Templeton has offices in countries representing 84% of the World’s GDP and the company is the second-largest cross-border fund manager.
  • Strong Capital Management – Franklin Templeton has been given strong credit ratings with a stable outlook from both Standard & Poor’s (AA- / A-1+) and Moody’s (A1 / P-1). The company’s dividend has also increased every year since 1981.
  • Variety of Products and Services– Not only does Franklin Templeton offer mutual funds, they also offer 529 College Plans, Coverdell ESA’s, IRA’s (Roth and Traditional), and multiple online financial tools.
  • Easy Transfers – If an investor has a change in their investing objective, they can easily transfer from one fund to another, with little or no cost.

    What I Would Like To See Improved

    • Minimum Investment Required – Franklin Templeton’s minimum investment required is $1,000, which is lower than the previously mentioned Vanguard and Fidelity, yet it is still four times higher than a mutual fund from American Funds.
    • Charges and Fees – Franklin Templeton offers very few no-load mutual funds (shares sold without commissions or sales charges). About 82.4% of funds are load mutual funds and about 17.6% are no-load funds. A no-load mutual fund usually outperforms front-end load (when fees are charged at the time of purchase) and back-end load (when fees are charged at the time the mutual fund is sold) mutual funds.

      Franklin Templeton Mutual Funds I Own

      I do not currently own any Franklin Templeton mutual funds.

      Franklin Templeton Mutual Fund To Look At

      • Franklin Growth Fund [Ticker: FKGRX] – The Franklin Growth Fund primarily invests’ in common stocks, across a variety of industries. This fund has net assets of $2.4 billion with an annual fee expense ratio of 1.00% and an average annual return of 9.92% since inception.

      Read about other mutual fund companies

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      NOTE:   Clemson student Anna Briscoe, a senior majoring in Economics with a minor in Financial Management has been so gracious to research and write the majority of this post.

      The Mutual Fund Series: Oppenheimer Funds

      This is a continuation of The Mutual Fund Series here on JosephSangl.com.

      During each part of this weekly series, we will be looking at a specific mutual fund company.

      Today’s company is Oppenheimer Funds.

      oppenheimer

      Oppenheimer Funds is an asset management company with headquarters in New York, NY, with $255 billion of currently managed assets. Founded in 1960, Oppenheimer Funds was affiliated with the brokerage firm Oppenheimer & Company, Inc. However, Oppenheimer Funds is now owned by Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company (Mass Mutual) and has no corporate ties to Oppenheimer & Co., Inc. or Oppenheimer Capital.

      What I Like About Oppenheimer Funds

      • Diversification – Oppenheimer Funds offer 12 types of mutual funds for investors: global, growth, large growth, value, quantitative, portfolio solutions, taxable bond, municipal bond, specialty, money market, cash reserves and institutional. However, Oppenheimer Funds has become well-known for their niche with bond funds in the mutual bond market.
      • Variety of Products and Services – Oppenheimer Funds offer other products and services, such as IRA’s (Roth and Traditional), 403(b), 401(k), 529 college plans, and Coverdell ESA’s.
      • Award Winning Website – www.oppenheimerfunds.com was designated as Excellent by DALBAR in 2009 for the websites functionality and usability.

      What I Would Like To See Improved

      • Minimum Investment Required – The minimum investment for OppenheimerFunds is $1000, which is the same as Franklin Templeton: not as high as some mutual funds, but you could find it lower elsewhere.
      • Front-End Load Funds – Many of Oppenheimer Funds’ top rated mutual funds by Morningstar carry large front-end loads of 3.50% to 5.75%, which will start off your investment with a 3.50% to 5.75% LOSS! Even worse, only 8.7% of Oppenheimer Funds’ assets are no-load funds.
      • Fund Performance – Oppenheimer Funds owns several five-star and four-star mutual funds as of February 2009, which are excellent ratings; however, the company’s municipal and taxable bond funds have recently experienced poor performance.

      Oppenheimer Mutual Funds I Own

      I do not currently own any Oppenheimer mutual funds.

      Oppenheimer Mutual Fund To Look At

      • Oppenheimer Equity Fund Inc. [Ticker: OEQAX] – This mutual fund’s inception date was October 2, 1947 with a focus on investments in medium to large-capitalization companies. The fund has assets of $1.62 billion, an average annual return of 9.54% since inception, and an expense ratio of 1.03%.

      Read about other mutual fund companies

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      NOTE:   Clemson student Anna Briscoe, a senior majoring in Economics with a minor in Financial Management has been so gracious to research and write the majority of this post.

      The Mutual Fund Series: Janus Funds

      This is a continuation of The Mutual Fund Series here on JosephSangl.com.

      During each part of this weekly series, we will be looking at a specific mutual fund company.

      Today’s company is Janus.

      Janus

      Janus Capital Management is a subsidiary of Janus Capital Group, Inc. that is based in Denver, Colorado and it was founded in 1969 by Thomas Bailey. Janus Capital Group, Inc. is comprised of Janus Capital Management LLC, INTECH Investment Management LLC, and Perkin Investment Management LLC. All three of these subsidiaries currently manage $165.5 billion. Janus Capital Management handles balanced, alternative, fixed-income, and money market funds.

      What I Like About Janus Funds

      • Intensive Research – Janus is a devoted to thorough research of each stock they invest in. Millions of dollars are spent each year for research purposes.
      • Employee Investments – Janus requires every mutual fund employee to invest in the funds they represent in order to ensure that the interest of the employees is always in alignment with the interest of the clients.
      • Award-Winning Funds – Janus has been recently honored by Lipper with awards for delivering consistently strong risk-adjusted relative performance and the company has won multiple awards for individual funds. Around 95% of Janus’ funds are no-load.
      • Rejecting Buyouts – Janus Capital Group rejected buyout offers from MassMutual and FranklinTempleton, which is extremely important for their hometown Denver, CO. Even though Janus is a smaller fund company compared T. Rowe Price, FranklinTempleton, and Oppenheimer, the company has seen growing fund performance rates in the past few months, giving Janus hope of staying independent.

      Something To Consider

      • Reputation – Unfortunately, Janus was involved in the mutual fund scandal in 2003 by allowing favored clients to participate in illegal market timing trading. Janus eventually agreed to a $226 million settlement with federal and state regulators in 2004. Even though Janus seems to be showing great fund performance now, investors should always be cautious.

      Janus Mutual Funds I Own

      I do not currently own any Janus mutual funds.

      Janus Mutual Fund To Look At

      Janus Advisor Large Cap Growth [Ticker: JDGAX]- The objective of this fund is long-term growth of capital by investing in common stocks with growth potential. This fund’s inception date was February 5, 1970. It has an annual expense ratio of 1.04%, an average annual return of 12.06%, and a minimum investment of $2,500. Morningstar gave this fund a 3-star rating.

      Read about other mutual fund companies

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      NOTE:   Clemson student Anna Briscoe, a senior majoring in Economics with a minor in Financial Management has been so gracious to research and write the majority of this post.

      The Mutual Fund Series: T. Rowe Price

      This is a continuation of The Mutual Fund Series here on JosephSangl.com.

      During each part of this weekly series, we will be looking at a specific mutual fund company.

      Today’s company is T. Rowe Price.

      TRowePrice

      T. Rowe Price is an independent, global investment company founded in 1937 by Thomas Rowe Price, Jr. The company is based in Baltimore, Maryland, with offices in 12 countries around the world. T. Rowe Price currently manages $419 Billion in assets.

      What I Like About T. Rowe Price

      • Award-Winning Company – T. Rowe Price is recognized by Morningstar as the number one mutual fund company based on fund return, stewardship, manager tenure, manager investment, and retention. The company has also been esteemed as having consistently strong risk-adjusted performance and was named Best Overall Large Company by Lipper.
      • Community Involvement – T. Rowe Price is greatly involved in their surrounding communities by volunteering, giving, leading, and educating. The T. Rowe Price Associates Foundation was founded in 1981 and it was established to provide assistance for nonprofit organizations, educate families, and provide scholarships.
      • Retirement Plan Management – T. Rowe Price has an excellent website that provides the client with account access, do-it-yourself planning tools, and target-date portfolios that allows you to invest and manage based on time. The company offers four retirement choices: T. Rowe Price Mutual Funds, One-Step Portfolios, Open Architecture (combined T. Rowe Price funds with outside funds), and Tradelink (self-directed). T. Rowe Price gives their clients many options for investing with exceptional website tools.
      • 100% No-Load! – T. Rowe Price provides investors with over 90 mutual funds with no front-end or back-end loads, as well as low fee rates.
      • Minimum Investment Options – T. Rowe Price Mutual Funds have a minimum investment of $1,000 or $2,500 depending on the fund. HOWEVER, they do offer a Systematic Purchase Minimum that allows you to invest $50 each month. This is a great option for those that don’t have $1,000 or $2,500 to put down on an investment!

      What I Would Like To See Improved At T. Rowe Price

      • Commissions Fees – T. Rowe Price charges higher stock brokerage commissions fees than other brokers. The cost is $20 for 1,000 total shares and 2 cents more for every share above 1,000. An investor could also be charged $118 if assistance is needed to make a stock trade.

      T. Rowe Price Mutual Funds I Own

      I do not currently own any T. Rowe. Price mutual funds.

      T. Rowe Price Mutual Fund To Look At

      T. Rowe Price New Horizons Fund [Ticker: PRNHX] – This fund’s objective is to provide long-term growth of capital by investing in small, rapidly growing companies. The inception date of this fund was June 3, 1960. It has an expense ratio of 0.85%, an average annual return since inception of 10.69%, and requires a minimum investment of $2,500. Morningstar has given this fund a 4-star rating.

      Read about other mutual fund companies

      Read recent posts

      NOTE:   Clemson student Anna Briscoe, a senior majoring in Economics with a minor in Financial Management has been so gracious to research and write the majority of this post.