Archive for July 30, 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.

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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.

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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.