The Kiplinger 25 is a list of our favorite no-load mutual funds. We favor funds run by seasoned managers who take a long view and have proved themselves able to weather many a storm. And we prefer low to below-average fees.
In the tables below, you can see for each of the 25 funds, expense ratios and one-year, and annualized five- and ten-year total returns (the fund's rate of return over a given period of time, including interest, capital gains, dividends and distributions).
The Kiplinger 25 Funds
Fund name | Symbol | One-year return | Five-year annualized return | 10-year annualized return | Yield | Expense ratio |
DF Dent Midcap Growth | DFDMX | 7.0% | 7.7% | 10.5% | 0.0% | 0.89% |
Dodge & Cox Stock | DODGX | 19.2 | 16.4 | 11.5 | 1.3 | 0.51 |
Fidelity Blue Chip Growth | FBGRX | 20.8 | 21.6 | 17.1 | 0.2 | 0.47 |
Heartland Mid Cap Value | HRMDX | 5.8 | 13.1 | 8.7 | 0.8 | 1.10 |
Mairs & Power Growth | MPGFX | 13.0 | 15.2 | 11.2 | 0.8 | 0.64 |
Oberweis Small-Cap Opportunities | OBSOX | 7.9 | 19.5 | 12.9 | 0.0 | 0.64 |
T. Rowe Price Dividend Growth | PRDGX | 13.8 | 13.8 | 11.7 | 0.9 | 0.64 |
T. Rowe Price Small-Cap Value | PRSVX | 10.9 | 10.0 | 8.3 | 0.8 | 0.80 |
PRIMECAP Odyssey Growth | POGRX | 13.8 | 13.7 | 11.5 | 0.4 | 0.66 |
Vanguard Equity-Income | VEIPX | 18.4 | 13.6 | 10.4 | 2.5 | 0.27 |
Fund name | Symbol | One-year return | Five-year annualized return | 10-year annualized return | Yield | Expense ratio |
Baron Emerging Markets | BEXFX | 10.1% | 2.4% | 2.8% | 0.5% | 1.37% |
Brown Capital Mgmt Intl Small Co | BCSVX | 6.2 | 9.4 | N/A | 0.0 | 1.31 |
Fidelity International Growth | FIGFX | 6.5 | 8.5 | 7.3 | 0.4 | 0.86 |
Janus Henderson Global Equity Income | HFQTX | 15.9 | 8.8 | 5.1 | 4.1 | 0.95 |
Fund name | Symbol | One-year return | Five-year annualized return | 10-year annualized return | Yield | Expense ratio |
Fidelity Select Health Care | FSPHX | 1.9% | 7.9% | 7.6% | 0.0% | 0.65% |
T. Rowe Price Global Technology | PRGTX | 15.5 | 11.5 | 14.2 | 0.0 | 0.94 |
Vanguard Wellington | VWELX | 13.6 | 9.7 | 8.4 | 2.1 | 0.26 |
Fund name | Symbol | One-year return | Five-year annualized return | 10-year annualized return | Yield | Expense ratio |
Baird Aggregate Bond | BAGSX | 6.0% | -0.3% | 1.7% | 4.2% | 0.55% |
Dodge & Cox Income | DODIX | 6.8 | 1.4 | 2.7 | 4.1 | 0.41 |
Fidelity Interm Muni Income | FLTMX | 2.9 | 0.9 | 2.1 | 2.6 | 0.36 |
Fidelity Strategic Income | FADMX | 7.8 | 3.3 | 3.7 | 4.1 | 0.66 |
T. Rowe Price Floating Rate | PRFRX | 8.1 | 5.6 | 4.6 | 7.4 | 0.77 |
Vanguard Emerging Markets Bond | VEMBX | 10.4 | 4.0 | N/A | 6.5 | 0.55 |
Vanguard High-Yield Corporate | VWEHX | 8.5 | 3.9 | 4.4 | 6.1 | 0.22 |
Vanguard Short-Term Investment-Grade | VFSTX | 6.6 | 1.8 | 2.3 | 4.1 | 0.20 |
Indexes | Row 0 - Cell 1 | One-year return | Five-year annualized return | 10-year annualized return | Yield |
S&P 500 INDEX | Row 1 - Cell 1 | 18.4% | 24.4% | 21.4% | 1.2% |
RUSSELL 2000 INDEX* | Row 2 - Cell 1 | 6.7 | 9.4 | 7.2 | 1.2 |
MSCI EAFE INDEX† | Row 3 - Cell 1 | 8.8 | 8.7 | 5.3 | 2.9 |
MSCI EMERGING MARKETS INDEX | Row 4 - Cell 1 | 10.1 | 4.3 | 3.5 | 2.6 |
BLOOMBERG U.S. AGGREGATE BOND INDEX# | Row 5 - Cell 1 | 5.8 | -0.5 | 1.5 | 4.6 |
As of February 28, 2025. *Small-company U.S. stocks. †Foreign stocks. #High-grade U.S. bonds. N/A = Fund not in existence for the entire period.
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SOURCES: Fund companies, FTSE Russell, Morningstar Inc., MSCI, S&P Dow Jones Indices. Yields listed for bond funds are SEC yields, which are net of fees; stock fund yields are the yield for the past 12 months.
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