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 | Dividend yield | Expense ratio |
| DF Dent Midcap Growth | DFDMX | 11.1% | 6.8% | 10.4% | 0.0% | 0.89% |
| Dodge & Cox Stock | DODGX | 14.5 | 12.0 | 10.8 | 1.4 | 0.51 |
| Fidelity Blue Chip Growth | FBGRX | 39.7 | 21.6 | 18.1 | 0.2 | 0.47 |
| Heartland Mid Cap Value | HRMDX | 3.6 | 9.3 | 8.7 | 0.8 | 1.10 |
| Mairs & Power Growth | MPGFX | 19.6 | 12.7 | 11.3 | 0.8 | 0.64 |
| T. Rowe Price Dividend Growth | PRDGX | 13.5 | 10.7 | 11.4 | 1.0 | 0.64 |
| T. Rowe Price Integrated US Sm Gr Eq | PRDSX | 12.9 | 7.9 | 9.7 | 0.2 | 0.80 |
| T. Rowe Price Small-Cap Value | PRSVX | 10.9 | 7.4 | 8.3 | 0.8 | 0.80 |
| PRIMECAP Odyssey Growth | POGRX | 13.0 | 10.7 | 11.6 | 0.4 | 0.66 |
| Vanguard Equity-Income | VEIPX | 15.0 | 9.9 | 10.0 | 2.3 | 0.27 |
| Fund name | Symbol | One-year return | Five-year annualized return | 10-year annualized return | Dividend yield | Expense ratio |
| Baron Emerging Markets | BEXFX | 7.6% | 0.8% | 2.6% | 0.5% | 1.37% |
| Brown Capital Mgmt Intl Small Co | BCSVX | 8.2 | 7.7 | N/A | 0.0 | 1.31 |
| Fidelity International Growth | FIGFX | 4.9 | 5.6 | 7.3 | 0.4 | 0.84 |
| Janus Henderson Global Equity Income | HFQTX | 7.1 | 4.9 | 4.9 | 4.3 | 0.98 |
| Fund name | Symbol | One-year return | Five-year annualized return | 10-year annualized return | Dividend yield | Expense ratio |
| Fidelity Select Health Care | FSPHX | 4.9% | 5.7% | 8.2% | 0.0% | 0.65% |
| T. Rowe Price Global Technology | PRGTX | 33.1 | 12.3 | 15.2 | 0.0 | 0.94 |
| Vanguard Wellington | VWELX | 14.8 | 8.2 | 8.4 | 2.2 | 0.26 |
| Fund name | Symbol | One-year return | Five-year annualized return | 10-year annualized return | Dividend yield | Expense ratio |
| Baird Aggregate Bond | BAGSX | 1.6% | -0.1% | 1.5% | 4.1% | 0.55% |
| Dodge & Cox Income | DODIX | 2.3 | 1.3 | 2.5 | 4.3 | 0.41 |
| Fidelity Interm Muni Income | FLTMX | 1.4 | 1.2 | 2.0 | 3.2 | 0.36 |
| Fidelity Strategic Income | FADMX | 6.0 | 2.9 | 3.6 | 4.8 | 0.66 |
| T. Rowe Price Floating Rate | PRFRX | 8.7 | 5.2 | 4.7 | 7.2 | 0.77 |
| Vanguard Emerging Markets Bond | VEMBX | 6.9 | 3.6 | N/A | 6.2 | 0.55 |
| Vanguard High-Yield Corporate | VWEHX | 6.3 | 3.3 | 4.5 | 6.1 | 0.22 |
| Vanguard Short-Term Investment-Grade | VFSTX | 5.0 | 1.9 | 2.2 | 4.5 | 0.20 |
| Row 0 - Cell 0 | One-year return | Five-year annualized return | 10-year annualized return | Dividend yield |
| S&P 500 INDEX | 25.0% | 14.5% | 13.1% | 1.3% |
| RUSSELL 2000 INDEX* | 11.5 | 7.4 | 7.8 | 1.2 |
| MSCI EAFE INDEX† | 3.8 | 4.7 | 5.2 | 3.1 |
| MSCI EMERGING MARKETS INDEX | 7.5 | 1.7 | 3.6 | 2.6 |
| BLOOMBERG U.S. AGGREGATE BOND INDEX# | 1.3 | -0.3 | 1.3 | 4.9 |
As of December 31, 2024. *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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