What are the best mutual funds?
Mutual funds are a popular investment among investors. A fund manager chooses the investments for you. But what are the best mutual funds and how do you find them?
You have decided to invest in investment funds. But now the question arises: where do you start? There is a huge range of investment funds. This makes it difficult to make a choice. However, there are a few simple factors and tools that you can use to make a well-considered choice and choose the best investment fund. In this blog we will help you on your way to the best investment funds.
Don’t know what investment funds are? Then read this article first: ‘ What is an investment fund? ‘.
How to choose good investment funds 2022?
You want to invest in investment funds, now you still have to make a choice from the range of funds. How do you approach this search for good investment funds? There are a number of things you can take into account, for example you want a fund with a good return and low costs. After all, the costs of an investment fund reduce the return.
In addition, the strategy of the fund is important to keep an eye on. A fund that achieved a high return last year may use a risky strategy. There is also a chance that this strategy will not work out well this year. It is therefore important to check whether an investment fund fits your risk profile.
Once you know what suits your risk profile , you can start analyzing investment funds.
Analyze the best mutual funds with Morningstar
Morningstar is a website where, among other things, investment funds are assessed. You can also gain insight into figures of a specific investment fund via the website. They also give the so-called Morningstar Rating, this rating is based on return, risk and costs. Ideal to use for your analysis!
Do you already know a little bit about what you are looking for? Then you can start analyzing investment funds based on historical performance.
Research the investment fund’s strategy
The range of funds is enormous, there are more than 10,000 investment funds worldwide. Analyzing all of them is no easy task, which is why we recommend making a pre-selection. You can do this by asking yourself the following questions:
- Are you looking for dividend income or long-term capital gains?
- How much risk do you want to take? Can you handle big swings?
- Do you want to be able to withdraw from the fund at short notice?
- Are you investing money that you will not need in the coming years?
These questions can help you significantly reduce the range of investment funds available.
Best investment fund: look at the costs
Often, the focus is on yield. Which is logical, because no one wants a loss-making investment. But costs are also important to pay attention to. Costs reduce yield.
Look at the expense ratio. This is the percentage of assets that goes to management costs. You can view this as the amount that an investment fund must earn to cover the costs. Only then will you be able to earn money.
For example: one fund has a cost ratio of 1.5% and another fund only 0.5%. Then the first fund has to earn a much larger (relative) amount before it can make a profit. These differences can, certainly in the long term, add up considerably.
The best investment funds in a row (based on return) 2022
At the time of writing, 2022 is still only 4 months old. However, below is a list of the top 5 investment funds that achieved the highest returns in the first three months of 2022 (Source: Morningstar).
| # Rank | Investment fund | Yield (%) |
|---|
| 1 | Swisscanto (LU) Equity Fund – Swisscanto (LU) Equity Fund Responsible Global Energy GT | 41,61% |
| 2 | Neuberger Berman Commodities Fund USD I Accumulating Class TRE | 34,96% |
| 3 | Odey Investment plc – Odey Swan Fund R EUR Acc | 34,54% |
| 4 | Odey Investment plc – Odey Swan Fund I R EUR Inc | 33,17% |
| 5 | AEGON Global Commodity Fund | 32,62% |
Please note: historical results are never a guarantee! The image of the 3-month return can also give a distorted picture, perhaps a fund has had a windfall and the return is therefore high. The costs of the fund also play a role, these take a nice bite out of the return. So always do your homework well, before you just invest your money.
Top 10 global investment funds (based on returns)
If we look at the investment funds worldwide over a longer period, we see a very different picture than the best performing funds in the past three months. See below a top 5 investment funds, which have achieved the highest return in the past 5 years. (Source: Morningstar). Here too, historical performance is no guarantee for the future.
| # Rank | Investment fund | Average return per year (%) |
|---|
| 1 | AB – RMB Income Plus Portfolio S Acc | 50,26% |
| 2 | AB SICAV I – US High Yield Portfolio S USD Acc | 35,18% |
| 3 | JPMorgan Funds – US Technology Fund C (acc) – USD | 23,74% |
| 4 | JPMorgan Funds – US Technology Fund C (dist) – USD | 23,73% |
| 5 | JPMorgan Funds – US Technology Fund C (acc) – EUR | 23,65% |
| 6 | LO Funds – World Brands Fund Syst. NAV Hdg (SGD) P A TRE | 23,61% |
| 7 | BlackRock Global Funds – World Technology Fund D2 | 23,30% |
| 8 | Heptagon Fund ICAV – Driehaus US Micro Cap Equity Fund C USD Acc | 23,29% |
| 9 | BlackRock Global Funds – World Technology Fund D2 EUR | 23,22% |
| 10 | BlackRock Global Funds – World Technology Fund D2 GBP | 23,16% |
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