(PUB) Investing 2015

Assessing the Most Loved and Hated Funds Continued From Cover

2

The Most Popular and Unpopular Funds in the United States

1-Year Fund Flow $B

Total Ret Annlzd 5-Yr %

Total Ret % Rank Cat 5-Yr

Total Ret Annlzd 10-Yr %

Total Ret % Rank Cat 10-Yr

Total Ret Annlzd 15-Yr %

Total Ret % Rank Cat 15-Yr

Fund Size $B

Morningstar Analyst Rating

Inflows

Ticker

Metropolitan West Total Rtrn Bnd

MWTRX 35

65.7

5.94

7

6.58

2

6.74

5

Œ

Dodge & Cox Income

DODIX 16.6

43.5

4.97 8.59

30

5.42 7.68

17 14

6.20

14

Œ

Dodge & Cox International Stock DODFX 11.1

69

9 2

— —

Œ

PIMCO Income

PONDX 8.9 VWITX 5.6 FTBFX 5.4

43.6

10.70

— — — —

„

Vanguard Interm-Term Tx-Ex

43 19

4.35 5.14

35 24

4.30 5.33

22 20

4.74

36

„

Fidelity Total Bond

— —

Œ

Outflows Columbia Acorn

ACRNX -6.7

13.8

11.41

85

9.45

62

10.54

4

x

PIMCO All Asset All Authority

PAUDX -7.1

17

3.89

75 55 33 43 66 63 36

— — — —

„

American Funds Grw Fund of Amer AGTHX -7.9

150 112 13.3

13.33 14.29

9.19

43 17 22 25

5.86 7.56 4.08 6.88

14

´

Fidelity Contrafund

FCNTX -10.3 PLDDX -10.4 TGVAX -13.2

10.50

2

„

PIMCO Low Duration

2.18 6.60 2.10 4.85

3.60 7.49

29

´

Thornburg International Value

11

1

´

PIMCO Unconstrained Bond

PUBDX -15

9.8

— — — —

x

PIMCO Total Return

PTTRX -123

117

6.11

4

6.76

5

´

Data as of April 23, 2015.

Biggest Outflows

Vanguard Intermediate-TermTax-Exempt Investors VWITX $5.6 Billion Why? No idea. This • -rated fund is an excellent choice, though I can’t explain why it happens to be receiving a ton of money now. It’s a well-run, low-cost fund and serves as a fine way to invest in high-quality munis. The fund has three fourths of the portfolio in bonds rated AA and higher, so there’s very little credit risk. This is a peace- of-mind fund rather than a maximum-yield fund. Why? We now come to our last of the PIMCO Total Return replacements. The fund doesn’t have dramatic swings like PIMCO Total Return because it avoids big macroeconomic bets. Manager Ford O’Neil focuses on issue selection and takes a bit of additional credit risk to beat the benchmark. He’ll invest up to 20% in below-investment-grade credit. Overall, he’s done an excellent job, and I think this Œ -rated fund is a strong choice for a core fixed-income fund that won’t provide too many surprises. Fidelity Total Bond FTBFX $5.3 Billion

PIMCO Total Return PTTRX Negative $123 Billion

Why? The Bill Gross kerfuffle. We just reaffirmed our ´ rating on the fund, as things have actually gone pretty well since Gross’ departure. The outflows are the biggest negative, but they have had little to no impact on returns and performance has been strong. The new three-person team seems to be functioning well so far, though we’ll want to see more evidence of that before considering an upgrade. I haven’t touched my PIMCO Total Return invest- ment (other than rebalancing) since Gross left, and I think that’s the wise course for most people. PIMCO Unconstrained Bond PUBDX Negative $14 Billion Why? Even before Bill Gross left, investors were bailing on the fund because of disappointing perform- ance and manager turnover. I see no reason to rush into this one given those issues but also because I really want to see how new manager Marc Seidner