Are these 3 Top-Ranked Mutual Funds In Your Retirement Portfolio?

It is never too late to invest in mutual funds for retirement. As such, if you plan to invest in some of the best funds, the Zacks Mutual Fund Rank can provide you with valuable guidance.

How can you tell a good mutual fund from a bad one? It's pretty basic: if the fund is diversified, has low fees, and shows strong performance, it's a keeper. Of course, there's a wide range, but using the Zacks Mutual Fund Rank, we've found three mutual funds that would be great additions to any long-term investors' portfolios.

Here are the funds that have achieved the Zacks Mutual Fund Rank #1 (Strong Buy) and have low fees.

T. Rowe Price Science & Technology Fund (PRSCX): 0.8% expense ratio and 0.63% management fee. PRSCX is a Sector - Tech mutual fund, allowing investors to own a stake in a notoriously volatile sector with a much more diversified approach. PRSCX has achieved five-year annual returns of an astounding 14.79%.

American Beacon BW Large Cap Value Investor (BWLIX) is a stand out amongst its peers. BWLIX is a part of the Large Cap Value category, and invests in equities with a market capitalization of $10 billion or more, but whose share prices do not reflect their intrinsic value. With five-year annualized performance of 12.99%, expense ratio of 1.04% and management fee of 0.55%, this diversified fund is an attractive buy with a strong history of performance.

Principal Capital Appreciation R3 (PCAOX) is an attractive large-cap allocation. PCAOX is a Large Cap Blend fund, targeting companies with market caps of over $10 billion. These funds offer investors a stability, and are perfect for people with a "buy and hold" mindset. PCAOX has an expense ratio of 0.99%, management fee of 0.41%, and annual returns of 11.68% over the past five years.

We hope that your investment advisor (if you use one) has you invested in one or all of the top-ranked mutual funds we've reviewed. But if that isn't the case, it might be time to have a conversation or reconsider this vitally important relationship.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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