For most people the best investments for 2011 will be in the form of the best bond funds and stock funds from the best fund companies in America.
Here's where we go all the way and explain these best investments and why they are getting even better in 2011.
Then, we get specific about the best funds and name two fund companies.
Mutual funds were designed with one primary objective in mind: to be the best investments for average folks who wanted to share the wealth produced by stocks and bonds.
In 2011 and beyond the best of these funds will still be your best investments and they will offer both diversification and professional management at low cost to you as an investor.
All fund companies offer average investors a small piece of a large diversified stock or bond portfolio - easy to invest in and easy to cash in - usually at a reasonable cost.
The biggest and best fund companies offer well over 100 funds to choose from; and some of their very best funds will cost very little to invest in for 2011 and beyond.
Due to heavy competition between fund companies, things have gotten even better for average investors.
Well, at least for those who know where to find the best investments, funds and fund companies.
For 40 years I've followed the fund companies in search of the best investments.
My 4 criteria: quality and variety of funds offered, performance, service to customers, and the cost of investing.
I've found that dozens of the larger fund companies can make claims and boast about being the best in the first 3 areas.
But try as they may, fund companies can't hide the investor's cost of investing - which has increased for many funds.
The good news for today's investors is that the two biggest fund companies in America will be competing like crazy for your business in 2011 and beyond with a low cost of investing; especially in what I consider to be their best funds, your best investments.
Before I get specific and name names, imagine being a financial planner (like I was for 20 years) competing as follows.
In the best investments in stock funds I could offer my clients with $10,000 to invest: $500 comes off the top to pay for sales charges and my commission; and about $150 of your money goes for management and other expenses EACH YEAR.
Now compare this to the cost of buying and owning the best funds from the biggest (and in my opinion best) fund companies in America in 2011: Vanguard and Fidelity.
The total cost to buy is zero, because there are no sales charges.
Yearly expenses can be about $50 for a $10,000 investment, sometimes less than HALF that.
The best investments in both bond and stock funds for most people are INDEX FUNDS.
I call them the best funds because they really don't have bad years relative to the competition, and they have the lowest costs.
Index funds simply invest in line with their benchmark - an index.
They don't waste big bucks trying to do what few funds have ever done: beat the indexes consistently.
Fidelity and Vanguard both offer stock and bond index funds and pass the savings on to you.
Here are the best they offer for 2011 and beyond.
The best investments in bond funds for 2011 are short-term and intermediate-term bond index funds vs.
long-term funds.
The latter pay higher interest income, but are subject to much greater losses if interest rates turn around and head north during the year.
The best investments in stock funds for 2011 are stock index funds with the number 500 in their name, referring to the S&P 500 Stock Index.
These funds invest your money in 500 or so of the largest and best-known companies in America.
This includes Exxon, Apple, Microsoft and General Electric as their largest holdings going into 2011.
So, there you have the whole package.
The best fund companies offering the best investments for 2011 in the form of the best funds they offer...
all in 500 words, or more.
Plus, now you know how to save $500 up front the next time you invest $10,000 in mutual funds.