Morningstar’s portfolio makeover is for Susan, a fairly young retiree who has $2.8 million in assets and is planning to fund 30 years or longer for retirement. Being in all-stocks here is a mistake, but some of the surviving mutual funds in the equity portion of the portfolio are Harbor International (HAINX), T. Rowe Price Small Cap Value PRSVX), and Amana Trust Growth (AMAGX). The full report is called “A Young Retiree’s Portfolio Grows Up.”

Her fixed-income holdings of DoubleLine Total Return (DLTNX) and Artio Global High Income (BJBHX) were both called “good starting points” in the portfolio.  The recommended balance for these holdings were T. Rowe Price Short-Term Bond (PRWBX), Harbor Bond (HABDX), Loomis Sayles Bond (LSBRX), and Harbor Real Return (HARRX).

The idea here is not having too many eggs in one type of asset basket and Morningstar is running features and a seminar on this topic for retirement.  Being retired and having all of the money invested in the volatile stock market is no good.  Interestingly enough, a prior portfolio makeover this week from Morningstar actually showed the pitfalls of being too conservative in retirement with inflation overpowering peace of mind.

JON C. OGG

24/7 Wall St. looked at the "Best Funds" lists of the publications that have for years devoted a tremendous amount of their editorial effort to evaluating mutual funds. We conducted a "meta-data" study to find out which funds were on more than one list. The number was very small.

Forbes, Money, Smart Money, and Kiplinger do not have much in common in the ways they measure performance. Some of the ratings are based on simple one-year returns. Others weigh in multi-year performance. Still others look at performance volatility. Some funds are measured on how they will fit into a portfolio mix to drive the best and safest long-term pay-back.

Here are the nine funds that made more than one list

Matthews China Fund (MCHFX) Designed to be a long-term China investment which keeps over two-thirds of its capital in securities from that country. On the Smart Money and Forbes lists.

CMG Focus (CGMFX)  Long-term appreciation focused and tends to invest in equities of a small number of companies at any one time. On the Forbes, Smart Money, and Kiplinger lists.

Harbor Bond International (HABDX) Invests for total return, primarily in corporate and government bonds in the US and overseas. On the Money and Kiplinger lists.

T Rowe Price Equity Income (PRFDX) Invests in well-established companies with higher than normal yields. On the Money and Kiplinger lists.

Dodge & Cox International (DODFX)  Invests for principle and income growth with 80% of assets from outside US. On both the Money and Kiplinger lists.

Fairholme Fund (FAIRX) Invests in no more that 25 equities at one time. May take positions in convertible preferred shares. On Kiplinger and Money lists.

T Rowe Price Emerging Markets Stock (PRMSX) Invests for long-term growth of capital. Eighty percent of investment in emerging markets in Asia, Latin America, and Middle East. On Kiplinger and Money lists.

Oakmark International (OAKIX) Invests in common stocks of companies in at least five countries outside the US at any one time. On Money and Kiplinger lists.

Muhlenkamp (MUHLX) Buys stock and fixed income in companies it believes are undervalued. On both Money and Kiplinger lists.

Additional fund description data from Money.

Douglas A. McIntyre

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