3 Best Janus Funds for Mom-and-Pop Investors

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Personal investors looking at Janus funds will find plenty of well-managed no-load choices.

JanusJanus Capital Group (JNS) has been offering mutual funds to investors for more than 45 years. Janus funds rose to stardom in the 1990s, when their growth funds were loaded with technology stocks that were crushing the major market indices.

Although that meteoric rise also led to steep declines after the technology bubble burst, Janus funds eventually recovered in the 2000s and today shows promise of a bright future with a diverse mix of top performers.

Including all share classes, the Janus family of funds offers more than 350 choices. The do-it-yourself Mom-and-Pop investors will generally do best to isolate their search to the T-shares.

We sifted through all of the Janus funds to highlight these three standouts:

3 Janus Funds for Mom-and-Pop Investors: Janus Balanced Fund Class T (JABAX)

3 Janus Funds for Mom-and-Pop Investors: Janus Balanced Fund Class T (JABAX)
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 Expenses: 0.82%, or $82 annually per $10,000 invested
Minimum Initial Investment: $2,500

If you’re looking for a solid, reliable mutual fund, Janus Balanced Fund Class T (JABAX) is an outstanding choice.

The Janus Balanced portfolio is a moderate blend of stocks and bonds, which makes it a great standalone fund or a core holding in a diversified portfolio. The stock holdings are mostly large-cap U.S. stocks and the bonds have an average investment grade credit quality of “BBB” and an average in maturity/duration of intermediate-term (five to 10 years).

Top stock holdings include Apple (AAPL), Mastercard (MA) and Blackstone Group (BX).

Investors considering JABAX will like the solid returns that have consistently ranked ahead of category peers. All performance ranks for periods of one year or more are significantly ahead of the average moderate allocation fund. The fund’s solid track record is punctuated by the impressive 8.3% 10-year annualized return, which beats 96% of category peers.

Even better, the management team has been in place for more than 10 years. This shows promise of dependable long-term performance going forward.

3 Janus Funds for Mom-and-Pop Investors: Janus Research Fund Class T (JAMRX)

3 Janus Funds for Mom-and-Pop Investors: Janus Research Fund Class T (JAMRX)
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 Expenses: 0.8%
Minimum Initial Investment: $2,500

Janus Research Fund Class T (JAMRX) is one of the best actively-managed large growth funds in the universe of mutual funds.

Long-time investors with a good memory will recall that the JAMRX ticker was attached to the fund’s original name, Janus Mercury, which was among the high fliers of the late ’90s that went spiraling down in the early 2000s. But the hard lessons of that time have likely been instilled in the minds of Janus fund managers as a valuable lesson.

Although JAMRX came under new management in December, the stellar decade-long performance record looks to be continuing for the foreseeable future.  Year-to-date JAMRX has an outstanding gain of 6.4%, which is head and shoulders above the S&P 500, which is up just 3.1%, and ranks ahead of 60% of large growth category peers.

Top holdings include large-cap standouts like Apple, Google (GOOGLGOOG) and Biogen (BIIB).

3 Janus Funds for Mom-and-Pop Investors: Janus Venture Fund Class T (JAVTX)

3 Janus Funds for Mom-and-Pop Investors: Janus Venture Fund Class T (JAVTX)
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 Expenses: 0.92%
Minimum Initial Investment: $2,500

Investors looking for something on the aggressive side will like what they see in Janus Venture Fund Class T (JAVTX).

JAVTX is a small-cap stock fund with a growth style. The top three sectors by allocation were recently technology, industrials, and healthcare. Nearly one-third of the portfolio is mid-cap stocks, which has tended to support long-term performance but can drag a bit in the short-term periods where small-caps lead, such as in the first half of 2015.

It’s also important to note that the current management team has been in place for just a little over two years. But the one-year return of 18.4% crushes the average small-growth fund’s gain of 12.5%. The three-year performance rank puts Janus Venture ahead of nearly 80% of category peers.

The expense ratio of 0.92%, or $92 for every $10,000 invested, is below category average and a low price to pay for outstanding management.

As of this writing, Kent Thune did not personally hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities. His No. 1 holding is his privately held investment advisory firm. Under no circumstances does this information represent a recommendation to buy or sell securities.

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Article printed from InvestorPlace Media, https://investorplace.com/2015/06/best-janus-funds-mom-pop-investors-jabax-jamrx-javtx/.

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