The current manager, Alex Ely, has been in charge since June 2016, although he leads a team of managers with longer tenure. The strategy makes sense: Oftentimes, really great small and midsize companies eventually become great large-cap companies.ĭelaware Smid Cap Growth A ( DFCIX, $24.17) looks for hot investment themes and the companies that can grow from them. What's a "smid-cap" growth fund? It's one that invests in small and mid-cap funds. SEE ALSO: The Best Vanguard Funds for 401(k) Retirement Savers #21: Delaware Smid Cap Growth AĪverage annual return since inception: 13.47% Learn more about VPMCX at the Vanguard provider page. However, you still can get the PRIMECAP touch with PRIMECAP Odyssey Growth ( POGRX), which has gained an average 10.66% since its inception in November 2004. In fact, investors adore this fund so much, it had to close itself to new money. Its 0.38% expense ratio and 8% turnover ratio are two other reasons VPMCX sits among the market's best mutual funds. Vanguard PRIMECAP Investor ( VPMCX, $133.22), which also uses a multimanager approach, looks for stocks of companies with above-average long-term growth prospects. SEE ALSO: The Best American Funds for 401(k) Retirement Savers #22: Vanguard PRIMECAP InvestorĪverage annual return since inception: 13.46% Learn more about AGTHX at the American Funds provider page. Like many of the best large-growth mutual funds, AGTHX owns lots of tech giants: Facebook ( FB), Microsoft ( MSFT) and ( AMZN) are the fund's top three holdings. The second is American Funds' team-management approach, which has powered the fund since its inception. (A-class shares come with a maximum 5.75% sales commission, but you can buy its no-load shares under the ticker GFAFX via many discount brokers). The mammoth $186 billion American Funds The Growth Fund of America A ( AGTHX, $49.76) has several weapons in its arsenal, the first of which is its low 0.62% expense ratio. SEE ALSO: The Best Fidelity Funds for 401(k) Retirement Savers #23: American Funds The Growth Fund of America AĪverage annual return since inception: 13.42% Learn more about FBSOX at the Fidelity provider page. Zach Turner, the current manager, has been at the helm for less than a year. Launched just two years before the tech-bubble burst of 2000, Fidelity Select IT Services ( FBSOX, $70.99) is a direct bet on taking care of your technology - an industry that has grown as tech has become more complex.įidelity uses its sector funds as training grounds for its diversified funds FBSOX has had 11 managers since 1999. SEE ALSO: 20 Dividend Stocks to Fund 20 Years of Retirement #24: Fidelity Select IT ServicesĪverage annual return since inception: 13.40% Learn more about FDGRX at the Fidelity provider page. Unfortunately, Fidelity Growth Company is among the best mutual funds that currently are closed to new investors. The fund currently has nearly 35% of its portfolio invested in technology and 17% in health care. SEE ALSO: The 25 Best Low-Fee Mutual Funds to Buy Now #25: Fidelity Growth CompanyĪverage annual return since inception: 13.34%įidelity Growth Company ( FDGRX, $19.67) has had the benefit of some of Fidelity's finest managers, including Robert Stansky, who powered the fund in the early 1990s, and Steve Wymer, who has managed it since 1997.įDGRX looks for fast-growing stocks that can keep expanding for the next three to five years, and it has a penchant for technology and biotech stocks. We did exclude bond and money market funds, however, because that's not where you go for high performance. Index funds don't aim to be top performers, and international funds are in a long-term performance drought. We didn't exclude them - they just weren't in the top 25 top equity funds. You'll note there are no index funds, nor any international funds. Going for a minimum of two decades eliminates some of the bias from a decade-long bull market, and adds in at least two major bear markets. and/or international stocks alike - with at least a 20-year record, and ranked them based on returns since inception. We looked at the records of all U.S.-listed stock funds - holding U.S. Here are the 25 best mutual funds of all time. But it's another thing to outperform the competition over the entirety of a fund's life.