Les meilleurs fonds communs de placement de 2021 dans les régimes de retraite 401 (k)

Kiplinger

• Symbole: TRBCX
• Taux de dépenses : 0,69%
• Retour d'un an : 33,0%
• Rendement annualisé sur trois ans : 20,6%
• Rendement annualisé sur cinq ans : 19,3%
• Rendement annualisé sur 10 ans : 17,5%
• Classez-vous parmi les meilleurs fonds 401(k) : #24
• Meilleur pour: Les investisseurs agressifs avec des horizons à long terme n'ont pas peur de détenir de grosses participations dans des entreprises technologiques

Nous sommes de grands fans de T. Rowe Prix Blue Chip Croissance , which has been a member of the Kiplinger 25 since 2016. Larry Puglia has managed the fund since its mid-1993 launch. Depuis, through three bear markets and several bull markets, Puglia has steered the fund to an 11.8% annualized return over the past 27 years, which outpaces the 9.8% gain in the S&P 500 index.

Puglia has a knack for finding good, fast-growing companies. Bien sûr, that trade has worked in his favor of late, as those types of businesses have led the stock market's gains in recent years. His tilt toward firms with competitive advantages over rivals and strong multiyear growth prospects leads him naturally to big tech and consumer stocks. Holdings also must generate strong cash flow, have healthy balance sheets and be run by executives who spend in smart ways to be considered for the fund, which holds more than 100 stocks.

Blue Chip Growth typically deserves a mention among the best mutual funds for 401(k) investors under Puglia, who says he has no plans to retire. But the firm named Paul Greene associate manager in early 2020, and that move has sparked speculation that it's part of a succession plan. Morningstar analyst Katie Rushkewicz Reichart, par exemple, wrote recently that she thinks Puglia might step down sometime in the next two years.

Manager changes are always tough, even when they're planned in advance. That said, Greene comes off a solid stint at T. Rowe Price Communications &Technology (PRMTX), which focuses on sectors that are in Blue Chip Growth's sweet spot. During his six-year tenure, the fund returned 13.8% annualized. That's an average of 10 percentage points per year ahead of its competition:funds that invest in communications sector stocks.

We'll be watching closely.

Learn more about TRBCX at the T. Rowe Price provider site.

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T. Rowe Price Growth Stock

Kiplinger

• Symbol: PRGFX
• Expense ratio: 0.65 %
• One-year return: 35.9%
• Three-year annualized return: 20.5%
• Five-year annualized return: 18,9%
• 10-year annualized return: 16.8%
• Rank among the top 401(k) funds: #44
• Best for: Investors in search of a good growth fund

T. Rowe Price Growth Stock is one of three T. Rowe Price products on the roster of popular 401(k) funds that focus on large, growing companies (Blue Chip Growth and Large Cap Growth are the others).

What sets PRGFX apart from its siblings is its higher stake in tech stocks. Nearly 40% of Growth Stock's assets, at last report, were invested in tech, compared with the typical large growth stock fund, which has 32% of assets in that sector.

PRGFX's returns are solid. But they aren't as good as Blue Chip Growth. Still, you might not have access to Blue Chip Growth in your 401(k) plan, and in that case, Growth Stock is a solid choice.

Joe Fath has managed the fund since early 2014. Over the past five years, Growth Stock's 18.9% annualized return beats 63% of its peers, as well as the S&P 500. Fath keeps the portfolio to a trim 85 names, and Amazon.com, Microsoft, Apple and Facebook are among the fund's top holdings.

Learn more about PRGFX at the T. Rowe Price provider site.

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T. Rowe Price Large-Cap Growth Class I

Kiplinger

• Symbol: TRLGX
• Expense ratio: 0.56%
• One-year return: 38.2%
• Three-year annualized return: 22.6%
• Five-year annualized return: 21.2%
• 10-year annualized return: 18.0%
• Rank among the top 401(k) funds: #59
• Best for: Aggressive investors unafraid to hold big stakes in tech firms.

You might be less familiar with T. Rowe Price Large-Cap Growth Class I than other T. Rowe Price funds, but that's only because this institutional fund's $1 million minimum puts it beyond the reach of most individual investors.

It's a nifty offering. Taymour Tamaddon, who earned his stripes with a standout stint at T. Rowe Price Health Sciences (PRHSX) in the early 2010s, took over TRLGX in 2017. Since then, Large Cap Growth Class I, formerly known as Institutional Large-Cap Growth, has returned 22.6% annualized, well ahead of the S&P 500, which gained 13.5% over the same period.

Tamaddon runs a smaller portfolio than his colleagues at Blue Chip and Growth Stock, of 60 to 70 stocks. The top 10% holdings represent just over half of the fund's assets, and you'll recognize most of them. Amazon.com, Alphabet, Microsoft, Facebook and Apple held the top five positions in TRLGX at last report.

Learn more about TRLGX at the T. Rowe Price provider site.

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T. Rowe Price Mid-Cap Growth

Kiplinger

• Symbol: RPMGX
• Expense ratio: 0.74%
• One-year return: 24.4%
• Three-year annualized return: 17.0%
• Five-year annualized return: 16.2%
• 10-year annualized return: 14.7%
• Rank among the top 401(k) funds: #47
• Best for: Investors in search of a growth fund that doesn't hold Apple, Microsoft or Facebook

T. Rowe Price Mid-Cap Growth has been closed to new investors for more than a decade. But if you have access to it in your workplace retirement savings plan, and you're new to the fund, those rules don't apply.

We're jealous. We've liked this fund for a long time.

Brian Berghuis has run this portfolio of mid-cap stocks since it opened in July 1992. Since then, it has returned 13.7% annualized, which outpaces the S&P 500 by an average of 2.9 percentage points per year.

As its name suggests, Mid-Cap Growth invests in midsize companies, but Berghuis is willing to hold on to them as they grow. He homes in on firms with market values of roughly $4 billion to $30 billion. Top holding Hologic (HOLX), a healthcare company focused on women, has a market value of just under $19 billion.

RPMGX still appears to be one of the market's best mutual funds, but like a few other top T. Rowe Price funds, it seems to be moving toward a transition. Berghuis is in his 60s. Although the firm hasn't announced any coming change in manager, last October, the fund took on two new associate managers, Don Easley and Ashley Woodruff. They join associate manager John Wakeman, who has been with Berghuis from the start. New associate managers have been a harbinger of a manager change at T. Rowe Price. The firm likes to choreograph manager changes with long stretches of overlap.

This is a prudent move, and a responsible way to go about it. But when Berghuis retires, we might change our view of the fund until the new managers are tested and prove worthy. He's still in place, cependant, and no announcement has been made. We're staying tuned.

Learn more about RPMGX at the T. Rowe Price provider site.

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Vanguard Equity-Income

Kiplinger

• ​Symbol: VEIPX
• Expense ratio: 0.27%
• One-year return: 1.9%
• Three-year annualized return: 6,3%
• Five-year annualized return: 10.1%
• 10-year annualized return: 11.6%
• Rank among the top 401(k) funds: #55
• Best for: Investors seeking a smoother ride in a stock fund

For more than a decade, Vanguard Equity-Income has delivered above-average returns with below-average risk. That's in part by design. VEIPX is intended to provide current income and does so – it currently yields 2.7% – by investing in companies that consistently pay dividends. Johnson &Johnson (JNJ), Cisco Systems (CSCO) and JPMorgan Chase (JPM) are among the fund's top holdings.

Smart stock picking by steady hands has helped, trop. Michael Reckmeyer, of subadviser Wellington Management, manages two-thirds of the fund's assets, focusing on firms that can sustain their dividend or raise it over time. Jim Stetler and Binbin Guo, of Vanguard's in-house quantitative stock-picking group, run the rest using sophisticated computer models to ferret out stocks that meet four characteristics, including consistent earnings growth and relatively low prices.

VEIPX has been one of the best mutual funds investors could want in a 401(k) account for years. Over the past decade, it has delivered an annualized return of 11.6%, better than 93% of its peers – funds that invest in large-company stocks trading at a discount, with considerably less volatility, trop.

Vanguard Equity-Income also is a member of the Kiplinger 25.

Learn more about VEIPX at the Vanguard provider site.

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Vanguard Explorer

Kiplinger

• Symbol: VEXPX
• Expense ratio: 0,45%
• One-year return: 32.3%
• Three-year annualized return: 19.3%
• Five-year annualized return: 18.4%
• 10-year annualized return: 14.2%
• Rank among the top 401(k) funds: #80
• Best for: Retirement savers looking to diversify their U.S. stock holdings with small and midsize companies

In recent years, Vanguard Explorer has turned in a better-than-average performance. En réalité, in each of the past three full calendar years – 2017 to 2019 – this small- and midsize-company stock fund has outpaced the small-company index, Russell 2000; the midsize company benchmark, Russell Midcap; and the typical fund in its Morningstar peer group, which invests in small, growing firms.

The sustained turnaround is one reason we upgraded VEXPX's rating to a Buy after several years of assigning it a Hold.

That said, a few things about the fund still trouble us. Size is one. Explorer, with $17 billion in assets, is the biggest actively managed small-company stock fund in the country. Too much money can hamper returns, especially for funds that focus on small- and mid-cap stocks. When such a fund tries to make trades in shares that typically see little activity, they may move share prices – up when buying, down when selling – in ways that can hurt results.

Asset bloat is to blame in part for another concern, too:the number of subadviser changes at the fund. Vanguard's solution for outsize assets is to carve up and dole out pieces of the fund to different advisory firms. But if the mix of firms produces ho-hum results, Vanguard swaps out one subadviser for another. At Explorer, Vanguard has made 14 such partial manager changes over the past decade.

Time will tell if current arrangement brings strong results and warrants no changes, or if more manager shifts may be afoot. VEXPX had a tough time staying ahead of its peers in 2020, though it beat the Russell 2000. And over the past five years, its five-year annualized return, 18.4%, beat 58% of its peer group – funds that focus on fast-growing small-company stocks.

Learn more about VEXPX at the Vanguard provider site.

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Vanguard Inflation-Protected Securities

Kiplinger

• Symbol: VIPSX
• Expense ratio: 0.20%
• One-year return: 10.7%
• Three-year annualized return: 5.9%
• Five-year annualized return: 4.8%
• 10-year annualized return: 3.6%
• Rank among the top 401(k) funds: #70
• Best for: Nearly retired or retired investors who want to guard against inflation

Inflation is not an imminent worry, but expectations for it are rising. En effet, over the near term, we have a moderate view on rising prices for goods and services. In 2020, Kiplinger expects 2.1% inflation – higher than the 1.2% rate in 2020, but still below the 2.3% rate logged in 2019. However, the Fed's easy-money policies mean high inflation is a likelihood in the future, say many market analysts.

Vanguard Inflation-Protected Securities , which is actively managed, invests in Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS). These inflation-protected bonds act as an insurance policy against rising consumer prices. The securities pay a fixed coupon rate on top of the principal that is adjusted for inflation and come with the full faith and credit of the U.S. government. Like actual TIPS these days, VIPSX currently sports a négatif yield, of -1.2%.

TIPS matter more for investors who are already retired than for those who are early in their careers. While a retiree might hold 10% of her assets in TIPS; those just beginning their working life might have none or no more than 1% of their assets in TIPS. For investors in the middle of the careers, an allotment of 2% to 5% is more than enough.

Learn more about VIPSX at the Vanguard provider site.

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Vanguard International Growth

Kiplinger

• Symbol: VWIGX
• Expense ratio: 0.43%
• One-year return: 56.4%
• Three-year annualized return: 21.5%
• Five-year annualized return: 20.8%
• 10-year annualized return: 12.1%
• Rank among the top 401(k) funds: #40
• Best for: Foreign stock exposure

Like other Vanguard funds with sizable assets, Vanguard International Growth experienced its own version of manager musical chairs in the early 2010s. But by mid-2016, the fund had slimmed its roster of three subadvisers to just two – Baillie Gifford and Schroders – and the lineup is proving to be a winning combination.

Over the past three years, VWIGX's annualized return of 21.5% beats 95% of its peers and is well ahead of the 4.4% three-year average return in the MSCI ACWI ex USA Index, which tracks stocks outside the U.S. in emerging and developed countries.

The firms, both U.K.-based, have slightly different approaches. Baillie Gifford, which runs roughly 60% of the fund's assets, is willing to pay up for stocks with explosive growth; Schroder's ideal stock is underappreciated but growing fast.

Emerging-markets stocks make up 18% of the portfolio. That includes the likes of Tencent and Alibaba, as well as Meituan Dianping (MPNGY), a Chinese shopping platform for domestic consumer products, and Argentine online auction and e-commerce company MercadoLibre (MELI). Management should be able to keep VWIGX among the best mutual funds in this international category.

Learn more about VWIGX at the Vanguard provider site.

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Vanguard Wellesley Income

Kiplinger

• Symbol: VWINX
• Expense ratio: 0.23%
• One-year return: 7.8%
• Three-year annualized return: 7.0%
• Five-year annualized return: 7,7%
• 10-year annualized return: 7.8%
• Rank among the top 401(k) funds: #95
• Best for: Conservative investors interested in owning more bonds than stocks in a single fund

Bonds take center stage in Vanguard Wellesley and make up more than 55% of assets, while stocks play a supporting role with roughly 40% of assets. Cash and other assets round out the rest of the fund.

The same firm that manages some of Vanguard's best actively managed funds, Wellington Management, also runs this fine fund. Michael Stack and Loren Moran pick the bonds, focusing on A-rated corporate credits. Michael Reckmeyer, the whiz behind Vanguard Equity-Income, picks the stocks, finding high-quality, dividend-paying stocks with a yield higher than that of the S&P 500 at the time of purchase. (He's likely to sell if the yield falls below that average.)

Over the past three years – the period this team has been in place at Wellesley Income – VWINX's 7.0% annualized return beats 70% of its peers, which are funds that allocate roughly 40% to stocks.

Learn more about VWINX at the Vanguard provider site.

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Vanguard Wellington

Kiplinger

• Symbol: VWELX
• Expense ratio: 0.25%
• One-year return: 9.7%
• Three-year annualized return: 9.1%
• Five-year annualized return: 10.4%
• 10-year annualized return: 9.8%
• Rank among the top 401(k) funds: #8
• Best for: Moderately conservative investors looking for a 60% stock/40% bond portfolio

For years, Vanguard Wellington , another Kip 25 member, has delivered to its investors. Over the past 15 years, par exemple, the fund's 8.2% annualized return beats 90% of its peers – funds that invest roughly 60% of its portfolio in stocks and 40% in bonds.

VWELX's managers have changed, but we're not worried. The new-guard members are longtime Wellington veterans. Bond picker John Keogh left in 2019, but his colleagues Michael Stack and Loren Moran, who had been named co-managers in 2017, were already in place. Meanwhile, Daniel Pozen, who has been with Wellington since 2006, stepped in for stock picker Ed Bousa in June.

We'll be watching the new team closely in the coming months, as there might be small tweaks at the margin to the portfolio. But Wellington says Pozen will continue to focus on high-quality, dividend-paying companies with strong balance sheets and competitive advantages that can fuel dividend hikes over time. The bond managers, who have been running their side of the show since 2019, have crafted a portfolio of mostly A-rated U.S. corporate bonds and Treasuries.

Learn more about VWELX at the Vanguard provider site.