Mutual funds: best 12-month performance

Money Digest, Sept, 2002

Funds listed in this section are open-end mutual funds. They have been selected on the basis of their previous 12-month performance Mutual funds should be judged on their long-term, and consistent performance. The listing here is mainly intended to point out the current trends. You may want to compare your fund's performance with the top-performing funds. But do not switch in a hurry.

Real Estate Funds invest primarily in commercial real estate.

Bond and Mortgage Funds invest in bonds, mortgages, or both. Canadian short term bond funds are included in our list Many of these funds are RRSP-eligible. Funds included in this category are Canadian Bond, Canadian Mortgage, Canadian Short-Term Bond, Foreign Bond and High-Yield Bond.

Balanced Funds emphasize long-term goals. Traditionally, they invest 50% of their assets in bonds and 50% in Canadian equities. Types of funds included in this Category are Canadian Asset Allocation, Canadian Balanced and Global Balanced & Asset Allocation.

Preferred Dividend Funds are designed to provide high after-tax income. They invest mostly in high-yielding shares of Canadian corporations

Money Market Funds invest in short-term securities such as Treasury Bills. Many of them are RRSP-eligible. All money market funds mentioned here have a one-year return of over 1.5%