The Kiplinger 25: Our Favorite No-Load Mutual Funds

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The Kiplinger 25 is a list of our favorite no-load mutual funds. We favor funds run by seasoned managers who take a long view and have proved themselves able to weather many a storm. And we prefer low to below-average fees.

In the tables below, you can see for each of the 25 funds, expense ratios and one-year, and annualized five- and ten-year total returns (the fund's rate of return over a given period of time, including interest, capital gains, dividends and distributions).

The Kiplinger 25 Funds

U.S. stock funds

Fund name	Symbol	One-year return	Five-year annualized return	10-year annualized return	Yield	Expense ratio
DF Dent Midcap Growth	DFDMX	8.9	5.6	10.2	0.0	0.89%
Dodge & Cox Stock	DODGX	7.4	16.5	11.3	1.4	0.51
Fidelity Blue Chip Growth	FBGRX	23.8	17.7	18.0	0.2	0.47
Heartland Mid Cap Value	HRMDX	-3.7	13.0	8.9	0.8	1.10
Mairs & Power Growth	MPGFX	7.8	14.1	11.8	0.8	0.62
Oberweis Small-Cap Opportunities	OBSOX	0.8	17.1	12.2	0.0	1.25
T. Rowe Price Dividend Growth	PRDGX	8.2	12.5	11.8	0.9	0.64
T. Rowe Price Small-Cap Value	PRSVX	-1.1	9.9	8.2	0.8	0.77
PRIMECAP Odyssey Growth	POGRX	15.2	13.2	11.8	0.4	0.66
Vanguard Equity-Income	VEIPX	10.6	13.9	10.6	2.4	0.27

Foreign funds

Fund name	Symbol	One-year return	Five-year annualized return	10-year annualized return	Yield	Expense ratio
Baron Emerging Markets	BEXFX	16.6	3.1	4.8	0.4	1.37%
Brown Capital Mgmt Intl Small Co	BCSVX	14.9	6.6	N/A	0.0	1.31
Fidelity International Growth	FIGFX	8.3	7.5	7.5	0.4	0.86
Janus Henderson Global Equity Income	HFQTX	17.3	10.8	6.2	7.3	0.95

Specialized funds

Fund name	Symbol	One-year return	Five-year annualized return	10-year annualized return	Yield	Expense ratio
Fidelity Select Health Care	FSPHX	-6.1	2.6	6.0	0.0%	0.63%
T. Rowe Price Global Technology	PRGTX	24.3	8.5	15.4	0.0	0.92
Vanguard Wellington	VWELX	13.2	9.7	9.0	2.0	0.25

Bond funds

Fund name	Symbol	One-year return	Five-year annualized return	10-year annualized return	Yield	Expense ratio
Baird Aggregate Bond	BAGSX	3.4	-1.0	1.8	4.0	0.55%
Dodge & Cox Income	DODIX	3.8	0.7	2.9	4.5	0.41
Fidelity Interm Muni Income	FLTMX	1.8	0.8	2.1	3.3	0.37
Fidelity Strategic Income	FADMX	6.9	3.5	N/A	4.6	0.65
T. Rowe Price Floating Rate	PRFRX	7.3	6.5	4.7	7.1	0.77
Vanguard Emerging Markets Bond	VEMBX	9.3	3.4	N/A	5.9	0.50
Vanguard High-Yield Corporate	VWEHX	8.0	4.2	4.8	5.9	0.22
Vanguard Short-Term Investment-Grade	VFSTX	5.7	1.9	2.5	4.4	0.20

Indexes

Indexes		One-year return	Five-year annualized return	10-year annualized return	Yield
S&P 500 INDEX		16.3	15.9	13.7	1.2%
RUSSELL 2000 INDEX*		-0.6	9.8	7.4	1.4
MSCI EAFE INDEX†		12.8	10.3	6.1	3.0
MSCI EMERGING MARKETS INDEX		17.2	5.4	5.8	2.6
BLOOMBERG U.S. AGGREGATE BOND INDEX#		3.4	-1.1	1.7	4.6

As of July 31, 2025. *Small-company U.S. stocks. †Foreign stocks. #High-grade U.S. bonds. N/A = Fund not in existence for the entire period.

SOURCES: Fund companies, FTSE Russell, Morningstar Inc., MSCI, S&P Dow Jones Indices. Yields listed for bond funds are SEC yields, which are net of fees; stock fund yields are the yield for the past 12 months.