Investment Strategy
We seek to pick winning funds with superior management and quantitative characteristics linked to strong performance. Our quantitative research uses the most comprehensive mutual fund database in the world to determine the best strategies for long-term investing success. We then supplement those studies with extensive qualitative research of portfolio managers, analysts, and traders through onsite visits and follow-up phone calls.
 
About the Editor
Russel Kinnel is director of manager research for Morningstar, Inc. and editor of Morningstar FundInvestor, a monthly print newsletter for individual investors. He also writes the Fund Spy column for Morningstar.com, the company's investment Web site.

Since joining the company in 1994, Kinnel has covered the Fidelity, Janus, T. Rowe Price, and Vanguard mutual fund families. He helped develop the new Morningstar Rating for funds and the new Morningstar Style Box methodology. He also is co-author of the company's first book, The Morningstar Guide to Mutual Funds: 5-Star Strategies for Success, which was published in January 2003.

 
About Russel Russ' Photo
Russel Kinnel,
Director of Manager Research and Editor, Morningstar FundInvestor
Russel Kinnel is director of manager research for Morningstar Research Services LLC and editor of Morningstar FundInvestor, a monthly print newsletter for individual investors.
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Featured Posts
New Issue of FundInvestor Is Available (PDF)

The September 2023 issue of FundInvestor is out in PDF form. You can download it here

Here's what's in the issue:

What Happens to Fund Flows After We Upgrade or Downgrade a Fund? It's been well-documented that star ratings affect flows, so we set out to see how it has worked with Analyst Ratings.

Why the Biggest Target-Date Funds Have Underperformed: John Rekenthaler discovers that humble 60/40 balanced funds have beaten their more complex target-date competition.

Stick With These Allocation Funds in Outflows: Greg Carlson makes the case for some venerable allocation funds that are currently suffering outflows.

Tactical Funds Show How Hard It Is to Make Macro Calls: Vedran Beogradlija finds that some funds making bold macro calls have been missing a lot of them.

How I Invest My HSA: Christine Benz shares her strategy for her health savings account.

How Core-Plus Bond Medalists Have Performed: Thomas Murphy looks at some of our favorite bond funds.

Short-Term and High-Yield Bond Funds Are Often Best Kept Separate: Sam Kulahan explains why investors have a hard time with short-term bond funds that pack a lot of credit risk.

3 Medalists Join the 500: PGIM High Yield leads the way for new entries in the Morningstar 500.

Fund Pick Performance
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About the Editor


Russel Kinnel is director of manager research for Morningstar Research Services LLC and editor of Morningstar FundInvestor, a monthly print newsletter for individual investors. He also writes the Fund Spy column for Morningstar.com, the company's investment Web site.

Since joining the company in 1994, Kinnel has covered the Fidelity, Janus, T. Rowe Price, and Vanguard mutual fund families. He helped develop the new Morningstar Rating for funds and the new Morningstar Style Box methodology. He also is co-author of the company's first book, The Morningstar Guide to Mutual Funds: 5-Star Strategies for Success, which was published in January 2003.

Investment Strategy


We seek to pick winning funds with superior management and quantitative characteristics linked to strong performance. Our quantitative research uses the most comprehensive mutual fund database in the world to determine the best strategies for long-term investing success. We then supplement those studies with extensive qualitative research of portfolio managers, analysts, and traders through onsite visits and follow-up phone calls.



Returns are calculated for each asset class or category based on which funds were rated Gold at the start of each month over a five-year period. For bond funds, only intermediate and intermediate core-plus funds are used. For muni bond funds, only Muni National Long funds are used.