Choose These Mutual Funds If They Are Available In Your 401(k) Plan

&l;p class=&q;speakable-paragraph&q;&g;One of the most important financial decisions you&a;nbsp;are ever going to make is how&a;nbsp;to invest your 401(k). However, the information you are provided to make this decision is&a;nbsp;written more to&a;nbsp;meet regulatory requirements than anything else. Here is how&a;nbsp;can you&a;nbsp;find the best mutual funds from your plan&s;s options.&l;/p&g;

&l;img class=&q;dam-image shutterstock wp-image-692902246 size-large&q; src=&q;https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/dam/imageserve/692902246/960x0.jpg?fit=scale&q; alt=&q;&q; data-height=&q;468&q; data-width=&q;960&q;&g; How to evaluate your 401k plan investment options. Shutterstock

&l;p class=&q;p1&q;&g;&l;span class=&q;s1&q;&g;&l;b&g;Choose&a;nbsp;The Manager Not The Fund&l;/b&g;&l;/span&g;&l;/p&g;

About the biggest mistake you can make is to choose a mutual because of its superior track record only to discover that the manager who&a;nbsp;produced those returns has been replaced.&a;nbsp;Mutual funds change managers all the time, but they keep advertising the fund&s;s track record just the same.

&l;p class=&q;p1&q;&g;&l;span class=&q;s1&q;&g;In most cases, it takes 10 years before a track record is long enough to say whether&a;nbsp;a manager has exhibited investment skill. You want managers who have outperformed both the S&a;amp;P 500 and the benchmark&a;nbsp;for their&a;nbsp;category. In other words, if you are looking at a tech-fund manager, you want one that has outperformed by the S&a;amp;P 500, and the technology index.&l;/span&g;&l;/p&g;

&l;strong&g;17&a;nbsp;Fund Managers Pass Muster&l;/strong&g;

Morningstar&s;s mutual fund database&a;nbsp;returned&a;nbsp;17 no-load mutual funds that are still open to new investors and whose managers have been at the helm for 10 years, long enough to prove their skill. All have outperformed the S&a;amp;P 500&s;s 10 year return of 10.61% and their category benchmark by enough of a margin to make a difference to investors.

&l;div class=&q;table-wrapper&q;&g;&l;table&g;&l;tbody&g;&l;tr&g;&l;th&g;Fund Name&l;/th&g; &l;th&g;Symbol&l;/th&g; &l;th&g;1-Year Return&l;/th&g; &l;th&g;10-Year Return&l;/th&g; &l;th&g;Manager&l;/th&g; &l;th&g;10-year Return +/- Category&l;/th&g; &l;/tr&g;&l;tr&g;&l;td&g;Berkshire Focus&l;/td&g; &l;td&g;BFOCX&l;/td&g; &l;td&g;43.63&l;/td&g; &l;td&g;17.66&l;/td&g; &l;td&g;Malcolm R. Fobes&l;/td&g; &l;td&g;3.86&l;/td&g; &l;/tr&g;&l;tr&g;&l;td&g;Firsthand Technology Opportuni&l;/td&g; &l;td&g;TEFQX&l;/td&g; &l;td&g;43.57&l;/td&g; &l;td&g;17.59&l;/td&g; &l;td&g;Kevin M. Landis&l;/td&g; &l;td&g;3.79&l;/td&g; &l;/tr&g;&l;tr&g;&l;td&g;Jacob Internet Inv&l;/td&g; &l;td&g;JAMFX&l;/td&g; &l;td&g;29.83&l;/td&g; &l;td&g;14.45&l;/td&g; &l;td&g;Francis J. Alexander&l;/td&g; &l;td&g;0.66&l;/td&g; &l;/tr&g;&l;tr&g;&l;td&g;VALIC Company I Science &a;amp; Tech&l;/td&g; &l;td&g;VCSTX&l;/td&g; &l;td&g;29.47&l;/td&g; &l;td&g;15.21&l;/td&g; &l;td&g;Huachen Chen&l;/td&g; &l;td&g;1.42&l;/td&g; &l;/tr&g;&l;tr&g;&l;td&g;T. Rowe Price Blue Chip Growth&l;/td&g; &l;td&g;TRBCX&l;/td&g; &l;td&g;27.62&l;/td&g; &l;td&g;13.61&l;/td&g; &l;td&g;Larry J. Puglia&l;/td&g; &l;td&g;2.8&l;/td&g; &l;/tr&g;&l;tr&g;&l;td&g;Red Oak Technology Select&l;/td&g; &l;td&g;ROGSX&l;/td&g; &l;td&g;26.12&l;/td&g; &l;td&g;16.53&l;/td&g; &l;td&g;Mark W. Oelschlager&l;/td&g; &l;td&g;2.73&l;/td&g; &l;/tr&g;&l;tr&g;&l;td&g;PRIMECAP Odyssey Growth&l;/td&g; &l;td&g;POGRX&l;/td&g; &l;td&g;26.00&l;/td&g; &l;td&g;13.66&l;/td&g; &l;td&g;Joel P. Fried&l;/td&g; &l;td&g;2.85&l;/td&g; &l;/tr&g;&l;tr&g;&l;td&g;Reynolds Blue Chip Growth&l;/td&g; &l;td&g;RBCGX&l;/td&g; &l;td&g;24.51&l;/td&g; &l;td&g;13.63&l;/td&g; &l;td&g;Frederick L. Reynolds&l;/td&g; &l;td&g;2.81&l;/td&g; &l;/tr&g;&l;tr&g;&l;td&g;Delaware Healthcare I&l;/td&g; &l;td&g;DLHIX&l;/td&g; &l;td&g;23.06&l;/td&g; &l;td&g;18.69&l;/td&g; &l;td&g;Liu-Er Chen&l;/td&g; &l;td&g;5.01&l;/td&g; &l;/tr&g;&l;tr&g;&l;td&g;Fidelity&a;reg; Select Medical Tech&l;/td&g; &l;td&g;FSMEX&l;/td&g; &l;td&g;22.93&l;/td&g; &l;td&g;14.78&l;/td&g; &l;td&g;Edward L. Yoon&l;/td&g; &l;td&g;1.1&l;/td&g; &l;/tr&g;&l;tr&g;&l;td&g;USAA Science &a;amp; Technology&l;/td&g; &l;td&g;USSCX&l;/td&g; &l;td&g;19.66&l;/td&g; &l;td&g;14.26&l;/td&g; &l;td&g;John F. Averill&l;/td&g; &l;td&g;0.47&l;/td&g; &l;/tr&g;&l;tr&g;&l;td&g;Monetta Young Investor&l;/td&g; &l;td&g;MYIFX&l;/td&g; &l;td&g;19.00&l;/td&g; &l;td&g;14.14&l;/td&g; &l;td&g;Robert S. Bacarella&l;/td&g; &l;td&g;3.32&l;/td&g; &l;/tr&g;&l;tr&g;&l;td&g;Buffalo Discovery&l;/td&g; &l;td&g;BUFTX&l;/td&g; &l;td&g;15.89&l;/td&g; &l;td&g;13.75&l;/td&g; &l;td&g;Clay Brethour&l;/td&g; &l;td&g;3.63&l;/td&g; &l;/tr&g;&l;tr&g;&l;td&g;Fidelity&a;reg; Select Biotechnology&l;/td&g; &l;td&g;FBIOX&l;/td&g; &l;td&g;15.12&l;/td&g; &l;td&g;16.61&l;/td&g; &l;td&g;Rajiv Kaul&l;/td&g; &l;td&g;2.93&l;/td&g; &l;/tr&g;&l;tr&g;&l;td&g;Matthew 25&l;/td&g; &l;td&g;MXXVX&l;/td&g; &l;td&g;14.98&l;/td&g; &l;td&g;13.56&l;/td&g; &l;td&g;Mark Mulholland&l;/td&g; &l;td&g;4.11&l;/td&g; &l;/tr&g;&l;tr&g;&l;td&g;Pin Oak Equity&l;/td&g; &l;td&g;POGSX&l;/td&g; &l;td&g;14.62&l;/td&g; &l;td&g;14.35&l;/td&g; &l;td&g;Mark W. Oelschlager&l;/td&g; &l;td&g;4.91&l;/td&g; &l;/tr&g;&l;tr&g;&l;td&g;Oppenheimer Global Opportuniti&l;/td&g; &l;td&g;OGIYX&l;/td&g; &l;td&g;22.47&l;/td&g; &l;td&g;13.86&l;/td&g; &l;td&g;Frank V. Jennings&l;/td&g; &l;td&g;7.46&l;/td&g; &l;/tr&g;&l;/tbody&g;&l;/table&g;&l;/div&g;

Great fund managers are few and far between and many are closed to new investors. If any of these funds are available in your 401(k) plan, choose them for at least the minimum initial investment to preserve your&a;nbsp;right to invest more down the line.

&l;span&g;This article is part of&a;nbsp;a series I write for&a;nbsp;those who&a;nbsp;invest in mutual funds.&a;nbsp;To be notified when the next installment is published,&a;nbsp;&l;/span&g;&l;a href=&q;https://paths.marketocracy.com/lists/?p=subscribe&a;amp;id=38&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;click here&l;/a&g;&l;span&g;.&l;/span&g;