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 This week we are going to discuss AIM Mutual Funds. As we've done in the past, we are going to first provide some information on the overall family of funds from AIM Investments. Then we are going to talk a little bit about their fee structure and finish up with a listing of the top three performing mutual funds from AIM.
AIM Family of Funds
Founded in 1976, AIM Investments has built its reputations as one of America's leading investment companies through its commitment to planning and disciplined growth. Headquartered in Houston, Texas, AIM also has offices in Dallas and San Francisco. With roughly 1,500 employees, AIM manages approximately $169 billion in assets. The family of funds at AIM consists primarily of retail mutual funds and variable annuity funds.
AIM has divided its services offerings along five separate lines of business - Retail Marketing, Institution & Alliance Sales, Private Asset Management, Retirement and Education, and Cash Management. AIM offers individuals a full line of investor offerings including 529 plans, traditional and Roth IRAs, as well as mutual funds. Private assets management services are available to wealthier investors - the account minimum for this offing is $100,000 for each investment portfolio.
AIM Fee Structure and Returns
According to Morningstar, the AIM mutual fund average expense ratio varies considerably by class of asset from above average for its international stock funds (1.89%) to below average for its municipal bond funds (0.80%). As was the case with Janus Mutual Funds, most of the assets under management by AIM are invested in domestic stock mutual funds (69%).
The minimum investment necessary to open an account at AIM is just $1,000. Investors looking for short term returns need to be aware that only 20% of AIM mutual funds, expressed as a percentage of assets under management, are no-load mutual funds. As of November 2007 the average return on an AIM mutual fund over the last five years is 15.30%.
Top Rated AIM Mutual Funds
Several of the top rated AIM mutual funds are now closed to investors. We've included the name of one of those funds below, but the other funds remain open to new investors. That being said, the top rated AIM mutual funds over the past five years, as measured by total return include (November 2007):
- AIM International Small Company (IEGAX) - with just over $1.1 billion in assets, this fund's focus is on the industrial materials and energy industries. The funds larger holdings include Petroleum Geo-Services (Norway), Intralot (Greece), and Lion Diversified Hldgs (Malaysia). The expense ratio for this fund is 1.54% and it is currently closed to new investors. The average return over the past five years for this fund is 38.26%. (November 2007)
- AIM Global Aggressive Growth A (AGAAX) - with just over $1.2 billion in assets, this mutual fund specializes in mid cap growth stocks from around the world. Top three holdings include Syngenta (Switzerland), Vimpel-Communications ADR (Russia), and Anglo Irish Bank (Ireland). This fund charges a front-load of 5.50% and requires a minimum investment of $1,000. The average expense ratio for this fund is 1.51% and the average return over the last five years was 23.65%. (November 2007)
- AIM European Small Company A (ESMAX) - this mutual fund specializes in small cap companies based in Europe. With $527 million in assets, the top three holdings include Jumbo (Greece), Fuchs Petrolub AG (Germany), and Intralot (Greece). This fund charges a front load of 5.50% and is currently closed to new investors. The average expense ratio is just 1.54% and the average return for the fund over the last five years is 38.91%. (November 2007)
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