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Franklin Mutual funds bears the name and image of one of America's greatest citizens: Benjamin Franklin. In this publication, we're going to provide a review of this company to see if it lives up to the legacy he's left behind. We're going to take some liberties with the name of this mutual fund, but we do realize the company's formal name is Franklin Templeton Investments.

Franklin Family of Mutual Funds

Franklin Templeton Investments is part of Franklin Resources, Inc., which also owns Mutual Series, Bisset, Fiduciary Trust, and Darby Overseas. The company has offices in 29 countries, and offers investment opportunities in 100 countries worldwide. Franklin offers solutions to institutions such as the management of 401k plans and pension plans, as well as services to individuals such as Roth IRA plans, traditional IRAs, and 529 plans.

Additional Resources

Within all of the operating names, Franklin Templeton Investments offers investors more than 200 products and services. Each portion of the company specializes in a particular investment segment or geography. For example, Bisset's focus is on Canada. In total, Franklin manages over $700 billion in assets on behalf of their client investors.

Franklin Funds Fee Structure and Returns

Morningstar ratings indicate the expense ratios for mutual funds at Franklin are Average. This includes domestic (1.35%) and international stock funds (1.67%) as well as taxable bond funds (0.98%). Franklin mutual funds offer investors a nice mix of asset classes, with domestic stocks (14%), bond funds (39%), and international stocks (21%), in relatively good balance.

At $1,000, the minimum investment required by Franklin is higher than some of the other fund families reviewed. Most recently we talked about Hartford Mutual Funds, which does not have a minimum. Another drawback at Franklin is the mix of funds charging a load (76.6%) versus no-load mutual funds (23.4%). As of May 2011, the average return on the family of funds offered by Franklin was 4.49% over the last five years.

Top Rated Franklin Mutual Funds

The top rated mutual funds at Franklin are a mix of international bond and stock funds. Two of the three top funds at Franklin include loads of 4.25% and 5.75%. Two of the funds require a minimum investment of $1,000, while the institutional fund requires a $50,000 minimum. That being said, here is a list of the top rated mutual funds at Franklin:

Templeton Global Bond A (TPINX) - with over $54 billion in assets, this international bond fund specializes in mid quality bonds from around the world. Top holdings include Republic of Korea (4.75%), Australia Commonwealth (5.75%), and Republic of Poland (4.75%). The fund's expense ratio is 0.91%, and there is a front-load of 4.25%. The minimum investment is $1,000, and the average return over the last five years was 12.03%. (May 2011)
Templeton Instl Foreign Smaller Co Ser A (TFSCX) - with $290 million in assets, this is a mid-value international stock fund with focus on small foreign companies. Top holdings include Techtronic Industries Co. Ltd., Steiner Leisure, Ltd., and Tomra Systems ASA ADR. The expense ratio for the fund is 0.95%, and the fund does not carry a front-load. The minimum investment for this institutional fund is $50,000, while the average return over the last five years was 7.44%. (May 2011)
Templeton Foreign A (TEMFX) - with $6.6 billion in assets, this large value foreign stock fund is spread across the financial services, communication, technology, and energy sectors of the economy. Top holdings include Vodafone Group PLC, ING Groep N.V., and Sanofi-Aventis. The expense ratio for the fund is 1.19%, and it carries a front-load of 5.75%. With a minimum investment of $1,000, the average return over the last five years was 4.07%. (May 2011)

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