Janus Mutual Funds

As we continue our series on mutual fund families, we are going to discuss Janus Mutual Funds. As we've done before, we'll first comment on the overall family of funds offered.  Next, we will talk about the fee structure of Janus, including loads as well as fund expenses.  Finally, we'll finish up with a listing of the top rated Janus Mutual Funds.

Janus Family of Funds

Janus Capital Group is the holding company for Janus Capital Management LLC, which is one of the largest equity managers in the United States.  Based in Denver, Colorado the firm manages roughly $173 billion in mutual funds on behalf of investors.  The focus at Janus is on growth, core, and international mutual funds.  From this focus, Janus extends their reach into balanced, fixed income, and money market funds.

Janus offers a full line of individual investor services.  This includes traditional and Roth IRAs as well as direct rollover services for IRA and 401k plans.  The Janus family of funds includes about 40 mutual funds along with bond funds and money market funds.

Janus Fee Structure and Returns

According to Morningstar, the Janus expense ratios run from Below Average for domestic and international stock fund to an Average rating for their taxable bond fund.  The average annual fee charged on a domestic stock fund is just 1.13%.  Similar to Fidelity Mutual Funds, the vast majority, nearly 61%, of Janus mutual funds are invested in domestic stocks.

You can open an account with Janus with a minimum investment as low as $2,500.  In addition, 91.6% of the funds offered are no-load mutual funds (May 2011). This is an important factor when buying a mutual fund, since the payment of loads can significantly impact the total return on your investment.  As of May 2011, the average return on Janus mutual funds is 5.50% over the last five years.

Top Rated Janus Mutual Funds

Unlike some of the other families of funds, Janus does not have a cornerstone mutual fund such as the Magellan fund.  However, there are some funds within the Janus family that are standout mutual fund performers.  The top rated Janus mutual funds over the past five years include:

• Janus Aspen Balanced Instl (JABLX) - with a little over $1.7 billion in assets, this fund's focus is on large growth stocks.  The fund's larger stock holdings include the technology, industrials, consumer defensive and consumer cyclical sectors of the economy.  The top three companies held in this fund include Philip Morris International, Inc., Oracle Corporation, and International Business Machines Corp.  The expense ratio of this fund is 0.58%.  This no load mutual fund is currently open to new investors.  The total return was 7.38% over the past five years.  (May 2011)
• Janus Growth Allocation D (JNSGX) - this large blend fund, with an aggressive allocation of funds has roughly $248 million in assets.  Stock holding emphasize the financial services, industrial, and technology sectors of the economy.  The expense ratio for this no-load mutual fund is 0.81%.  Top holdings include Janus International Equity, Janus Flexible Bond I, and INTECH Risk-Managed Value I.  The minimum investment for this fund is $2,500, and the average return for this fund was 5.78% over the past five years.  (May 2011)
• Janus Triton D (JANIX) - a small growth fund for individual investors, this fund manages over $1.9 billion in assets.  The fund's assets are heavily invested in the industrials sector of the economy.  Top three holdings include Janus Cash Liquidity LLC, SBA Communications Corporation, and MSCI, Inc.  The expense ratio for this no-load mutual fund is 0.83%.  The minimum investment is $2,500, and the average return for the fund over the last five years is 9.26%.  (May 2011)

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