Pioneer Mutual Funds

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We're going to continue with our reviews of mutual fund families with Pioneer Mutual Funds. In this publication, we're first going to provide a brief background of the company, including the services Pioneer offers to investors. Next, we'll talk about Pioneer's fees and overall returns. Finally, we'll provide information on some of their top performing mutual funds.

Pioneer Family of Mutual Funds

Pioneer mutual funds are offered through Pioneer Investment Management, Inc., which is the U.S. subsidiary of Pioneer Global Asset Management S.p.A. Pioneer manages approximately $310 billion in assets under the name Pioneer Investments. As a global company, Pioneer operates out of Boston, Dublin, Milan, and Singapore. Pioneer has 2,000 employees in 29 countries.

Additional Resources

Pioneer employs roughly 350 investment professionals worldwide. They offer investors help with retirement planning including Traditional IRAs, Roth IRAs, Coverdell Education Savings Accounts, 529 plans and 403 (b) plan management. Pioneer fund was launched in 1928 by Philip Carret, and his appreciation of international investment opportunities remains deeply rooted throughout Pioneer even today.

Pioneer Funds Fee Structure and Returns

Morningstar ratings indicates the expense ratio for mutual funds at Pioneer range from Average for their domestic stock funds (1.49%) and municipal bond funds (1.08%), to Above Average for their international stock funds (1.84%) and taxable bond (1.25%). Even though Pioneer claims their investment focus is on international opportunities, 57% of their funds are in domestic stocks, while another 33% is in taxable bond funds. Only 3% of the assets under management are invested in international stocks.

The minimum investment is $1,000 at Pioneer. In addition to their relatively high expense ratio, only 30.7% of their funds assets are in no-load mutual funds. As of May 2011, the average return for the Pioneer family of mutual funds was 3.92% over the last five years.

Top Rated Pioneer Mutual Funds

Two out of the three top rated mutual funds at Pioneer are large cap funds. The third fund we will look at is a bond fund. That being said, let's review the top three rated mutual funds at Pioneer:

Pioneer Oak Ridge Small Cap Growth A (ORIGX) - with over $1 billion in assets, this small growth stock fund is one of the smaller funds at Pioneer. The fund's emphasis is on the technology and industrials sectors of the economy. Top holdings include Ansys, Inc., Deckers Outdoor Corporation, and Wolverine World Wide. The expense ratio for this fund is 1.28%, and the minimum investment is $1,000. The fund carries a front end load of 5.75%. The average return over the last five years was 6.79%. (May 2011)
Pioneer Strategic Income A (PSRAX) - with just over $4.5 billion in assets, this is another relatively small bond fund from Pioneer. Investments are held in bonds with an average rating of BB. Top three holdings include U.S. Treasury Notes, U.S. Treasury Notes (Futures), and Euro Forward Contracts. The expense ratio for this fund is 1.10%, and the fund requires a minimum investment of $1,000. The fund carries a front load of 4.50%, and the average return over the past five years was 8.31%. (May 2011)
Pioneer Disciplined Growth A (SRSGX) - the final fund we're going to review has over $42 million in assets under management, and the focus is on large growth domestic stocks. This fund places emphasis on the technology and industrials sectors of the economy. Top holdings include Apple, Inc., Microsoft Corporation, and Google, Inc. The expense ratio for this fund is 1.25%, and the fund charges a front load of 5.75%. The minimum investment for this fund is $1,000, while the average return over the last five years was 5.69%. (May 2011)

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