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 Next up on our list of mutual fund families is Van Kampen mutual funds. Our review will include a brief background of the company and the services Van Kampen provides its clients. We will also include a review of the top performing funds you'll find at Van Kampen.
Van Kampen Family of Mutual Funds
Van Kampen Investments is a wholly owned subsidiary of Morgan Stanley. Van Kampen consists of a large and diversified network of unaffiliated broker-dealers, banks and thrifts, insurance companies and financial planners. This network includes over 250,000 financial advisors, with a smaller number of retail distributors accounting for a large proportion of the Van Kampen sales network.
Morgan Stanley, along with Van Kampen, offers a full array of financial planning products including 401k plan administration, Roth IRAs, traditional IRAs, and 529 plans. Morgan Stanley Investment Management is one of the largest asset management firms in the world with $740 billion under management in 2008. (Van Kampen manages approximately $138 billion of that value.) Van Kampen offers investors a full array of investment strategies such as growth, fixed income, global investment and passive management.
Van Kampen Funds Fee Structure and Returns
Morningstar ratings indicates that the expense ratio for mutual funds as Van Kampen range from average for their domestic stock funds (1.40%), international stock (1.70%), and municipal bond (1.13%) funds to above average for their and taxable bond funds (1.42%). Van Kampen assets are held in a typical balance of domestic stocks (49.8%), municipal bonds (12.0%), taxable bonds (7.5%) and international stocks (6.1%). (August 2008)
The minimum investment at Van Kampen is $1,000. In addition, nearly all of their funds carry a load, with only 8.1% of their assets in no-load mutual funds. As of August 2008, the average return for the Van Kampen family of mutual funds is 6.50% over the last five years.
Top Rated Van Kampen Mutual Funds
As was the case with Pioneer, at least one of the three top rated funds at Van Kampen is a bond fund. Unfortunately, all three of these funds carry a front load and the top rated fund is currently closed to new investors. With that in mind, here is our list of the top three rated funds at Van Kampen:
- Van Kampen Small Cap Growth A (VASCX) - with $654 million in assets, this small cap growth fund places emphasis on the services industry (48% of assets). Top holdings include Central European Distribution Corporation, FTI Consulting, Inc., and Net 1 UEPS Technologies, Inc. The expense ratio for this fund is 1.38% and it carries a front-load of 5.75%. The minimum investment is $1,000 and the average return over the last five years was 10.83%. (August 2008)
- Van Kampen High-Yield Municipal A (ACTHX) - with nearly $4.5 billion in assets, this high yield municipal bond fund has nearly 66% of its assets in junk bonds. Top holdings include Bay Area Toll Authority, Louisiana Buckeye Ohio Tobacco Settlement. The expense ratio for the fund is 0.84% and it carries a front load of 4.75%. This fund requires a minimum investment of $1,000 and the average return over the last five years was 4.07%. (August 2008)
- Van Kampen Exchange (ACEHX) - with nearly $440 million in assets, this large blend emphasizes the manufacturing sector (64.97% of assets) with a concentration on the energy industry (40.23%). Top holdings include ExxonMobil Corporation, Air Products and Chemicals, Inc., and Hess Corporation. The expense ratio for the fund is 0.46% and it is a no load mutual fund. There is no minimum investment and the average return over the last five years was 8.64%. (August 2008)
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