Franklin Mutual funds bears the name and image of one of America's greatest citizens. In this article, 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 also going to take some liberties with the name of this mutual fund, since the company's formal name is Franklin Templeton Investments.
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 35 countries, and offers investment opportunities in 150 countries worldwide. Franklin offers solutions to institutions such as the management of 401(k) accounts and pension plans, as well as services to individuals such as Roth IRA plans, Traditional IRAs, and 529 plans.
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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 $750 billion in assets on behalf of their client investors.
Morningstar ratings indicate the expense ratios for mutual funds at Franklin are Average. This includes domestic (1.07%) and international stock funds (1.52%) as well as taxable bond funds (0.83%). Franklin mutual funds offer investors a nice mix of asset classes, with domestic stocks (11.61%), bond funds (31.64%), and international stocks (13.97%), in relatively good balance.
At $1,000, the minimum investment required by Franklin is higher than some of the other fund families reviewed. For example, Hartford Mutual Funds does not have a minimum. Another drawback at Franklin is the mix of funds charging a load (67.30%) versus no-load mutual funds (31.4%). As of September 2017, the average return on the family of funds offered by Franklin was 9.75% over the last five years.
The top rated mutual funds at Franklin require a minimum investment of $1,000. That being said, here is a list of the top rated mutual funds at Franklin (September 2017):
Assets: $5.3 billion
Category: Large Value
Specialty: World Allocation
Top Three Holdings: Sorenson Communications, NRG Energy, and Novartis AG
Load: None
Minimum Investment: $100,000
Expense Ratio: 0.79%
5-Year Average Return: 8.54%
Assets: $754.2 million
Category: Large Growth
Specialty: None
Top Three Holdings: Templeton Growth, Franklin Growth, and Franklin Growth Opportunites
Load: None
Minimum Investment: $0
Expense Ratio: 0.79%
5-Year Average Return: 11.57%
Assets: $2.6 billion
Category: Large Value
Specialty: Convertibles
Top Three Holdings: Mandatory Exchangeable Trust, Square 0.375%, and Servicenow
Load: 5.75% (front end)
Minimum Investment: $1,000
Expense Ratio: 0.86%
5-Year Average Return: 10.35%
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