Consistency is key when evaluating mutual funds. Below I've charted the top 10 funds based on 10 year average yearly performance as I'm uncomfortable investing in any fund that doesn't have at least a 10 year performance record. Returns range from the Bridgeway Ultra Small Company Fund returning 23.77% per year to the Meridian Value Fund returning a "paltry" 19.77% per year.

Purchasing an equal amount of each of these top 10 funds at the close Dec. 31, 2004 and holding through the end of May returned -.82%. This beats all major market indices in that same time period. The S&P 500 comes the closest to competing with a return of -1.08%. Purchasing only the top 5 funds results in a return of +.65%, a significant gain over all three indices.

It's important to eek out all you can on a yearly basis as even a tiny 1% more per year adds up to a huge amount of money over time. $10,000 invested for 30 years returning 10% per year grows to just under $175,000. That same $10,000 invested for the same 30 years, this time growing at 11% per year, just 1% per year greater, grows to over $225,000. I'll spend some more time over the next few weeks getting into each of these funds.mortgage calculator