As an investor you should know that not all mutual fund families are created equal. Some mutual fund families are much more prone to loading their funds with extremely high fees and expenses, while others do their best to keep the fees and expenses low. The average performance of the mutual fund is also very important, so having taken these things all into account let’s take a look at the best mutual fund families.

Top Four Mutual Fund Families

1. Vanguard- Vanguard belongs in the top spot because of the way they have pioneered the mutual fund industry. They have set the bar for low cost mutual funds and have forced other mutual fund companies to lower their expenses to compete with them. A wide variety in funds available and some impressive returns certainly don’t hurt their cause either.
2. T Rowe Price- T Rowe Price has done a great job of bringing new and unique funds to the market such as retirement mutual funds that have specific target dates. The Maryland-based company has also done a good job of keeping their expenses lower than most. They have top performing mutual funds in many different categories annually.
3. PIMCO- Hands down PIMCO is the best of the bunch when it comes to offerings for bond related mutual funds. Bill Gross of PIMCO has a reputation as the leader in this industry. The company has consistently performed better than its rivals and its costs are fairly reasonable.
4. Bridgeway- This mutual fund company specializes in small cap mutual funds, and doesn’t handle as much money as the rest of the families on this list. It is tough to deny Bridgeway a spot after looking at the returns from some of their best mutual funds over the last several years. The Bridgeway funds also have a name for being very socially responsible. In fact, Bridgeway donates 50% of its investment advisory fee profits to charity!

While there are certainly top mutual funds from other mutual fund families, these four families are a great place to start your search for a highly ranked low cost mutual fund.