Balanced funds offer investors the convenience of buying into a single fund rather than holding both equity and bond funds. This category of funds also reduces a portfolio’s volatility while providing higher returns than pure fixed-income investments.

The fund managers also enjoy the flexibility of changing the proportion of equity and fixed-income investments in response to market conditions. An upswing may prompt them to hold a relatively higher share of equity to maximize gains, whereas a downturn will see them shifting loyalties toward fixed-income investments to stem losses.

Below, we share with you three balanced mutual funds, viz. George Putnam Balanced Fund PGEOX, Calvert Balanced CSIFX and Dodge & Cox Balanced Fund DODBX. Each has a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank #1 (Strong Buy) and is expected to outperform its peers in the future. Investors can click here to see the complete list of funds.

George Putnam Balanced Fund invests most of its net assets in a portfolio of bonds and common stocks. PGEOX advisors generally invest in common stocks of large-cap domestic companies with growth, value, or both characteristics.

George Putnam Balanced Fund has three-year annualized returns of 7.3%.  As of the end of July 2024, PGEOX had 131 issues and 4.4% of its net assets invested in Microsoft Corporation.

Calvert Balanced fund invests most of its net assets in common stocks of preferably large-cap companies. CSIFX advisors also invest primarily in a wide variety of investment-grade debt securities.

Calvert Balanced fund has three-year annualized returns of 7.1%. CSIFX has an expense ratio of 0.92%.

Dodge & Cox Balanced Fund seeks long-term growth capital appreciation along with current income by investing most of its net assets in a diversified portfolio of equity and debt securities in various proportions. DODBX advisors may also invest a small portion of their net assets in U.S. dollar-denominated equity or debt securities of foreign issuers traded in the United States but not part of the S&P 500 Index.

Dodge & Cox Balanced Fund has three-year annualized returns of 6.8%. David C. Hoeft has been one of the fund managers of DODBX since January 2002.

To view the Zacks Rank and the past performance of all balanced mutual funds, investors can click here to see the complete list of funds.

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