Federated Gov Ultrashort Duration InSvc (FEUSX)
Expense Ratio: 0.35%
Expected Lifetime Fees: $11,154.10
The Federated Gov Ultrashort Duration InSvc fund (FEUSX) is a Ultrashort Bond fund started on 09/30/1999 and has $842.70 million in assets under management. The current manager has been running Federated Gov Ultrashort Duration InSvc since 08/1/1997. The fund is rated by Morningstar. In addition to trading fees and broker commissions, this fund has 12b-1 fees of 0.05%
SPDR Barclays Capital 1-3 Month T-Bill (BIL)
Expense Ratio: 0.15%
Expected Lifetime Fees: $4,881.99
The SPDR Barclays Capital 1-3 Month T-Bill (BIL) is an Exchange Traded Fund. It is a "basket" of securities that index the Ultrashort Bond investment strategy and is an alternative to a Ultrashort Bond mutual fund. Fees are very low compared to a comparable mutual fund like Federated Gov Ultrashort Duration InSvc because computers automatically manage the stocks.
| Mutual Fund Name | Ticker Symbol | Turnover | Assets (M) | Annual Fees |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DFA One-Year Fixed-Income I | DFIHX | 78.0% | 7,500 | 0.17% |
| Federated Gov Ultrashort Duration Instl | FGUSX | 26.0% | 843 | 0.25% |
| Goldman Sachs Enhanced Income Instl | GEIIX | 86.0% | 506 | 0.29% |
| Northern Ultra-Short Fixed Income Fund | NUSFX | 46.0% | 468 | 0.25% |
| RidgeWorth Ultra-Short Bond I | SISSX | 97.0% | 105 | 0.32% |
| RidgeWorth US Gov Sec Ultra-Short Bd I | SIGVX | 70.0% | 2,100 | 0.33% |
Turnover
Turnover represents how much of a mutual fund's holdings are changed over the course of a year through buying and selling. Active mutual funds have an average turnover rate of about 85%,
meaning that funds are turning over nearly all of their holdings every year. A high turnover means you could make lower returns because: 1) buying and selling stocks costs money through
commissions and spreads and 2) the fund will distribute yearly capital gains which increases your taxes. Look for funds with turnover rates below 50%. For comparison, ETF turnover rates
average around 10% or lower.
Assets
Generally, smaller funds do better than larger ones. The more assets in a mutual fund, the lower the chance that it will beat its index. Managers outperform an index by choosing stocks
that are undervalued. In order to find these undervalued stocks, the manager has to know more than his competitors to develop an "edge." There are only a finite number of stocks a mutual
fund manager can reasonably analyze and actively track to gain such a competitive edge. When the fund has more assets, the manager must analyze large companies because he needs to take
larger positions. Large companies are more efficiently priced in the market and it becomes increasingly difficult to get an edge.
