3 Great Funds for an IRA for 2024

Russel Kinnel: It’s IRA season, so I’ve got three ideas for your latest contribution. The first will likely dial up risk, the second is a more moderate allocation fund, and the third is a bond fund, albeit on the riskier end of the spectrum. If you are retired, you might want to dial it down, but if you are a ways from retirement, you might want to stay aggressive.

3 Great Funds for an IRA for 2024

1. Fidelity Overseas FOSFX
2. T. Rowe Price Balanced RPBAX
3. Vanguard High-Yield Corporate VWEHX

First, I have Fidelity Overseas, a Silver-rated foreign large-growth fund. When you think of Fidelity, you think of stock-pickers. Vince Montemaggiore is one of the better ones. He’s a studious investor who is always working to improve his process. He looks for quality companies but also pays attention to valuation more than most growth managers. You can see that in the way the fund has stakes in financials and industrials equal to its tech weight. Also, European countries like the U.K. and France dominate rather than faster-growing Asian markets. Now 12 years into his time at the fund, Montemaggiore is comfortably ahead of peers and benchmark.

Next is Gold-rated T. Rowe Price Balanced. The fund taps a team of excellent investors to build a wide-ranging portfolio. The fund holds about 65% in equities, though it can adjust that amount a little bit. The result is a pretty diffuse portfolio, but one still very much capable of beating benchmark and peers. The fund holds a decent amount of foreign holdings, reflecting T. Rowe’s excellent reach, and really you can make this your sole fund in your IRA.

Finally, we have Silver-rated Vanguard High-Yield Corporate, which is mostly managed by Wellington Asset Management with a portion going to Vanguard’s in-house team. The fund takes more credit risk than a core bond fund but less than most high-yield funds, so it’s pretty reliable. The fund charges just 0.23% a year, which makes it quite a bargain for an actively managed fund.

Watch “3 Excellent Vanguard Funds for the Long Term” for more from Russel Kinnel.