Consistent Winners: Funds with Fewest Annual Losses Over 20 Years

With the stock market posting losses last year for the first time in almost a decade, and this year off to a flat start (albeit with a 10% drop and subsequent bounce back), your clients may worry about volatility. In case they ask about funds that are least likely to post losses, we can help. Last year, we listed the top 10 funds that posted no annual losses over the previous 10 years. For this list, we've revisited the same theme of consistent gains but we've upped the stakes. Initially, we looked for funds that had posted no annual losses over the past two decades. Not surprisingly, there were none. But we found a handful -- seven to be precise -- that had posted only two losses since the mid-1990s.

Bear in mind, these funds are not without risk. No investment is. But for long-term consistency, these funds have set the standard. We ranked them by annualized returns from 1996 to 2015. We also included the two annual losses for each fund. In each case, those losses came in 2002 (after the tech crash) and 2008 (during the crisis.) The other 18 years were all gains. All data is from Morningstar.

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Read More:

• Long Haul: Best Mutual Funds for 25 Years
• 10 Funds Without a Single Losing Year in a Decade
• Best Alpha: Which Funds Generate Real Revenue?