Janus to Offer Three Funds-of-Funds

Janus Capital Group is working on unveiling three new funds-of-funds designed to offer investors ready-made diversification, Rocky Mountain News reports, citing a Janus filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company's new Smart Portfolios will invest broadly across Janus stock, bond and money-market portfolios, with the growth portfolio investing between 75% to 85% in equities, the moderate portfolio investing between 55% to 65% in equities and the conservative portfolio investment between 35% and 45% in stocks.

Funds-of-funds have been gaining in popularity among investors who don't want to think about hard asset-allocation and rebalancing decisions, with assets in such funds topping $117 billion, up from $54 billion at the end of 2002, according to Financial Research Corp.

"Not everyone has the time and resources to diversify on their own," explained Blair Johnson, a spokesman for Janus. Johnson also said that the new products give investors access to its portfolio managers as well as the mathematical models at its Intech division.

The staff of Money Management Executive ("MME") has prepared these capsule summaries based on reports published by the news sources to which they are attributed. Those news sources are not associated with MME, and have not prepared, sponsored, endorsed, or approved these summaries.