The Mutual Fund Directory is an abridged on-line version of Gordon Pape's annual Buyer's Guide to Mutual Funds. Here you'll find current information on every Canadian mutual fund with at least a three year track record. We update this mutual fund directory every week.

You can use the directory either to view detailed information on any Canadian mutual fund company and its list of eligible mutual funds.

This directory will display the following information. Select a category to view the glossary of terms and abbreviations.

• Overall Suitability Rating
• Risk Level
• Load Type
• Fund Type
• RRSP eligibilty RRSP eligibilty Funds are eligible for RRSPs/RRIFs fully, within the 20% foreign content rule, or not at all.
• Segregated Segregated Segregated funds are offered by insurance companies and have different characteristics than non-segregated funds, including guarantees of principal and creditor-protection.
• Manager Provides manager name and time with fund.
• M.E.R. Current management expense ratio. The M.E.R. is deducted from the fund before Net Asset Values are calculated. A lower M.E.R. is desirable.

The fund Overall Suitability Ratings included in this directory are designed to help you identify those mutual funds that may be most suitable for your personal investing strategy. They should not be interpreted as buy or sell recommendations! Consult an investment advisor before making any final decisions. As well, you should obtain a copy of the simplified prospectus (the document that provides all the information about the fund and its management) and study it carefully before going ahead. You can often download the simplified prospectus of a particular fund by visiting the mutual fund company's web site. Links to Canadian fund company web sites are included in this directory.

RISK LEVEL
Most investors prefer lower risk investments, so this weighs heavily in these ratings. A higher-risk mutual fund, even one that has a good performance record, will generally receive a lower rating than one which may not promise as good a return but which is less risk-prone. But remember, there is no such thing as an absolutely risk-free investment. You can select funds that limit risk, but you can't avoid it entirely. Risk levels are relative within each fund category. Equity funds, for example, are generally higher-risk than fixed income funds. So a medium-risk equity fund will have a higher degree of risk than a medium risk income fund.

PERFORMANCE RECORD
A fund's past result will weigh heavily in its rating. While previous performance is no guarantee of future success, it's a far better indicator than throwing darts at a board. Because performance records are vitally important in judging the suitability of mutual funds, no fund which has been in existence for less than three years is included in this directory. Mutual fund performance ratings are based on information obtained from The Financial Post, The Globe and Mail Report on Business, Southam's Mutual Fund Sourcebook, The Fund Library, plus the mutual fund companies themselves.

TREND PATTERN
As a further check, this directory takes recent trend patterns into account. This means that a fund with a strong performance over the past five years would rank higher than one that did well five to 10 years ago, but which has tailed off recently. Trend pattern information comes from the Mutual Fund Sourcebook and the All Time Period charts developed by Wilfred Vos.

ECONOMIC CONDITIONS
Certain funds are more suitable under specific economic conditions, such as a climate of low interest rates. These ratings take this into account, based on economic conditions as they are anticipated to develop in the near future.

COSTS
High costs will impact on the rating of a particular fund. A low cost earns Brownie points. In cases where a front-end load is charged, assume the fee is negotiable unless the entry specifically states otherwise. Regardless of the posted commission scale, you should not pay more than 4 percent when purchasing a fund with a negotiable fee, even if the amount you're investing is small.

MANAGEMENT
The strength of the fund manager has been taken into account in the ratings, as well as his or her tenure at the fund.

Note that not all mutual funds are sold in every province. Consult a sales representative in your area to determine whether any fund you're interested in is available.