Barron's and Lipper Research anointed Putnam Investment Management the best fund family of 2009. With $43 billion AUM, Putnam tallied the highest average score among the five subdivisions -- U.S. Equity, World Equity, Mixed Equity, Taxable Bonds and Tax-Exempt Bonds -- though it did not receive a number one spot in any of the categories.

Following Putnam, in top-down order, were T. Rowe Price, Aberdeen Asset Management, FAF Advisors, and Nuveen Asset Management. There were 61 fund families ranked overall, with State Farm filling the last place.

The market recovery of 2009 certainly helped all the fund firms, but gave Putnam a needed boost in U.S. and World Equity Funds. Putnam's rise to the top of the list this year seems extremely impressive; the Boston company finished 57th out of 59 on the 2008 list.

The three largest mutual fund firms, Vanguard, American Funds, and Fidelity, placed 40th, 31st and 26th in the performance based ratings respectively. BlackRock, now the world's largest asset manager, finished at 38. Aberdeen and Frost Investment Advisors were the smallest fund families on the list, each with under $2 billion AUM.

See the full 2009 rankings here.

 

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