In an article published over the weekend, The Wall Street Journal's Tom Lauricella examines managed-payout mutual funds.

He writes that the stock market collapse in 2008 and early 2009 prompted Vanguard to cut payouts on its funds. For instance, payouts on the Distribution Fund and Growth & Distribution Focus Fund have been reduced by 24 percent, while the payout on the Growth Focus Fund was slashed by 25 percent.

Lauricella also cast his gaze upon Fidelity, whose funds, he notes, "take a different approach, but the outcomes have been similar." The Fidelity Income Replacement 2016 Fund, for instance, will have a payout of 15.23 percent this year, compared to 13.5 percent in 2009.

As for managed-payout funds that didn't have to cut distributions, Lauricella points to John Hancock's Retirement Distribution Portfolio and Retirement Rising Distribution Portfolio as examples of products that did not reduce payouts.

He also mentions Schwab's Monthly Income Funds, which have a heavy weighting in bond funds. 

Edited by: Armie Margaret Lee


Stay ahead of the news ... Sign up for our email alerts now
CLICK HERE