21.   His fund tends to focus on blue-chip companies with steady growth.

22.   In fact, successful funds tend to have a few common traits.

23.   International funds tend to be expensive because transaction and research costs are high overseas.

24.   Investment funds tend to allocate funds to match weightings in the benchmark stock index.

25.   Index funds tend to outperform funds managed by companies that are relatively new to the mutual fund business and fund groups that have limited research resources, Barney said.

26.   Litman observes that smaller funds tend to have relatively high expense ratios.

27.   Moreover, institutional funds tend to have well-defined investment strategies.

28.   Municipal bond funds tended to keep their investors loyal when interest rates rose, and bond prices fell, early in the year.

29.   Muni bond funds tend to be bought by conservative investors who want to avoid paying taxes on their investment while receiving steady income.

30.   Moreover, these small-company funds tend to invest in different market sectors than typical United States small-cap funds do.