Three Alarm Funds
Three Alarm Funds are the worst performers in their categories, delivering absolute returns in the bottom quintile during the past 1, 3, and 5 years. Roy Weitz first published the Three Alarm Funds list in 1996 on his legacy Fund Alarm website. It's recreated here, using the methodology described in "Three Alarm Funds Redux." If your fund is on this list, sorry ... you should at least be asking why.

The Fund Alarm system assigns a Return Score for the three evaluation periods, again based on absolute return (APR). True to the original scoring system, funds recieve a -2 for landing in the bottom quintile (highlighted in red), while those on top receive a 2 (blue).

Roy identified top quintile performers of the past 1, 3, and 5 years as Honor Roll Funds.

A Risk Score is also assigned based a "potential bad year" relative to other funds in its category. It uses 3-year absolute return (APR) minus twice the 3-year standard deviation (STDEV). Funds get a 2 for being highest risk and a -2 for lowest. Caution: This risk metric is relative to other funds in category, so funds can receive a low risk score but still be high volatility relative to overall market.

Fund Alarm return scores are computed for all funds at least one year old, but Three Alarm and Honor Roll ratings are assigned only to funds at least five years old in the oldest share class (OSC). Results are presented below, sorted initially by broad investment Type (BD - Bond, ALT - Alternative, MA - Mixed Asset, EQ - Equity, COM - Commodity, MM - Money Market), then by Category, and then by Name.

Funds younger than five years old are not evaluated for Fund Alarm designations. Click headers to sort (hold Shift for secondary/tertiary sorts). Symbols are hyperlinked to Risk Profile. To perform a more tailored search, like moderate allocation funds sounding Three Alarm bells, please use the QuickSearch or MultiSearch tool.

 



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// new approach to column selection ... 12jun21

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