Take the guesswork out of mutual fund investing.

To create our Mutual Fund OneSource Select List, The Schwab Center for Financial Research (SCFR), a division of Charles Schwab & Co., Inc., rigorously evaluates the funds that participate in Schwab's Mutual Fund OneSource^® service with the best combination of eligibility, quantitative assessment, and qualitative review to make the final analysis.

SCFR analyzes funds tracked by Morningstar, using the quantitative selection criteria listed below. Next, based on its own qualitative analysis, SCFR builds the Mutual Fund OneSource Select List by selecting the most favorably evaluated funds participating in Schwab's Mutual Fund OneSource^® service, including Schwab Funds, within each Morningstar category.

Most of the funds on the Mutual Fund OneSource Select List are actively managed funds; however, SCFR also includes Schwab Index Funds in certain categories.

How do we arrive at the Mutual Fund OneSource Select List?

• Eligibility
  We exclude:
  • Funds with a transaction fee or sales load
  • New funds with less than three years of history¹
  • Funds with assets of less than $20 million
  • Funds not available to new investors in all 50 states²
  • Funds in esoteric categories
     
• Quantitative Assessment
  We assess:
  • Funds against their category peers
  • Factors including alpha, expenses, firm size, fund size, active share, and cash inflows
  • Overall rankings based on a proprietary multifactor model
     
• Qualitative Review
  We evaluate:
  • Only highly rated funds based on our proprietary multifactor model
  • Consistency and viability of the investment strategy
  • Management structure
  • Sector diversification
  • Performance based on our expectations
     
• Final Analysis
  We choose:
  • Funds that meet the eligibility, quantitative assessment, and qualitative review requirements above
  • Funds that are most representative of their designated category
  • Funds that provide a diverse list of options
  • Funds that are expected to outperform their peers over the next 12–36 months

Our final list of experts' top picks makes it easy to find suitable options for your portfolio.

Selection Criteria

Actively managed funds participating in the Schwab Mutual Fund OneSource service, including Schwab Funds, are evaluated by SCFR based on a quantitative analysis of risk, performance, expenses, active share (when meaningful), assets under management, and asset flows. SCFR may also apply additional qualitative factors to its analysis to enhance its overall evaluation of a fund, including, for example, changes in a fund's investment strategy or management structure, portfolio manager tenure, whether a fund's investment style and portfolio holdings are representative of its investment category, portfolio composition and turnover rates, consistency of a fund's performance and SCFR's evaluation of the fund over time, and other risk and diversification considerations.

The Schwab Funds selected for the Select List feature eligible actively managed Schwab Funds that generally fall into the top 35% of all SCFR-evaluated funds (regardless of whether a fund participates in Schwab's Mutual Fund OneSource service) in their respective Morningstar categories. If two or more Schwab Funds that fit this criterion also have similar investment styles, SCFR may determine that only the most favorably evaluated fund(s) be included in the list. Because Schwab Funds included in the Select List are selected independently of other actively managed funds on the list, they may have a less favorable evaluation overall.

Index funds selected for the Select List are exclusively Schwab Funds. They include up to one market-capitalization-weighted index fund for each of the large-cap, small-cap, international, and taxable bond asset classes, and one fundamentally weighted index fund for each of the large-cap, small-cap, developed large-cap international, developed small-cap international, and emerging market asset classes. A market-capitalization-weighted index fund is a fund that attempts to match the performance of an index, where the securities with the highest market capitalization (total market value of outstanding stock) get the most weight. A fundamentally weighted index fund is a fund that attempts to match the performance of an index, where the securities with the highest fundamental value (measured based on criteria such as sales, cash flow, dividends, and stock buybacks) get the most weight. A Schwab Fund^® that is market-capitalization-weighted and a Schwab Fund^® that is fundamentally weighted are included unless no funds meet SCFR's quantitative and qualitative evaluation criteria.

The Schwab Index Fund that receives the most favorable evaluation by SCFR in each asset class is included on the Select List. If two index funds receive equal evaluations, SCFR will generally include the fund that has the lower expense ratio.

Third-Party Funds selected for the Select List are eligible actively managed third-party funds that participate in the Schwab Mutual Fund OneSource service that generally fall within the top 35% of all SCFR-evaluated funds within a given Morningstar category and that receive the most favorable evaluations in their respective categories.

For the Select List, SCFR generally includes the five most favorably evaluated funds in each of the large-cap, small-cap, intermediate-term bond, municipal national intermediate, and foreign large-blend asset categories, and the two most favorably evaluated funds in all other asset categories. If two or more of the most favorably evaluated funds within an asset category have similar investment styles, SCFR may substitute a less favorably evaluated fund for one or more of those funds to provide a more diverse selection of fund investment strategies.

Additional Important Information

Approximately 4,300 funds participate in the Mutual Fund OneSource service. Only these funds, including Schwab Funds, are eligible for the OneSource Select List. Schwab receives remuneration from fund companies, and/or their affiliates, in the Mutual Fund OneSource service for record keeping, shareholder services and other administrative services. Schwab and its affiliates also receive fees from the Schwab Funds for investment advisory and fund administration services. The aggregate fees Schwab or its affiliates receive from Schwab Funds^® (see fund prospectuses for more details) are greater than the remuneration Schwab receives from other fund companies participating in the Schwab Mutual Fund OneSource service. The amount of fees Schwab or its affiliates receive from funds participating in the Schwab Mutual Fund OneSource service is not considered in the Select List selection, nor does any fund pay Schwab to be included in the Select List. Eligible funds are selected based solely on the quantitative and qualitative criteria described above.