Who did the best during the five years of the raging bull? Fund investors who went overseas rather than those who stayed home. While the USA's stock market was hopping, markets in Europe and Japan also were soaring, thanks to better economies and falling interest rates. International funds were the best-performing type of stock fund for the five-year period, up 336.4%. Global funds - which invest in the USA as well as overseas - took second place, up 296.8%.

-Top gainer: [Peter Lynch], manager of the USA's largest stock fund, Fidelity Magellan, up 417.1%. Lynch has driven the fund to consistent high performance each year - not one down year in the 10 he's managed it. (Profile, below).

-Ken Heebner, manager of Loomis-Sayles Capital fund, up 359%. Heebner, who also manages other top-flight funds - New England Growth and New England Zenith - is well-known as an aggressive stock trader. ``But when I look back over the past five years, my big money had been made just buying and holding.'' Stocks that have been kind to him: Upjohn, Merck, Marion Labs, Digital Equipment.