With only three words, Michael F. Price, the long-time portfolio manager of Mutual Shares, Mutual Qualified, and Mutual Beacon Funds, explained why the three funds were among the top 10 of 200 growth & income funds tracked by Lipper Analytical Services over the last five years.

As the table shows, their average annual total returns over the period ranged from Qualified's 18.7 percent to Beacon's 18.0 - all well ahead of the Standard & Poor's Index average annual return of 14.7 percent and of the average growth & income fund's 13.5 percent, as calculated by Lipper.

If beating the S&P 500 by more than 20 percent isn't impressive enough, you have to remember that Price did so with no more than 60 percent to 70 percent of his portfolios invested in common stocks. During these five years, he has had cash equivalents running from 10 percent to 25 percent. A mix of other assets accounted for the rest.