When I first decided to write about individual funds or their families, the problem of conflicts came up. If I invested in a certain fund, would I be suggesting it by writing about it? Probably. Hey, I figure I've become a pretty darned good mutual fund picker of late and if I think its okay, it probably is. This isn't necessarily ground breaking news considering all of the funds that my wife and I own are currently among the most popular, and fortunately, the most profitable.

But there were times, when I first started, that picking funds was not an easy task. First, there was no BlueCollarDollar to help explain to me what to look for in a mutual fund. I even thought that the phrasing, "Past performance is no guarantee of future results" was based more in regulation than truth. In the beginning, I also thought that if the cover of Money magazine said it was one of the ten funds that I had to own, then they probably knew what they were talking about. Only they weren't talking to me.

After several years of research, the BlueCollarDollar was born. It's first incarnation was a as a paper newsletter published monthly. But I soon ran out of money before the crusade got off the ground. My peer group was going to have to struggle along without me. Until last year, when the BlueCollarDollar.com was born. A free service for you and a kind of financial jumping off point was all I ever wanted it to be.

Now the BlueCollarDollar has certain criteria for making our Top 31 Chart First the fund has to be good, and by that I mean it has to be better than it's peer group, but not necessarily leading the pack. In the world of mutual funds, number one lasts for a very short time. So good is good for us. Good lends itself to a certain conservatism while providing better than average returns. At the BCD, we like good.

It has to be cheap. Expenses can add up quick in a mutual fund. After all, you are paying for someone to do all the work for you. So you have to pay for that. But it shouldn't be much. And the returns you expect shouldn't be eaten up by taxes. Let me explain that last one.

When a stock is bought and held, the return or money you made is real only if you sell the stock. If the stock is sold at a profit, you will have to pay taxes on it. If a mutual fund manager does this alot, then the money you made will be effected by those tax bills. And you make less.

So we like good and we like cheap.

Enter Janus. Janus is our personal mutual fund family of choice for my wife and myself. And this is in no way an endorsement. And what these guys have done in the past is no indication that they will be any good at making boatloads of money in the future. But they probably will. It is just the way they do things at Janus.

Janus was started thirty years ago and is currently based in Denver. This in itself doesn't mean much, and the soap opera that engulfs mutual funds and their managers and staffs is something that I watch and will report on to you when the need arises. But none of that exists at Janus.

These stock pickers aren't just good, they are extremely cordial with one another. This is why they do so well. They have a round table attitude for picking winners and if you look at the top ten holdings of many of these funds, you will more than likely find something similar. These folks want to be cutting edge, but they don't want to be out there, over extended in risk. Sure they pick some of the hottest names in the business news, and they tend to stick with them, but the companies they pick are rock solid. This eliminates much of the risk. But never all of it.

Janus does have a soap opera of their own, but it is not internal and shouldn't necessarily effect the performance of it's young mavericks. A railroad company, Kansas City Southern, owns Janus and recently has caused some concern about what they are planning to do with their most profitable asset. We'll keep you posted on what this might mean, but there is no concern so far.

Let's start with the Janus Balanced Fund:
Ticker Symbol: JABAX
Initial Investment: $2,500...after that, minimum of $100
IRA Minimum Investment: $500...after, minimum of $100
Manager: Karen Reidy
Inception:09/01/1992
Assets: $3,420 million
No Load
Expense ratio:1.03%
12b-1 Fee: 0
Portfolio Turnover: 73.0%
Janus Balanced Fund seeks long-term growth of capital, consistent with capital preservation and balanced by current income. The fund invests in both equity and debt securities, normally allocating 40% to 60% of assets to each type. Equity investments consist primarily of common stocks chosen for their growth potential and income-producing common and preferred stocks. Fixed-income investments consist primarily of investment-grade corporate and U.S. government securities. At least 25% of assets are invested in fixed-income senior securities at all times.

What that all means is diminished risk with an eye on income production. This fund would be ideal for the BCD reader that is headed for retirement (within three years) or is already in it.

Here's how the holdings breakdown:
Utility...0 %
Energy...4.4%
Financials...24.1%
Industrial Cyclicals...1.4 %
Consumer Durables...0%
Consumer Staples...2.3%
Service...39.9%
Retail...7.2%
Health...5.2 %
Technology...15.5 %
Top 10 Holdings:

US Treasury Note 6%/
Houston Inds Cv Pfd 7%/
Viacom Cl B/
Charter Comm 144A 8.625%/
Bank of New York/
NTL 144A Cv 7%/
Adelphia Comm 7.875%/
Royal Caribbean Cv Pfd 7.25%/
Comcast Special Cl A/
Enron /
Cash...0.4% Stocks...36.8%
Bonds...49.8%
Other...13.0% Foreign...6.8%

for the Olympus, the Mercury, and the Twenty funds