Kiplinger’s Best List
Oct 11, 2007 
Sun
The November issue of Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine published their annual Best List which covered a range of products, from investments, to financial service, to travel and leisure. I don’t necessarily agree with their selections of best stocks, best mutual funds, or best credit cards, but it does give me some new information that I don’t know. For example, the magazine mentioned Muriel Siebert as the best place to invest in mutual funds. I never heard this firm before and don’t know exactly what they are offering. But it may be worth a look to see why it is recommended.
Anyway, following is the complete list of the best from the magazine. I added the links for your convenience. You may as well find something new 
Best stocks and mutual funds
- Domestic stock fund open to new investors: Fairholme (FAIRX)
- Stock to put away and forget: Medtronic (MDT)
- Natural resources fund: T. Rowe Price New Era (PRNEX)
- Foreign stock fund: Dodge & Cox International Fund (DODFX)
- Index fund: Vanaguard Mid-Cap Index Fund (VIMSX)
- Low minimum fund: Excelsior Value & Restructuring Fund (UMBIX)
- Green stock (traditional): Sunpower (SPWR)
- Green stock (nontraditional): General Electric (GE)
- Online broker for fund investors: Muriel Siebert
- Funky exchange-traded fun: Rydex S&P Equal Weight (RSP)
Best financial services
- Checking account: ING Electric Orange
- College-savings fund: State 529 plans
- Student loans: Federal Stafford Loans
- ID-theft prevention: Direct Marketing Association (remove from mailing list) and OptoutPrescreen.com (remove from preapproved credit card offers)
- Health savings account for investors: Health Savings Administrators and HSA Resources Bank
- Green idea: Compact fluorescent lights
Best retirement tools
- All-around retirement account: Roth IRA
- 401(k) option: Roth 401(k)
- Target-date retirement funds: T. Rowe Price
- Online retirement planning: Fidelity Retirement Quick Check
- IRA for kids: Scottrade
- IRA for new investors: Fidelity
- Rollover IRA: T. Rowe Price
- Long-term care insurance: John Hancook, Metlife
- Haven for empty-nesters: Seattle
- Inspirational retirement guide: Encore: Finding Work That Matters In The Second Half of Life, by Marc Freedman
Best travel and consumer deals
- Airline: Jetblue
- Low-cost travel destination: Argentina
- Cars: Nissan Altima, Hyundai Veracruz, and Toyota Prius
- Turkey-day treat: Greenberg Smoked Turkey
- Video game console: Nintendo Wii
Best web sites for investing
- Most informative: SeekingAlpha.com
- Bonds: Pimco.com
- Portfolio tracker: QuoteStream.com
Best web sites for financial services:
- Tax calculator: Kiplinger.com/money/taxes
- Credit card report: AnnualCreditReport.com
- Credit score: myFICO.com
- Personal finance blog: PFBlog.com
- Free budgeting: Wesabe.com
- Student loans: SimpleTuition.com
Best web sites for insurance:
- Life insurance: Insure.com, AccuQuote.com
- Auto insurance: InsWeb.com
- Homeowners insurance: AccuCoverage.com
- Health insurance: eHealthInsurance.com
- Medicare: Medicare.gov
- Customer service: Naic.org/cis
Best web sites for consumer services:
- Consumer blog: Consumerist.com
- Phone service: OneSuite.com
- Online coupon site: RetailMeNot.com
- Charity watchdog: CharityNavigator.com
- Drug information: CRBestBuyDrugs.org
- Customer service: GetHuman.com
- Guide for entrepreneurs: BizStarters.com
Best credit cards:
- Cash rebate card: American Express Blue Cash
- Airline miles card: Citi Premier Pass Elite
- Low rate card: Simmons First National Bank
- Travel card: Capital One Platinum Plus MasterCard
- Gasoline card: BP Rewards Visa
This is very helpful. I still can’t believe their favorite PF Blog. I think they just looked at the total number of feed readers and decided that it must be the best. I don’t know anyone who reads them any more.
Yeah I agree with Lazy on the PF Blog. They should put mine on there!
I bet anyone who gets that kind of publicity will instantly add 20k readers.
Seems like my PRNEX made the list
Thanks for the great resources Sun, and also for adding the links
TRP got multiple mentions while Vanguard had only one. I don’t know if it means Vanguard is losing its luster, but apparently indexing is not everything
I have to agree with those credit card listed, my research gives me very similar results