Check Your Balance

Sometimes playing both sides of the fence makes good sense,especially when the market is choppy. If you're looking for afund with an impressive record, take a peek at the OppenheimerQuest Balanced Value Fund (OVGIX). It's been around since late1991, has had the same portfolio manager at its helm since 1992,and hasn't had a down performance year since its inception.Through mid-June it was ahead about 7.16 percent, while the averagebalanced fund was down 2.57 percent, according to Lipper AnalyticalServices. That's not too shabby for a fund with about 65percent of its assets invested in a concentrated number of stocks,10 percent in cash and the balance in bonds.

Ask portfolio manager Colin Glinsman why the fund's done sowell, and he'll say part of it is great stock picking, thankyou very much. Another reason is his definition of value. "Ourview is whether things are cheaper than they should be," hesays, "which means sometimes you can have prettyexpensive-looking companies in our portfolio."