Go to Morningstar Library Edition Online, and go to the screeners (see Learning Tool 7: Using Morningstar to Select Funds). Set up the problem with the following criteria:

Fund Category = Domestic Stock (ex-specialty), and your category is Large Blend

Special Fund Types and Index Fund = Yes

Minimum Purchase and <= a Value of $50

Fund Size (Total Assets) and Value >= $750

Fees and Expenses and No-Load Fund = Yes

Fees and Expenses and Expense Ratio <= Value of .3

As of 5/24/07, there were 6 funds that passed your criteria. They were:

DFA Core Equity I (dfeox)

Type: S&P 500 Index, Expense ratio: .23%

Min. Investment: $0, $50 initial AIP

DFA Core Equity I I (dfqtx)

Type: S&P 500 Index, Expense ratio: .26%

Min. Investment: $0, $50 initial AIP

Dryden Stock Index I (pdsix)

Type: S&P 500 Index, Expense ratio: .30%

Min. Investment: $0, $50 initial AIP

Principal Investment Large Cap S&P 500 Index (plfix) 

Type: S&P 500 Index, Expense ratio: .15%

Min. Investment: $0 month, $0 initial AIP

TIAA-CREF Institutional S&P 500 Index (tispx)

Type: S&P 500 Index Expense ratio: .07%              

Min. Investment: $0 month, $0 initial AIP

TIAA-CREF Institutional Equity Index (tieix)

Type: S&P 500 Index, Expense ratio: .07%

Min. Investment: $0, $0 initial AIP

Which fund you choose will be determined by which factors you think are most important. Certain factors include tenure of managers, expense costs, asset size, tax position, and so on.

Please note that after you do the analysis in Morningstar, you need to call each of the fund families to make sure the information was correct. Toll-free numbers are available under the tab “Purchase Info.” With three of these funds, the information was incorrect as these funds were only available for institutional or retirement clients, and were not available to the general public or retail clients.