Wow! You're likely to get a plethora of widely different reactions. Sorry for the redundancy that follows. (I also require 20 minutes to change a light bulb.)
Premise: First, you need some sense of your goals, investing philosophy and the degree of risk you're willing to take.
Than you need a plan.*
Than you select funds that fit the plan.
-
To the heart of the question, here's what I look for:
- Below average fees
- Reputation of the house for integrity, consistency and client service
- A fund's long term performance with a proven track record extending back well over a decade. (I tend to focus on Lipper's category ratings.)
- I like larger funds. They've grown large for a reason. There should be some economics of scale. And the detrimental effects of hot money chasing short term performance and than leaving in droves is likely to be less.
- I also favor larger longer established houses thinking they can afford deeper research staffs.
* For what interest it may hold, here's one plan that might be suitable for a moderate-risk investor 20 years into retirement (like myself).
80% Buy and Hold: (1) 22-25% diversified income, (2) 22-25% balanced, (3) 30-35% hybrids (three uniquely different funds positioned somewhere between income and balanced on the risk spectrum), (4) 7-10% international bond funds, (5) 7-10% inflation-sensitive funds (like real estate and commodities).
20% Flexible Portfolio: Nominally, 50% cash / 50% equity. Since this portion is by definition flexible, the cash could range anywhere from 0% to 100%. Currently, I'm a bit overweight equities and tilted slightly towards an energy/NR fund where I still perceive some value.
I too have trouble limiting the number of funds. Goal is 12. Currently 14. :)

A 5.5% load, 1.58% expenses, and steady underperformance versus the s&p500, definitely not the fund for me.

FYI: Its now Ivy Investments with an ugraded logo.Regards,
Regards,
Ted
http://www.mfwire.com/common/artprint2007.asp?storyID=53886&wireid=2

@Kevin - there are many different types of MLP's:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/advisor/2014/09/30/what-you-need-to-know-about-mlps-and-investing-in-energy/#65d10d5fc4ee
but I think that you will find that most of the funds/ETF's built around them tend to be heavily populated with midstream energy companies. See: GLPAX
I guess that one has to decide what it is they actually want to hold before any specific fund can be either suggested or chosen. Personally I have found them lacking - high er's, low distributions, poor construction/composition and have therefore just invested in certain individual companies.

"The nearly 19-year-old Defined Risk Strategy" - not fund, i.e. private money
Also from the article:
"The $1.5 billion Swan Defined Risk mutual fund (ticker: SDRAX), launched in 2012, hasn’t performed as well, which is largely a function of time and the market cycle. It’s up an average of 4% a year over the past three years, versus 12.9% for the S&P 500. "
Makes one wonder what is "All Seasons" about this fund.

One area I have often pondered (for those who bought those CEF near 15-20% yields) is why so many advisors recommend selling for cap gains (once rebounded) rather than simply holding for the 15-20% yields they provide as long as tolerable? Inference is they will outperform the S&P going forward. You run the risk of reinvesting the proceeds in some form of losing alternative investment.

@ Art ...Thanx for the tip. I will check SOR out. I find it interesting Romick spent considerable time in his recent commentary about junk funds which I translate to mean he considers them worthy of investment.
There have been some interesting recent articles written on CEF's performance. Some believe CEF's rebound much quicker than S&P500 during market crashes supposedly due to the yield they provide (some went to near 20% yields in 2008-2009) for a very brief moment in time at the depth of the panic selling.

Closed end funds provided a rare opportunity in Feb during the oil scare. Discounts went to almost 15% on select funds. I got them at 10.5% yield on average and they are up 10% on NAV from where I got them.

An update ... @Junkster
Through April 22 according to Morningstar Portfolio Manager my three best performing funds year-to-date are FDSAX (+8.9%) ... PGUAX (+8.9%) & PMDAX (+7.8%). My three worst performers ytd are SPECX (-3.3%) ... THOAX (-2.1%) and ANWPX (-0.4%). Overall the investment return on the portfolio as a whole is +3.5% and the ytd return factoring in cash held and profits taken computes to 3.1%. In comparison the Lipper Balanced Index is shown to have a ytd return of 2.8% according to the WSJ.
In addition, my income sleeve is shown to be up ytd @ 2.87% and the hybrid income sleeve is up 3.55% ytd. Last week they were reported at 2.75% and 3.25% respectively.
In review, while the income sleeves were up this past week other parts of the portfolio were down a little from last week reporting where my overall investment return was 4.1% (according to portfolio manager) and when factoring in cash held plus profits put me at 3.4% overall. Last week the Lipper Balanced Index had a ytd return of 3.1% according to the WSJ.

Steve Romick managing a second fund along with FPACX. Maybe another reason that FPACX has not done well of late.
One promising example is Source Capital (SOR), which has historically traded at nearly a 10% discount. Its new manager, Steve Romick of FPA Crescent (FPACX), widely regarded as a top investor, will retain some level of the fund’s historical 4.5% distribution to keep the discount manageable.

Thanks, Ted. I was hoping you could take the key out of the door for this one.
558 CEFs, only 70 insiders with $500K or more invested..... pathetic.

FYI: (Click On Article Title At Top Of Google Searcg)
The nearly 19-year-old Defined Risk Strategy, based on the Standard & Poor’s 500 index, has returned an average of 8.5% a year since its inception through the end of March, versus 6.6% for the S&P itself—and with considerably less volatility.
Regards,
Ted
https://www.google.com/#q=a+Fund+For+All+Seasons+Barron's
M* Snapshot SDRAX:
http://www.morningstar.com/funds/xnas/sdrax/quote.html
LIpper Snapshot SDRAX:
http://www.marketwatch.com/investing/Fund/SDRAX
SDRAX Is Unranked In The (L/S E) Fund Category By U.S. News & World Report:
http://money.usnews.com/funds/mutual-funds/long-short-equity/swan-defined-risk-fund/sdrax

I think some were musing about this topic the other day with respect to the Hodges Pure Contrarian Fund. It sure is hard!
And The Best Small-Cap Fund YTD Is ?: What A Dfference A Year Makes: 2015 Down -(36.93)%

I am the most patient investor I know, not always that way but age and time will do that.
I saw the opening was on Bonds, so I looked at my only 4 bond funds TGEIX, PIMIX MWTRX, TGBAX for 1yr and YTD. The leader YTD is TGEIX-Emerging Market Bond, for 1 yr.TGEIX. The worst TGBAX for both YTD and I yr. No changes planned. For 5 years none are loosers.

Diminished expectations for “hawkish” action seems to be coaxing traders into riskier assets and away from government bonds:
I always worry that one of these days there will be an unexpected and nasty surprise coming out of a Fed meeting. Some of the rallies over the past two months+ in some of the riskier assets have been a thing of beauty. The much maligned junk bond market is less than 2.5% away from all time highs. Some of the bank loan funds have been on a steady march upward unlike anything I have seen before.
http://stockcharts.com/h-sc/ui?s=eifax

FYI: The S&P 500 outperformed the three main mutual-fund style groups — growth, value and blend — over the past decade. Growth mutual funds almost took first-place laurels, but laggard performance by growth funds in the third and fourth quarters of 2015 and Q1 of 2016 allowed the big-cap bogey to cross the decade’s finish line first.
Regards,
Ted
http://www.investors.com/etfs-and-funds/mutual-funds/stocks-that-drive-the-decades-best-performing-blend-mutual-fund/

The card charges 1% foreign transaction fee. That's somewhat insignificant in the sense that you still net a 1% reward (2% reward less 1% fee), but that net is less than Quicksilver, with 1.5% cash back and no foreign transaction fee.
Here are the Fidelity card Terms and Conditions.

"Cunningham said Thursday that he is retiring due to a health issue of a family member that requires his attention."
And, too, assets under management have declined by $13 billion - 25% or so - in three years.
David

So long as the BofAs are all serviced by BofA (and not their FIA subsidiary), it should be possible to transfer some of the credit line from one card to another. Though I don't know what I'd do with a $60K credit limit.
I can't remember a bank increasing our credit limit any time in the past decade or more, except for the one time we asked. That was for the Schwab VISA (a 2% card w/o foreign transaction fee) where we had been given just the basic $5K limit. That is more than enough for our travel since much of it is prepaid, but still a low limit for foreign travel.
We're now using it as a grocery card, and I don't think we eat that much :-)

Another factor for me is credit line, not that I have ever used such a thing or anticipate doing so. I too have too many confusing BoA Visas, but for a long time only one had a $30k line (though now all of them do), same as Fido Amex. Meanwhile I cannot get my Discover above like $750.
Again, it doesn't matter ultimately, just another thing to take into account maybe.