Performance hasn't been a strong suit for either fund category.

This list tracks the performance of each of the fund categories over various time periods.

But even the weakest fund categories do not look too bad.

As a result, technology funds continue to outpace other fund categories for the year.

But for the last five years through Thursday, real estate was the top-performing fund category.

As a group, they are close cousins of the 40 balanced funds, a well-established fund category.

Unfortunately, these are also two of the least popular fund categories, with total assets between them of $8.2 billion.

Some fund categories are more likely than others to levy 12b-1 fees, so pick carefully.

During the year, the assets of virtually all other fund categories were up, in some cases sharply.

All of its nine broad fund categories, from value to growth and small- to large-capitalization, fell.