It is never too late to invest in mutual funds for retirement. As such, if you plan to invest in some of the best funds, the Zacks Mutual Fund Rank can provide you with valuable guidance.

How can you tell a good mutual fund from a bad one? It's pretty basic: if the fund is diversified, has low fees, and shows strong performance, it's a keeper. Of course, there's a wide range, but using the Zacks Mutual Fund Rank, we've found three mutual funds that would be great additions to any long-term retirement investors' portfolios.

Here are the funds that have achieved the Zacks Mutual Fund Rank #1 (Strong Buy) and have low fees.

American Funds Cap Income Builder 529F

(CIRFX) has a 0.47% expense ratio and 0.23% management fee. CIRFX is a Large Cap Blend fund, targeting companies with market caps of over $10 billion. These funds offer investors a stability, and are perfect for people with a "buy and hold" mindset. With yearly returns of 9.18% over the last five years, this fund clearly wins.

Federated MDT Stock Trust Service Class

(FSTKX): 0.98% expense ratio and 0.67% management fee. FSTKX is a part of the Large Cap Value category, and invests in equities with a market capitalization of $10 billion or more, but whose share prices do not reflect their intrinsic value. FSTKX, with annual returns of 16.39% over the last five years, is a well-diversified fund with a long track record of success.

Voya Large Cap Growth A

(NLCAX) is an attractive large-cap allocation. NLCAX is a Large Cap Growth option; these mutual funds purchase stakes in numerous large U.S. companies that are expected to develop and grow at a faster rate than other large-cap stocks. NLCAX has an expense ratio of 0.89%, management fee of 0.51%, and annual returns of 13.15% over the past five years.

There you have it. If your financial advisor had you put your money into any of our top-ranked funds, then they've got you covered. If not, you may need to talk.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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