It's with little consolation that we bring you this week's fund screen. Despite Monday's historic rally, stocks continue to sell off in a volatile fashion. According to Lipper, every fund category is bleeding money this year except for one solitary group that bets on the market falling. And the single domestic equity fund manager who had kept his head above water in 2008 -- Forester Value (FVALX)Tom Forester -- finally saw his streak come to an end this week (although the fund is only down 0.8% year-to-date). Warren Buffett may be buying stocks, but we aren't so sure there are a lot of people willing to follow his lead so quickly.

The last few weeks we have been highlighting fund groups such as consistent earners and balanced offerings that tend to weather downturns like the one we're enduring a little bit better than their competitors. This week we're continuing that trend.

One way to stem some of the bleeding in your retirement account is to pick funds that charge rock-bottom fees. A firm's annual expenses eat away at returns. By keeping those to a minimum, investors can keep some of their money -- a tiny bit at least -- where it belongs: in their pockets.

To construct this week's screen we went looking for funds whose expense ratios put them in the top 15% of their classifications (which, in Lipper parlance, actually means they are in the top 15%). We could've taken a different tack by simply focusing on the lowest expense ratios, regardless of labels. But that approach would've left us with a table of index funds from Fidelity and Vanguard. That's not our intention. So we started with a universe of 3,196 funds, representing every mutual-fund category. We trimmed that group to 841 once we knocked out load funds. We then added in our usual three- and five-year performance metrics. We were eventually left with 16 funds that are on the table below.

Fees are a big reason to be attracted to a fund. They shouldn't be the singular reason, though, for ultimately buying one. Indeed, this screen does place an emphasis on cheap fees. We also added in performance criteria. One shouldn't be studied without the other. As we've said in the past, do investors really need to jump into a commodities fund or a risky focused offering simply because of its low fees? Of course not. There are a whole other set of concerns to weigh in addition to fees.

There's a compelling argument to keep expenses to a minimum. The SEC's fund calculator is an easy way to see just how fees can eat at your returns. By inputting a few figures it'll quickly spit out the fees you'll pay. For example, a $1,000 investment in a fund that charges an annual 0.5% expense ratio will grow to $4,216.32 over a 20-year time period (assuming an annual 8% return). Fees during that time would've been $232.82. A fund that charges three times those fees would've left the same investor with just $3,445. (We aren't including foregone earnings -- the amount lost to fees that could've been earning a return if invested.)

This week's list of finalists is an eclectic bunch. There are real-estate offerings along with small and midcap funds, and some that invest overseas. You'll also see some funds that traditionally don't make our cuts. We waved our usual minimum investment cut-off because investors, especially those heading for retirement, can save big on fees at Fidelity and Vanguard by moving $100,000 into certain funds. For example, the Vanguard 500 (VFINX) drops its fees to 0.07% a year for investors who plow that much into the fund. While we aren't making an implicit recommendation of our finalists this week -- it's tough to sign off on any fund these days -- these funds would make great candidates for further study.

But just remember that fees also tend to be marketing tools. Fidelity and Vanguard have always competed vigorously over who can charge lower fees in some of their index funds. And we would avoid any firm that appears to be lowering fees in a blatant attempt to attract assets. Funds usually include a fee schedule in their SEC filings that outline how much fees will come down as their asset bases grow. Any haircut to fees that accelerates that schedule demands more attention.

The Criteria: The equity funds that made our list this week have expense ratios that put them in the bottom 15% of their Lipper fund classifications. The funds had to be open to new money and couldn't charge a sales load. In addition, their three- and five-year performance track records put them in the top 10% of their peer groups.

Cheapskates

Ticker	Name	Fund Type	Assets (In Millions)	Year-to-Date Return (%)	3-Year Average Annual Return (%)	5-Year Average Annual Return (%)	Expense Ratio (%)
Source: Lipper * Requires a $50,000 investment ** Requires a $100,000 investment *** Requires a $10,000 investment
CGMRX	CGM Realty	Real Estate	2113	-36.95	6.28	15.44	0.86
ACFFX	Columbia Acorn International Select	Global/Intl	182	-40.06	1.97	9.64	1.18
FSEAX	Fidelity Southeast Asia	Asian	2198	-50.08	6.77	11.87	1.08
FWWFX	Fidelity Worldwide	Global/Intl	1165	-37.15	-1.40	3.46	1.04
HAINX	Harbor International	Global/Intl	20594	-40.60	1.38	8.41	0.81
LEXCX	ING Corporate Leaders Trust	Large-Cap	433	-28.11	0.03	6.05	0.49
JMCVX	Janus Mid Cap Value	Mid-Cap	6277	-27.73	-1.52	5.04	0.86
MSILX	Masters' Select International	Global/Intl	1457	-40.04	-1.08	6.36	1.03
MCHFX	Matthews China	Asian	1009	-48.58	14.12	11.85	1.17
SWPPX	Schwab S&P 500*	Large-Cap	3158	-34.20	-5.35	-0.20	0.19
STSCX	Stratton Small Cap Value	Small-Cap	764	-20.74	-2.16	6.40	0.87
UMBWX	UMB Scout International	Global/Intl	3360	-38.06	-1.74	5.98	0.96
VFIAX	Vanguard 500**	Large-Cap	29807	-34.41	-5.42	-0.22	0.07
VCVSX	Vanguard Convertible Securities***	Hybrid	854	-31.35	-2.88	0.66	0.77
VWIAX	Vanguard Wellesley Income**	Mixed Asset	5116	-14.14	1.14	3.38	0.15
VWENX	Vanguard Wellington**	Mixed Asset	17591	-24.82	-0.74	3.60	0.16

Recipe

Expense Ratio = Bottom 15% of Fund Classification *

Annualized 3-Year Return (%) = Display Only

Rank in Classification (%) (3 year performance) <= 10

Annualized 5-Year Return (%) = Display Only

Rank in Classification (%) (5 year performance) <= 10

Load Fund (type) = No Load

Open to New Investors = Yes

Total Net Assets ($ millions) >= 50

Year-to-Date Return (%) = Display Only

* The screen only includes equity funds