Through Dec. 31, 2010, the Pioneer Fund’s cumulative total return since its inception on Feb. 10, 1928 was the highest of any mutual fund in the industry. The fund’s growth rate was an astounding 1,043,985.15%.

The number was so large that Lipper, a global leader in supplying mutual fund information, said their computers weren’t programmed to handle numbers that large. In reporting on the event on February 1, 2011, The Boston Globe, an American daily newspaper, said “the fund’s seven-digit total return created a hiccup during routine number crunching (at Lipper). Programs that managed performance information weren’t built to account for returns of 1 million percent.”

In dollar terms, $1,000 invested in the Pioneer Fund’s A shares at inception--after the initial $58 sales charge--would have been worth about $10.1 million at the end of 2010, assuming all dividends and capital gains distributions were reinvested, according to Morningstar data.

The Standard & Poor's 500 Stock Index during the same period grew 190,953.36%, with dividends reinvested.

The Pioneer Fund’s record is a remarkable example of the power of compounding, the benefits of investing for the long run, and the ability of equities to generate wealth. It is also an excellent argument for active management vs. passive, index-based investing.

The Pioneer Fund, the third-oldest mutual fund in the U.S., outperformed the oldest and second-oldest U.S. mutual funds by large margins. The oldest mutual fund, MFS Mass Investors Trust (A), founded July 15, 1924, had a cumulative total return of 154,801% after an initial sales charge, while the second-oldest fund, Putnam Investors (A), founded December 1, 1925, had a cumulative total return of 147,672.29%, according to Morningstar, a global mutual fund rating agency.

The assets of Pioneer Investments, the biggest mutual company in Bulgaria, are more that BGN 215 mln. as of end 2010. The company holds the top place with 27% on the market. Pioneer Investments is offered in Bulgaria through the bank network of UniCredit Bulbank. The clients can use also Savings plan – the product, which allows them to choose the amount of the monthly installment, in which fund to save and for what period. The minimum installment is very affordable 20 euro or dollars per month.

*Disclaimer: The funds’ shares value and the income from them can decrease. The profit is not gauranteed and there is a risk for the investors not to have their investment repaid in full. The investments in the contractual funds are not guaranteed by a guarantee fund set up by the State or another guarantee. The future results from the contractual funds’ activity are not necessarily related to the results from previous years. This is not a recommendation for making an investment decision.