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Fund name: YieldQuest Core Equity (YQCEX), Total Return Bond (YQTRX) and Tax-Exempt Bond (YQTEX) funds.

Objective: Various.

Adviser: YieldQuest Funds LLC. The YieldQuest Investment Group, of which it is part, was organized in 1998. Before that it was part of First Union (now Wachovia). The group provides investment advice to over 150 investment advisors, financial planners and high net worth individuals.

Manager: Jay K. Chitnis is the Managing Director of the Advisor and is responsible for the day-to-day management of the Funds. He also serves as Managing Director of YieldQuest Securities, LLC

Opening date: November 1, 2005

Minimum investment: $10,000, only for “professionals in the fee-only and fee-based RIA community.”

Expense ratio: 1.19% for Core Equity, 0.79% for Total Return and Tax-Exempt (after waivers). Expenses are about 0.50% higher without the waiver, which is in effect for at least two years.

Comments: Their strategy: Try to outperform on the upside, limit downside volatility, practice effective diversification, trade moderately. “[W]e are confident you will find our efforts to keep you informed unparrelled.” Also unpruufred, which is to say that there’s a startling number of errors in their website’s text.

Beyond the boilerplate, they don’t reveal any particularly distinctive strategy. The Equity fund can invest in anything and everything (stocks of various stripes, ETFs, open- and closed-end funds), but might not at any moment. Total Return, likewise, is willing to invest in all sorts of bonds, ETFs, and closed-end funds.

Finally, we should dispose of the misleading term “YieldQuest” as a reflection of strategy. YieldQuest is the advisers’ name and it reflects the firm’s historic mission of providing fixed-income management. None of the funds, most particularly Core Equity, have any distinctive focus on yield.

Bottom line: There’s no compelling reason to be here. The funds have a high minimum and are reasonably priced, but doesn’t present any special opportunity.

Company link: www.yieldquest-funds.com

May 1, 2006