Calculated Risk: Tech Funds That Are 'Safer' Than Their Brethren

Note to readers: Beginning this week, The Big Screen, columnist Ian McDonald's search for the best performing funds, will run Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.

If 1999's heady gains shows us that tech funds are the fund world's race cars, last year's painful losses proved that it might make sense to pick one with decent brakes.

In 1999 the average tech fund rang up a 135% return, but since the tech-laden Nasdaq Composite's peak on March 10, the average tech fund is down 50.5%, according to Morningstar. So, the first Big Screen of this uncertain year sifts the tech-fund pack, looking for a little stability. ...