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June 01, 2002
The Guardian Park Avenue Fund® Turns 30
Building on a Heritage
NEW YORK, June 1, 2002— The Guardian Park Avenue Fund®, the flagship fund of The Park Avenue Portfolio®, this week celebrated its 30th anniversary. This achievement places the Fund in the select company of funds that have endured for three decades.
As of April 30, 2002, of the 4,288 open-end equity mutual funds tracked by Lipper Inc., only 252 of those equity funds - less than 6% - have been active since June 1, 1972.
"Of course, endurance alone is no reason to make an investment," said Frank J. Jones, President of The Park Avenue Portfolio®. "Since its inception, The Guardian Park Avenue Fund® has an annualized return that beat the Standard & Poor's 500 Index (S&P 500 Index), our benchmark index. I think that is a terrific record."
Richard Goldman, the Fund's portfolio manager, joined Guardian's Investment Department in July 2001 as Managing Director and head of the Common Stock Department, from Citigroup Asset Management. Richard was brought in with the goal of returning the Fund to a higher level of performance.
The Guardian Park Avenue Fund® is a large-cap core equity fund that owns a blend of high-quality growth and value stocks of the 600 largest U.S. companies by using a combination of quantitative and fundamental analysis. It is designed as a foundation core-equity mutual fund for an investor's portfolio.
"Because of the Fund's special role as a core-equity foundation portfolio for investors to build upon, we intend to beat our benchmark through a disciplined investment process. This means we employ a tight adherence to a well-defined investment process and careful assessment of risk. One of the ways that we help control risk is we never forget that we are investing in individual businesses. Our goal is to buy what we view as America's best companies when they are available at compelling prices," Goldman said.
Since the Fund's inception through March 31, 2002, The Guardian Park Avenue Fund's Class A shares have had an average annual total return of 14.34% (14.16% with the effects of sales charges). A hypothetical investment of $10,000 at the Fund's inception date of June 1, 1972 (Class A shares), with all distributions reinvested and taking into account the effects of the Fund's maximum sales charges, would be worth $522,877 on March 31, 2002. For the same period, a hypothetical investment in the S&P 500 Index would return $286,241.**
The Fund's Class A shares overall performance record, when taking into account the effects of the Fund's maximum initial sales charges, year-to-date, one-year, three-year, five-year, ten-year and since inception returns for the period ended March 31, 2002 were: -3.60%, -5.12%, -7.91%, 5.31%, 11.92% and 14.16%, respectively. 2 For the same periods, the S&P 500 Index returns were: 0.27%, 0.26%, -2.53%, 10.19%, 13.22% and 11.90%, respectively. (Please note that past performance is not an indication of future results and there are no expenses associated with the returns in the S&P 500 Index.)
Shares of The Park Avenue Portfolio® family of mutual funds, which includes The Guardian Park Avenue Fund®, are not deposits or obligations of, or guaranteed or endorsed by, any bank or depository institution, nor are they insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the National Credit Union Association (NCUA), the Federal Reserve Board, or any other agency. They involve risk, including possible loss of principal amount invested. The investment return and principal value of an investment will fluctuate so that an investor's shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original cost.
The funds within The Park Avenue Portfolio® of mutual funds are sold by prospectus only. The prospectus contains important details and information including risks, fees and expenses. Read it carefully before investing or sending money. For a copy of the prospectus, please call 1-800-221-3253 or download it from www.guardianinvestor.com.
*The S&P500 Index is generally considered to be representative of U.S. stock market activity. The S&P 500 Index is an unmanaged index and is not available for direct investment.
**Past performance is not indicative of future results. Total return figures are shown for the Class A shares and are historical. Figures shown reflect changes in share prices and reinvestment of the Fund's dividends and distributions, and the deduction of all Fund expenses and the maximum 4.5% initial sales charge. Prior to August 25, 1988, shares of Fund were offered at a higher sales charge, so actual returns shown for "Since Inception" (with sales charge) would have been somewhat lower. Performance for Class B, Class C and Class K shares will vary due to difference in expenses charged to each share class. There are no expenses associated with the S&P 500 Index while there are expenses in the Fund and the index is not available for direct investment.
Guardian Investor Services LLC (GIS) is the distributor of The Park Avenue Portfolio family of mutual funds. GIS is an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America, New York, NY 10004. 1-800-221-3253.
GIS member NASD, SIPC.
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