After seven years in the fund business, Summit Funds has gotten the mainstream stamp of approval in the form of a Lipper award, winning for Best Fixed Income Family Small Size.

The award has given us "independent validation of what we already knew", says David Mazza, Summit's national marketing director, "that we have some of the best funds out there."

The criteria for the small family size award are having less than $23 billion in assets under management and having at least three funds (to be considered a family).

Summit currently has $1.2 billion of assets in funds under management. Their expense ratios are kept to average or below. They also offer variable income products with 60% in equity and 40% in fixed income. The expenses in basis points are 71 for a bond fund, 73 for a short term fund, and 115 for a high yield fund.

So what's so different about Summit, you ask? Mazza has an answer for that ready.

"What sets us apart is the longevity of our portfolio managers, they've been there since the beginning," Mazza told MutualFundWire.

Summit's load-waived funds are offered on the platforms of, Schwab OneSource, Pershing, Fidelity FundsNet, TD Ameritrade, and they have a strong regional footprint in Raymond James.

With the validation from Lipper has come a push for more brokerages to carry the funds. Being of small size, Summit lacks the resources to go after the individual investor so they stick to the financial advisor market. Award in hand, they hope to make their way onto even more platforms. 

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