T. Rowe Price

T. Rowe Price is a publicly owned investment management company headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland. The company was founded in 1937 by Thomas Rowe Price, Jr. and offered its first mutual fund, T. Rowe Price Growth Stock Fund in 1950. . In 1986 management took to the company public, with an initial public offering of stock under the symbol on the NASDAQ exchange. The company currently offers mutual funds, individual and small company retirement plans, college savings plans, brokerage and banking services , and institutional accounts for defined pension, contributory pension, endowments and other institutional accounts.

International expansion
In 1999 the firm made its first expansion into international markets by partnering with Robert Fleming Holdings Limited to open operations in Japan. The following year the company acquired Rowe Price-Fleming International and created T. Rowe Price International, Inc. to manage international operations. International expansion continued with cross border funds (T. Rowe Price Funds SICAV, domiciled in Luxembourg, for non-U.S. institutional investors and financial intermediaries in qualifying jurisdictions); in 2004 an expansion into Amsterdam and Sydney Australia (serving Australia and New Zealand); in 2007, an office was opened in Toronto, Canada; in 2008 an office in Zurich, Switzerland (serving institutional investors in Switzerland and Liechtenstein); in 2010 the firm opened an institutional client service office in Dubai.

Index funds
T.Rowe Price is primarily a firm devoted to actively managing investment portfolios. Thus, the firm's balanced fund of fund offerings (the Spectrum series of balanced funds, and the target retirement funds series of funds) primarily employ active funds as underlying investments.

The firm offers five broadly based index funds, outlined in the table below. T.Rowe Price investors can create a simple indexed three-fund-portfolio using the following three funds:


 * Total Equity Market Index Fund
 * International Equity Index Fund
 * US Bond Enhanced Index Fund

Investors can also create a US total market allocation using the Equity Index 500 Fund and the Extended Equity Market Index Fund.

T. Rowe Price index funds have higher expense ratios than index funds available from Vanguard, Fidelity, or from many exchange traded funds.

The T. Rowe Price International Index Fund is a developed market international index fund. The fund does not include emerging market stocks or Canadian stocks. Small cap international stocks make up only a minimal part of the portfolio.

In addition, index purists should take note that the US Bond Enhanced Index Fund utilizes an active management component. The investment manager has the authority to adjust certain holdings versus the benchmark index, which could result in the fund being marginally underweight or overweight in certain sectors, or result in the portfolio having a duration or interest rate exposure that differs slightly from those of the index.