At the end of a long workday, most folks come home to relax.
Of course, before that can happen they have to fix dinner, do some laundry, help the kids with homework, fix that running toilet; the list is endless.
By the time they have the time to relax, they usually just fall into bed as if they had slipped into a coma.
Tomorrow it will be more of the same.
Somewhere in this eternal worklife routine, there is one more household chore people must find time to perform.
That would be taking care of their 401(k) or IRA retirement plans.
Since most folks would rather unclog a bathroom sink than fool with their finances, it is no wonder that they rarely find the time for their investments.
Morningstar can help.
As one of the premier authorities on mutual funds, exchange traded funds and personal finance, Morningstar's website provides tons of information for the average investor.
In fact the amount of materialpresented just on the "free side" of the site is daunting to most time-strapped working folks.
However, tucked away to the side of that information mountain is a nice little time saving tool called the Fund Quickrank.
The most time consuming part of taking care of any investment account is researching possible investment choices.
For people taking care of their 401(k) accounts, there can be dozens of funds to choose from in their plans.
For IRA investors, there are thousands of choices.
Morningstar's Fund Screeners are great tools for sorting through the sea of funds to find ones that suit a particular investment style.
Those tools do require the user to be a little more knowledgeable about mutual funds and investing in general.
While taking the time to gain that knowledge would make anyone a better investor, for most regular working folks that could be a tough assignment.
The Fund Quickrank really simplifies the process.
Think of Morningstar's Fund Quickrank as a kind of a mini-screener.
By using a shorter list of parameters, Quickrank can quickly give average investors a great choice of funds to pickfrom as they build their watchlists for more research.
Here is how to take advantage of this powerful time saving tool.

1. log onto morningstar.
   com (the site free to join) and click on the FUNDS tab up top
2. on the FUNDS page, in the left hand column, under TOOLS, click FUND QUICKRANK
3. click on the SELECT FUND CATEGORY dropdown box and select type of fund needed
4. n the SELECT RANKING FIELD dropdown box, select LOWEST COST FIVE-STAR FUNDS
5. click VIEW RESULTS and start your research at the top of the results list

On a sheet of paper, write down the requirements that a prospective fund should meet to make the watchlist.
These would be things like:

• load/noload fund (we like no loads)
• expense ratio (we like ones less than 1%, but never more than 1.
  50%)
• risk rating (we like average or lower)
• return rating (we like average or higher)
• fund rating (we like 4 or 5 star)

Go down the list and throw out the funds that do not meet the needed requirements.
Throw out the ones that do not fit the fund type desired (small-cap, mid-cap, etc.
).
Throw out the ones that have excessive minimum investment requirements.
Throw out the ones that are closed to new investors.
That sheet of paper should now have a manageable list of funds to compare.
Sort through and choose the best one or two and add to the portfolio.
Repeat the process for any other types of funds needed.
As "weekend investors" learn more about the markets, their investing approach will become more finely tuned.
The tools they employ to find the best funds for their plans will become more finely tuned as well.
In the meantime, using the Fund Quickrank tool will provide a much stronger portfolio than just "flying blind" and there will still be time left to fix that pesky toilet leak!