BUY & HOLD WORKS

Some mutual funds show greatpatience with the quirks of the stockmarket, buying blue chip stocks andholding on to them for a long time.That keeps turnover and expenseratios low. But the strategy really paysoff over the long term, leveling theeconomic ups and downs. When theeconomy takes off, for example, andthe sleepers in the fund's portfoliobegin to wake up, buy-and-holdfunds do very well. One such fundis Dreyfus Appreciation (800-373-9387; www.dreyfus.com), which hasbeaten the S&P 500 handily over thepast decade, averaging an annualyield of 9.5% to the index's 7%.Thefund has no front- or back-end load;the turnover ratio is a minimal 5% ayear; and the expense ratio is arespectable 0.91%.