Fund Evaluator:

Franklin Templeton SMACS: Series CH Adv Overview

Franklin Templeton SMACS: Series CH Adv (FQCHX) is an actively managed Taxable Bond Miscellaneous Fixed Income fund. Franklin Templeton Investments launched the fund in 2019.

The investment seeks to provide investors with a high level of income exempt from federal and California personal income taxes with capital appreciation as a secondary goal. Under normal market conditions, the fund invests substantially all of its net assets in municipal securities whose interest is free from regular federal income taxes and from California personal income taxes. It also may have up to 100% of its assets in securities that pay interest subject to the federal alternative minimum tax. The fund is non-diversified.

About Franklin Templeton SMACS: Series CH Adv (FQCHX)

There are 4 members of the management team with an average tenure of 4.61 years: Michael Conn (2020), Daniel Workman (2026), John Bonelli (2020), Christopher Sperry (2019). Management tenure is more important for actively managed funds than passive index funds.

The fund has 2 primary benchmarks: Bloomberg Municipal TR USD index with a weighting of 100% and Bloomberg Municipal California Exempt TR index with a weighting of 100%. Franklin Templeton SMACS: Series CH Adv has 96 securities in its portfolio. The top 10 holdings constitute 32.0% of the fund’s assets. The fund meets the SEC requirement of being classified as a nondiversified fund. The fund is not considered to have an ESG focus with its investment selection and management.

Franklin Templeton SMACS: Series CH Adv is part of the Fixed Income global asset class and is within the Taxable Bond fund group. Franklin Templeton SMACS: Series CH Adv has 0.3% of its portfolio invested in foreign issues. The overall assets allocated to domestic stock is 0.0%. There is 0.0% allocated to foreign stock, and 0.0% is allocated to preferred stocks. The bond allocation as a percentage of total assets is 101.0% (100.7% domestic bond, 0.3% foreign bond and 0.0% convertible bond). Franklin Templeton SMACS: Series CH Adv has -1.0% of the portfolio in cash.

Assets Under Management

The fund has $38 million in total assets, which is below the $732 million average for the Miscellaneous Fixed Income category. Normally, lower assets under management translates to higher average expense ratios, and greater total assets are desired. However, for some investment categories, such as small-cap investing, it may be difficult for the manager to fully employ the desired active strategy if assets grow too large or too quickly.

FQCHX Performance and Fees

The expense ratio measures how much of a fund’s assets are used for administrative expenses and operating expenses, including adviser fees and fees for the transfer agent and custodial services. The Franklin Templeton SMACS: Series CH Adv expense ratio is low compared to funds in the Miscellaneous Fixed Income category. Franklin Templeton SMACS: Series CH Adv has an expense ratio of 0.00%, which is 100% lower than its category average, making the fund expense ratio grade a A. While it is difficult to predict returns, it is known that high annual expense ratios reduce your rate of return, and excessive fees are difficult to overcome. Active management normally comes with higher expense ratios than passive index management. Certain investment categories such as small company and foreign also normally have higher expense ratios. It is best to compare fund expense ratios against the category averages for meaningful assessments.

High portfolio turnover can translate to higher expenses and lower aftertax returns. Franklin Templeton SMACS: Series CH Adv has a portfolio turnover rate of 28%, indicating that holds its assets around 0.0 years. By way of comparison, the average portfolio turnover is 120% for the Miscellaneous Fixed Income category.

Recently, in the month of June 2026, Franklin Templeton SMACS: Series CH Adv returned 1.3%, which earned it a grade of A, as the Miscellaneous Fixed Income category had an average return of 0.5%. The letter grades of A, B, C, D and F are based upon relative rankings within the investment category. A grade of A, for example, would indicate that the return is in the highest 20% for that time period compared to all funds in that category.

Franklin Templeton SMACS: Series CH Adv has a trailing yield of 5.46%, which is below the 5.96% category average. The fund normally distributes its income monthly.

It’s natural to seek the best-performing investments, but you must consider the relationship between risk and return and the impact of costs and taxes on your realized returns.

Franklin Templeton SMACS: Series CH Adv Grades

Year to date, the fund has returned 3.6%, 1.5 percentage points better than the category, which translates into a grade of A. The fund has returned 8.4% over the past year (grade of B), 5.7% over the past three years (grade of D) and 1.1% per year over the past five years (grade of D).

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