THE BEST AND WORST MUTUAL FUNDS.

When Sean Maguire inherited some money in 1997, he knew "nothing" about investing. So Maguire, a project manager with a technology company in Vancouver, British Columbia, took the certified financial planners course, an intensive, two-year program--not for a career change, but to learn how to manage his own investments and plan for his retirement. According to Morningstar Research Inc., the Toronto-based arm of investment data giant Morningstar Inc. of Chicago, $494.6 billion was invested in mutual funds in Canada, a figure that has shrunk by almost 20 per cent from 2000's peak of $611.6 billion."Maclean's" annual mutual fund ranking, compiled by Morningstar, is designed to help investors make choices that they, like Maguire, are comfortable with. Maguire, investing in the O'Shaughnessy funds, pays an MER of 1.66 per cent, considerably less than the Canadian equity median.