I just opened a Roth for $5000 (2k from last year, 3k from this year) and split the money between Dodge & Cox Stock fund and Mairs & Power Growth Fund. I spent several hours researching it and came up with those for the following reasons:

-investing philosophies I can understand and agree with
-longevity of fund & manager
-no-load & low expense ratio (both well below 1)
-outperformance of S&P 500 in YTD, 1yr, 3yr, 5yr, & 10yr annualizations
-low risk, high yield
-affordable minimum buy in
-major holdings consisting of a number of companies I've been considering investing in individually
-low IRA custodial fee (each $12.50/yr) payable with NON-INVESTED funds
-low turnover (although not a tax consideration with a Roth, it does affect costs).

When I plugged all these factors into the Morningstar screener, I only came up with 8 funds so it wasnt too hard to research them and pick the 2 i like best.

I know that index investing is the favorite method with FOOLS, but I just have a bad feeling about the index for the next year or so-- so I tried to apply FOOLISH criteria in picking two managed mutual funds. It's a little comforting to know there is a human being at least partially involved in the stock picks during this volatile time & by choosing funds with low turnover I can avoid those high-priced MBA's foolishly (little f) trying to time the market. I do however anticipate going back to indexing for my 2003 Roth.

your mileage may vary...

j