It is never too late to invest in mutual funds for retirement. As such, if you plan to invest in some of the best funds, the Zacks Mutual Fund Rank can provide you with valuable guidance.

The easiest way to judge a mutual fund's quality over time is by analyzing its performance, diversification, and fees. Using the Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of over 19,000 mutual funds, we've identified three outstanding mutual funds that are ideally suited to help long-term investors pursue and achieve their retirement investing goals.

Here are the funds that have achieved the Zacks Mutual Fund Rank #1 (Strong Buy) and have low fees.

Brown Advisory Somerset Emerging Markets Institutional

(BAFQX Quick QuoteBAFQX - Free Report) has a 1.09% expense ratio and 0.9% management fee. BAFQX is a Non US - Equity fund. Many of these funds like to allocate across emerging and developed markets, and will often focus on all cap levels. With yearly returns of 9.58% over the last five years, this fund clearly wins.

LKCM Small-Mid Cap Equity Institutional

(LKSMX Quick QuoteLKSMX - Free Report) : 1% expense ratio and 0.75% management fee. LKSMX is a Mid Cap Growth mutual fund. These mutual funds choose companies with a stock market valuation between $2 billion and $10 billion. With yearly returns of 12.21% over the last five years, LKSMX is an effectively diversified fund with a long reputation of solidly positive performance.

JPMorgan US Value I

(VGIIX Quick QuoteVGIIX - Free Report) . Expense ratio: 0.69%. Management fee: 0.4%. Five year annual return: 14.01%. VGIIX is a Large Cap Value mutual fund, which invests in stocks with a market cap of $10 billion of more, but whose share prices do not reflect their intrinsic value.

These examples highlight the fact that there are some astonishingly good mutual funds out there. If your advisor has you in the good ones, bravo! If not, you may need to have a talk.