As a long-standing authority on Fidelity funds, advisor Jim Lowell has extraordinary access to the top managers within the Fidelity family.

Here, the editor of Fidelity Investor offers his personal outlook on Fidelity Magellan (FMAGX) -- which he considers a "smart buy" -- plus highlights from an in-depth interview he recently conducted with Magellan fund manager Harry Lange.

"Magellan is a buy for growth. Make that global growth. Indeed, I would consider this fund a 'stellar' long-term buy. The fund turned $10,000 into over $16 million since its launch back in 1963 compared to that same $10,000 over the same long-term time period being turned into only $800,000 if it had been invested in the S&P 500.

"Magellan is currently considered a large cap growth fund. But Lange can, has and will continue to invest in either growth or value stocks in a range that reaches across the mid- and small-cap borders if it suits him. Foreign holdings make up 26.5% of the portfolio.

"The fund's top ten holdings: Nokia, Corning, Canadian Natural Resources, Staples, Monsanto, Google, Applied Materials, America Movil, Suncor Energy, and Allergan." Meanwhile, in Lowell's latest issue of Fidelity Investor, he interviews Harry Lange. Here is Lowell's Q&A with the Magellan manager:

This post is part of our Money Face-Offs feature. Let us know who you think comes out ahead in this head-to-head match-up, and check out our other Money Face-Off posts.

If you're into no-cost investing, you've probably heard the name John Bogle before. The founder of the world's most populated mutual fund company, Vanguard Group, Inc., is completely synonymous with the premise of low- to no-cost investing. To the average joe, that means index funds that track whatever index suits your investment tolerance and pocketbook. Bogle has been a fierce critic of the mutual fund industry (along with me), which charges huge sales loads for minimal performance metrics if you were to average out the thousands of them.

Bogle loves to posit this: Who's getting rich from mutual funds? Those who manage them, but hardly anyone else. Bogle continues to burn the active mutual fund industry on the basis of costs alone. He's probably the largest proponent of investor performance there is, even though he is no longer at the helm of Vanguard. Suggested reading for starters: Bogle on Mutual Funds. There are many other fine selections as well.

Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK.A) is a collection of 70 investments that have a collective value of $126 billion. In this eclectic portfolio are investments in Coca Cola (NYSE:KO), Johnson and Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) to American Express (NYSE:AXP) to insurance concerns, carpeting firms to a furniture firm. There appears no rhyme or reason and the disparity is so vast. So why is Berkshire so successful? Why not just buy a monster fund like Fidelity's Magellan and just call it a day?

Berkshire is totally strategic in their approach. Each business is viewed from a long term point of view, the stock price and stock market be damned. Buffett has always maintained that if a business is managed properly and for the long term, the value placed on the investment by the stock market will figure it out correctly. Remember, Buffett once said the stock market short term is a voting machine, long term it is a weighing machine. He's right.

The Fidelity Magellan Fund (FMAGX) has over $46 billion in assets, and quite frankly, has seen better days. The past three years annual return has been 7.6% on average, below its comparable peer group. It is a collection of over 350 investments and yet, its returns have been blah. So what gives? Magellan has to be competitive to attract new dollars not only to its own fund, but to the Fidelity family of funds. Berkshire Hathaway can take its sweet old time and not worry about a down year or two. Buffett has made it imminently clear that investors own Berkshire because they believe in the long term structure and value-building proposition. Fidelity Magellan needs to post up quarterly results and gets instantly compared to its peer group. This does not allow the fund manager to think in longer term time horizons, although he states he does. Investment decisions are then sometimes made to satisfy the calender versus the potential of the investment. But he is serving two masters--the shareholders and the competitive positioning of Magellan. It is a tough way to manage and think long term.

Meanwhile, Warren Buffett has set up a brand new game that investors will relish in watching as events unfold: finding his successor. I doubt that person will come from the mutual fund world.

Georges Yared is the author of "Stop Losing Money Today" and "Baby Boomer Investing...Where do we go from here?"