Back in the thick of October's market madness, I wrote about the benefits of owning good actively managed funds during periods of market turmoil. I still think there's a lot of merit to that idea -- essentially, paying a small fee to a veteran management team to lead you through the storm.

And sure enough, since I wrote that article, many of the funds I'd had in mind have looked pretty strong. But as a few readers of that October article pointed out, many of the best active funds have been closed to new investors for years.

Good news: That's changing. Reductions in fund assets -- whether from market losses or from investors fleeing equity funds for less volatile investments -- together with more attractive stock market valuations have led many managers to reconsider their decisions to close. Quite a few great funds have reopened in the last year. If you've been wanting to get in, now's your chance.

Good news, bad news
A mutual fund's decision to close can be good or bad, depending on your perspective. It's usually good if you're already invested in the fund -- decisions to close are usually driven by the fund's managers, who are often concerned about their ability to find and buy enough good investments.

As investors, we want our managers to feel like they can always find good uses for new money. Funds that choose to keep growing indefinitely can end up looking a lot like index funds, offering market-average performance (at best) with active-management fees.

The classic example is the once-giant Fidelity Magellan (FMAGX), which Fidelity finally closed in the late 1990s as its assets approached the ridiculous $100 billion mark. It's much smaller and more focused these days, but big positions in names like Corning (NYSE: GLW) and Monsanto (NYSE: MON) haven't won it any prizes lately. Though it's one of the many big-name funds that reopened last year, I'd advise you to pass this faded legend by.

On the other hand...
Of course, it's bad news when a great fund is closed and you're not in it. Unless you're grandfathered in, perhaps through your retirement plan at work, you're out of luck. But recent reopenings have brought us some great opportunities.

For instance, many investors were quite pleased by Dodge & Cox's decision to reopen two of their biggest funds -- Dodge & Cox Balanced (DODBX) and Dodge & Cox Stock (DODGX). Likewise, Magellan notwithstanding, many were happy when Fidelity decided to reopen the superstar Contrafund (FCNTX) and Low-Priced Stock Fund (FLPSX), two of the fund giant's brightest lights.

I particularly like Low-Priced Stock, which is managed by the excellent Joel Tillinghast and powered by intriguing names like Constellation Brands (NYSE: STZ), Eni SpA (NYSE: E), and Unum Group (NYSE: UNM). I think it's worth a very close look if your portfolio needs a solid mid-cap value choice. Continued...