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Know Your No-Load Mutual Funds
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Know Your No-Load Mutual Funds
Should you invest in no-load mutual funds or funds with a load? Should you invest in no-load funds on your own or through an advisor? Before you make a decision, you should understand what a no-load mutual fund is and what a no-load mutual fund is not.
What Is a Mutual Fund Load?
A mutual fund load is a fee charged when an investor makes a transaction in fund shares. Loads may be charged upon purchase of fund shares (front-end load) or upon sale of fund shares (back-end loads). These loads are paid to the broker for selling the fund (or advising an investor to the buy the fund). Mutual funds that do not charge loads are known as no-load mutual funds.
Some share classes of funds may easily be confused with no-load mutual funds. Typically, class B shares and class C shares do not charge a front-end load. In other words, on the surface, it appears that if you invest in a class B or C share fund you are investing in a no-load mutual fund. In reality, you are buying a fund that carries a back-end load (contingent deferred sales charge) and higher ongoing 12b-1 fees. A true no-load mutual fund does not have a front-end or back-end sales charge.
How Much Does a No-Load Mutual Fund Cost?
How many times have we been told that there is no free lunch? The same holds true with no-load mutual funds. No-load mutual funds are free of sales charges (loads), but they do have costs. All share classes of funds -- load or no load -- carry fees that are paid out of the fund’s assets to the fund’s investment advisors (as opposed to paying the advisor/broker who sells the fund). In other words, investors see these fees as a reduction in their net returns versus an expense on their bank or brokerage statement.
Fees and expenses vary greatly from fund to fund and may range from less than .10% to more than 2.00%, depending on the investment style, market capitalization, fund assets, fund company and share class of the fund. |
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