(MONEY Magazine) – Scudder International has had a dismal year. Lead manager Irene Cheng overstayed her welcome in the tech sector, and the fund has fallen 22% as of late November. Still, the fund remains a fine choice if you have the patience to wait for foreign stocks to recover. It has a strong long-term record, a deep research team and low costs.

But if you're tempted to invest, you'd better do it before Dec. 29. After that, newcomers will have to pay a sales charge for all Scudder funds. (Existing shareholders can continue to buy no-load shares.) There's one loophole, at least for the over-50 set. If you're a member of the AARP, you're entitled to buy an exclusive class of no-load shares. As if a subscription to Modern Maturity weren't incentive enough to join up.

--L.L.