Which is better, a load fund or a no-load fund?
- What is a mutual fund?
- Who runs a mutual fund?
- What are the advantages of mutual funds?
- What types of mutual funds are there?
- What kinds of funds are best for retirement?
- What kinds of stock funds should I consider?
- What's a stock index fund?
- What makes an index fund so great?
- What's a bond fund?
- Bonds vs. bond funds: Which is better?
- What's a money-market fund?
- Is there a single no-brainer investment?
- How much do mutual funds cost?
- With fund expenses, how high is too high?
- Which is better, a load fund or a no-load fund?
- How can I tell if a fund is a good performer?
- When should I sell a fund?
Here's another question: Who benefits from the sales charges that a load fund imposes? Why, the oh-so-wise broker who steered you into the fund. You don't benefit at all - in fact, usually quite the opposite.
Say you're looking at a fund with a 4.5% load. By paying it, you're immediately putting yourself $45 in the hole for every $1,000 you spend. That's $45 extra you have to make to match a similar no-load fund's performance - and remember, that's on top of the annual expenses you'd pay with any fund. And there's no evidence that the typical load fund outperforms the typical no-load fund.
The moral here: Stick with no-load funds if you can.
