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.
