what is a no load fund 
a no load fund is a mutual fund in which shares are sold without a commission or sales charge 1 investment companies typically forgo charging a load if they offer the fund themselves not through a second party like a broker load funds with either front load or back load charge a commission when you buy into the fund or sell your stake also there are level load mutual funds with fees that continue for as long as you re an investor just over 90 of mutual funds don t charge loads compared with over 90 50 years ago and you can avoid these fees often enough even when going through a broker 234while it s best to avoid these fees funds with commissions don t perform better any more than paying one to a car dealer makes it run faster there are other costs for mutual funds to watch understanding a no load fundbecause there is no transaction fee to invest in a no load fund more of the money you put in should be working for you for example if you invest 10 000 in a no load mutual fund all 10 000 will be invested into the fund meanwhile if you invest in a load fund that charges a front end load sales commission of 5 the amount of your stake will only be worth 9 500 if the fund holds a contingent deferred sales charge cdsc an expense paid at the time of selling the fund and the 500 sales commission comes out of the profits of the sale the cdsc declines each year the fund is held should you have a level load mutual fund the 12b 1 fees can be up to 1 of the fund s total assets the deduction for this charge is annual for as long as you own a stake in the fund these might not seem like much at the beginning but 500 upfront could mean if your mutual fund gets say average returns of 10 you ll be out about 3 400 in 20 years when you re set to retire 