what is a load fund 
a load fund is a mutual fund that comes with a sales charge or commission the fund investor pays the load which goes to compensate a sales intermediary such as a broker financial planner or investment advisor for his time and expertise in selecting an appropriate fund for the investor the load is either paid upfront at the time of purchase front end load when the shares are sold back end load or as long as the fund is held by the investor level load load funds may be contrasted with no load funds which do not carry a sales charge understanding load fundsif a fund limits its level load to no more than 0 25 the maximum is 1 it can call itself a no load fund in its marketing literature front end and back end loads are not part of a mutual fund s operating expenses and are typically paid out to the selling broker and the broker dealer as a commission however level loads called 12b 1 fees are included as operating expenses funds that do not charge a load are called no load funds which are typically sold directly by the mutual fund company or through their partners investors may automatically assume no load funds are the better choice over load funds but that may not be the case fees on load funds go to pay the investor or fund manager who does research and makes investment decisions on the client s behalf these experts can sort through mutual funds and help investors make smart investment decisions they may not have the skill or knowledge to make on their own paying upfront fees can also eliminate the need to sap investment returns by paying continual expense fees on the returns the fund achieves the main disadvantage of course is the load itself no load mutual funds now exist as options that carry no sales charge in the 1970s mutual fund companies came under criticism for the high front end sales loads they charged along with excessive fees and other hidden charges as a result they introduced multiple share classes giving investors several options for paying sales charges 