Load is the very first fee to be wary of when it comes to investing in mutual funds.

It is just one of the reasons I dislike mutual funds and prefer ETFs, but that is a story for later.

There are two types of loads:

• front-load is paid at the time you purchase the mutual fund
• back-end or deferred load is paid at the time you sell the mutual fund

Loads can typically be 5.75%. Using that number as an example, if you wanted to invest $10,000 in the Swindlex Front-Load Growth Fund, you would lose $575 instantly to the front-load fee. That is a tough sell in my book.

- There is absolutely no reason to use a load fund to invest.
- Loads are completely worthless charges that add nothing to your returns.
- They are just another sneaky way for mutual funds to make money whether they perform well or not.
- Look, the majority of mutual fund managers fail to beat their benchmarks.
- This alone is cause for concern.
- When you consider the fact that they then charge a fee to do this, it's a no-brainer.
- Avoid load mutual funds at all costs. It's just a bad proposition.

If someone in the financial industry is suggesting a load fund to you it is because the load represents his/her commission.

That's right, he or she is trying to make a quick buck off of your hard earned investing dollars! Don't let them do it. Get educated on the fees associated with mutual fund investing. You can't just pick random funds and expect to reach your retirement and investing goals.

Take some time to do your research. Most index funds are no-load. Morningstar is a great place to research your index fund investing options. You can even select "no-load" and it will only show those options in your chosen asset class be it large-cap, small-cap, or international. Even better, find an index exchange traded fund(ETF) that will give you exposure to that asset class.

ETFs never charge load fees and index exchange traded funds are known around financial world for having super low fees. In most situations an index exchange traded fund is your best investing option. I have a picture of a monkey dressed up to look like the queen of England. Someone asked me once who it is. I told them I like to think it's a photo of the last person who bought a front-load mutual fund.

Since you're reading this article that monkey will never be you.