If you're stuck using
only loaded mutual funds, and your fund options are bad, and your employer is not matching, then it's our stupid little opinion that you should not invest in your 401k in the first place.
Mutual Funds -
Only no load Mutual funds are supported.
Not exact matches
Other characteristics that are shared due to the common methodology include: (1) The estimates encompass both transfers and changes in society's real resources (the latter being benefits in the context of the 2016 RIA but costs in this RIA because gains are forgone); (2) the estimates have a tendency toward overestimation in that they reflect an assumption that the April 2016 Fiduciary Rule will eliminate (rather than just reduce) underperformance associated with the practice of incentivizing broker recommendations through variable front - end -
load sharing; and (3) the estimates have a tendency toward underestimation in that they represented
only one negative effect (poor
mutual fund selection) of one source of conflict (
load sharing), in one market segment (IRA investments in front -
load mutual funds).
A no -
load mutual fund, by contrast, charges no commissions and costs
only a small amount per year in management fees — at Vanguard, about 0.2 percent.
For example, if a
mutual fund has a
load of 1 percent, then when you invest $ 1,000 in the
fund, you will
only see $ 990 in your
mutual fund account.
From my understanding, it is conventional wisdom that if a person wishes to invest in the stock market but does not have the time or aptitude to evaluate individual stocks and time the market, he should invest
only in no -
load, low - fee
mutual index
funds, using a dollar - cost averaging strategy in a buy - and - hold fashion.
That's why I would
ONLY consider a
load mutual fund if I was investing a lump sum.
The
mutual fund industry and its supposedly «independent» financial advisors, who
only promote
mutual funds with sales
loads and four stars and five stars, both know that these
funds are easier to sell to naive investors.
Front - end
loads reduce the amount of your investment, meaning that if you invest $ 1,000 into a
mutual fund with a 5 % front - end
load, $ 50 will come off the top of your initial investment and
only $ 950 will be invested in the
fund.
As for people in the comments that point out you don't like
mutual funds (I assume especially
mutual funds with
loads and / or high expense ratios)-- to that I say, as long as your employer is matching contributions (let's say 1:1) you start out with a 100 % gain on your money so even a miserable
fund that
only returns enough to cover fees — you still DOUBLE YOUR MONEY.
There are
only two no -
load mutual funds devoted to them — TD's Real Return Bond
Fund and Phillips Hager & North's Inflation - Linked Bond
Fund — and both are actively managed.
Requiring a buy - in of just $ 500, it's the
only member of the Kiplinger 25, our favorite no -
load mutual funds, with a minimum initial investment below $ 1,000, and it keeps expenses low, charging 0.91 % a year.
This not
only applies to insurance products, but also
mutual funds with
loads, private REITs, etc..
In fact, many banks
only offer structured products and
loaded mutual funds to be held in IRAs.
Fees for these new
funds are higher than long -
only mutual funds, and many have different classes of
funds with and without an upfront
load.
• If you're
only paying ticket charges when buying no -
load mutual funds, then choose «Flat Fee Per Trade» in cell B23.
(It's not like a «
loaded»
mutual fund that takes 5 % of your investment off the top, so your $ 100k is now
only $ 95k.)
Please note that all of this is NOT saying you shouldn't invest - it's saying that you'll most always do better by doing - it - yourself (AKA DIY) using no -
load mutual funds, or by hiring a fee -
only financial advisor (instead of a commission - based life insurance agent).
This allows you to get the benefits of this passive investment management strategy, with
only $ 60,000 worth of either no -
load or front - end
load mutual funds.
The Fee - Based
mutual fund picks are
only for professional advisors that can buy
loaded funds (A-shares) at NAV in managed accounts.
So unless there's a Morningstar error, or you've made a trading mistake, there won't be any back - end
loads or redemption fees to worry about when you switch
mutual funds (so the
only costs to selling a
fund will be the trading costs and capital gains taxes in non-qualified accounts).
This allows you to get the benefits of this static investing management strategy with
only $ 20,000 worth of either no -
load or front - end
load mutual funds.
There is an ETF and
mutual fund recommendation for each of the 22 asset classes we work with, times five ways of managing money: Fee - Based, load mutual funds, no - load mutual funds, index funds (only 15 here, and then because of yet another Morningstar failure, and lack of interest, Index funds are not screened and Index Fund Models are not maintained anymo
fund recommendation for each of the 22 asset classes we work with, times five ways of managing money: Fee - Based,
load mutual funds, no -
load mutual funds, index
funds (
only 15 here, and then because of yet another Morningstar failure, and lack of interest, Index
funds are not screened and Index
Fund Models are not maintained anymo
Fund Models are not maintained anymore).
• Five all No -
load Mutual Fund Models for DIY investors managing their own money, or investment advisors working on a fee - only basis (without access to A-share mutual funds at
Mutual Fund Models for DIY investors managing their own money, or investment advisors working on a fee -
only basis (without access to A-share
mutual funds at
mutual funds at NAV).
The
only way to not pay anyone anything, other than the
mutual fund management fee (which can't be avoided and goes to pay the
mutual fund and its investment managers), is to learn how to manage your own money and / or do your own
mutual fund analysis (then
only buy true no -
load mutual funds).
The
only way to not waste 0.5 % to 2.5 % + annually on all of their usual shenanigans is to invest DIY using something like our no -
load mutual fund models, our index
fund models, or something similar, and then keep trading to a minimum.