From: "kastnna" 
Newsgroups: misc.invest.financial-plan
Subject: Re: canceling an IRA
Date: Tue, 12 Dec 2006 11:54:11 -0600
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> Oh yes they are.  American funds are load funds.  Whether you invest
> through a bank or not, you still pay that load up front to American
> funds.

Sorry about that. You are correct, thay do charge a 5.75 front-end load
on class A shares. However, don't blame them for it. The fees were
clearly stated in the prospectus. They are actually within the first 8
pages (not diluted deep in the middle). Fees should have been discussed
and evaluated before purchase not after.

> Not all mutual funds have loads.  There are so many no load mutual
> funds that it's a mystery why anyone would invest in a load fund.

I didn't say "loads", I said fees. "No load" MFs still have all sorts
of fees embedded in the fund.

According to the SEC a no-load fund is permitted to charge purchase
fees, redemption fees, exchange fees, and account fees, none of which
is considered to be a "sales load." Also a fund is permitted to pay its
annual operating expenses and still call itself "no-load," unless the
combined amount of the fund's 12b-1 fees or separate shareholder
service fees exceeds 0.25% of the fund's average annual net assets.

Even no-load funds aren't in the business of working for free.