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【正文】 nd its NAV fell to $.97. Costs of Investing in Mutual FundsFee StructureAn individual investor choosing a mutual fund should consider not only the fund39。s stated investment policy and past performance but also its management fees and other expenses. Comparative data on virtually all important aspects of mutual funds are available in the annual reports prepared by CDA Wiesenberger Investment Companies Services or in Morningstar39。sMutual Fund Sourcebook,which can be found in many academic and public libraries. You should be aware of four general classes of fees.Operating Expenses Operating expenses are the costs incurred by the mutual fund in operating the portfolio, including administrative expenses and advisory fees paid to the investment manager. These expenses, usually expressed as a percentage of total assets under management, may range from % to 2%. Shareholders do not receive an explicit bill for these operating expenses。 however, the expenses periodically are deducted from the assets of the fund. Shareholders pay for these expenses through the reduced value of the portfolio.In addition to operating expenses, many funds assess fees to pay for marketing and distribution costs. These charges are used primarily to pay the brokers or financial advisers who sell the funds to the public. Investors can avoid these expenses by buying shares directly from the fund sponsor, but many investors are willing to incur these distribution fees in return for the advice they may receive from their broker.p. 100FrontEnd Load A frontend load is a mission or sales charge paid when you purchase the shares. These charges, which are used primarily to pay the brokers who sell the funds, may not exceed %, but in practice they are rarely higher than 6%.Lowload fundshave loads that range up to 3% of invested funds.Noload fundshave no frontend sales charges. Loads effectively reduce the amount of money invested. For example, each $1,000 paid for a fund with a 6% load results in a sales charge of $60 and fund investment of only $940. You need cumulative returns of % of your net investment (60/940 = .064) just to break even.BackEnd Load A backend load is a redemption, or “exit,” fee incurred when you sell your shares. Typically, funds that impose backend loads start them at 5% or 6% and reduce them by 1 percentage point for every year the funds are left invested. Thus an exit fee that starts at 6% would fall to 4% by the start of your third year. These charges are known more formally as “contingent deferred sales charges.”12b1 Charges The Securities and Exchange Commission allows the managers of socalled 12b1 funds to use fund assets to pay for distribution costs such as advertising, promotional literature including annual reports and prospectuses, and, most important, missions paid to brokers who sell the fund to investors. These12b1 feesAnnual fees charged by a mutual fund to pay for marketing and distribution costs.are named after the SEC rule that permits use of these plans. Funds may use 12b1 charges instead of, or in addition to, frontend loads to generate the fees with which to pay brokers. As with operating expenses, investors are not explicitly billed for 12b1 charges. Instead, the fees are deducted from the assets of the fund. Therefore, 12b1 fees (if any) must be added to operating expenses to obtain the true annual expense ratio of the fund. The SEC requires that all funds include in the prospectus a consolidated expense table that summarizes all relevant fees. The 12b1 fees are limited to 1% of a fund39。s average net assets per Many funds offer “classes” that represent ownership in the same portfolio of securities, but with different binations of fees. For example, Class A shares might have frontend loads while Class B shares rely on 12b1 fees.Example Fees for Various Classes (Dreyfus Worldwide Growth Fund)Here are fees for different classes of the Dreyfus Worldwide Growth Fund in 2009. Notice the tradeoff between the frontend loads versus 12b1 charges.aDepending on size of investment.bDepending on years until holdings are sold.cIncluding service fee.p. 101Each investor must choose the best bination of fees. Obviously, pure noload nofee funds distributed directly by the mutual fund group are the cheapest alternative, and these will often make most sense for knowledgeable investors. However, as we have noted, many investors are willing to pay for financial advice, and the missions paid to advisers who sell these funds are the most mon form of payment. Alternatively, investors may choose to hire a feeonly financial manager who charges directly for services instead of collecting missions. These advisers can help investors select portfolios of low or noload funds (as well as provide other financial advice). Independent financial planners have bee increasingly important distribution channels for funds in recent years.If you do buy a fund through a broker, the choice between paying a load and paying 12b1 fees will depend primarily on your expected time horizon. Loads are paid only once for each purchase, whereas 12b1 fees are paid annually. Thus, if you plan to hold your fund for a long time, a onetime load may be preferable to recurring 12b1 charges.Fees and Mutual Fund ReturnsThe rate of return on an investment in a mutual fund is measured as the increase or decrease in net asset value plus ine distributions such as dividends or distributions of capital gains expressed as a fraction of net asset value at the beginning of the investment period. If we denote the net asset value at the start and end of the period as NAV0and NAV1, respectively, thenFor example, if a fund has an initial NAV of $20 at the start of the month, makes ine distributions of $.15 and capital gain distributions of $.05, and ends the month with NAV of $, the monthly rate of return is puted asNotice that this measure of the rate of return ignore