Dear Expert:
If a mutual fund has a deferred sales charge and you contribute monthly, when does your six-year term end? Does the reimbursement charge begin and end on the day you open the fund, or does every monthly deposit start the six-year cycle anew?
Expert Opinion:
Deferred sales charges - also known as redemption fees or" exit commissions" - on your fund purchases are indeed very complex to track. The good news is that the fund companies will provide this for you on a regular weighted-average basis, if they are asked to provide it. Or your advisor should be able to compute a weighted average DSC cost on your funds at any time.
The fact of the matter is that each separate contribution to the fund made as a regular monthly purchase (or additional sums of money that are contributed from time to time) will have associated with it a new schedule of DSCs, assuming all these new purchases are made on a DSC basis. Accordingly, while some of the DSCs from the initial purchase will have eased over the first several years, in the meantime other DSCs from the subsequent purchases will now add to your cost of exiting your fund investment. Unfortunately, many investors misunderstand the DSC system and how advisors are paid. It is a popular misconception that, because the investor does not see a commission being charged on his investment when making a DSC purchase, the advisor is not being paid anything up-front. In fact, the fund company does pay the advisor in the form of trailer fees, which are funded by annual management fees charged to the fund. Do you have a question?All Ask the Expert questions are read and considered. Unfortunately we can't provide individual responses or respond to every question. Please note that questions about specific securities cannot be considered. Click here to Ask the Expert.
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