In this crazy investment time, people are continually searching for the best place to put their dollars. Over the last ten years, portfolios have increased and decreased and investment counselors scramble to assist their customers for the most efficient return on investment (ROI). While no load funds initially appeared as an answer to the prayers of investors, it’s not that easy to select the best no load mutual funds.
No load mutual funds outwardly appear as a method to save money, by changing the face of investment. Typical load funds have initial costs (front end) and sale costs (back end) that decrease profitability. No load funds, however, may have hidden costs that you must consider. These are call maintenance fees and can actually crank up the fees to a higher percentage that the load mutual funds.
If you are not going through an investment counselor, you will need to do a lot of work. Many of the best investment ranking companies are on line and you can use the internet as a resource for your work. A do it yourself investor will need to devote many hours researching no load investments. If your time is too valuable, you can opt with an investment advisor that may charge a minimal fee that gets you to the finish line of no load mutual fund selections. In this, you will have to be careful. Some advisors receive a commission on the other side, for specific investments. Make sure the advisor you use does not have this conflict of interest attitude when working with your portfolio.
There are a few rules-of-thumb that you want to keep in mind when choosing no load funds. Look for the no load funds that have low maintenance or management fees. This will help in your total ROI. Seek out those no load funds that have a low turnover in the portfolio performance. There may be hidden reasons that a no load fund has high turnover, so avoid those. The larger actively managed no load mutual funds may seem appealing, but, there is a down side. These often have high turnover and the fees can reduce your eventual ROI. Longevity is the key word. There are a lot of new funds that may sound good, but you need to look for those that have a performance of a minimum of three years. Their growth can demonstrate a slow or fast percentage, but they should demonstrate growth over a period of years. Stay away from the smaller funds. You might consider yourself an out-of-boxer, looking to invest in what sounds promising. This is a risky proposition. The more difficult part of your work will be to eliminate those funds that would be considered inferior. Before investing in a no load fund, read the prospectus of the fund. Some will present only the best face of the investment, without a clear picture of true performance. Two or three star funds probably perform just about the same. Your best choices will be the four or five star funds. Elimination of those that are the bottom of the barrel will increase your ROI chances.
