Level Load

Level load

A mutual fund that charges a permanent sales charge, usually at some fixed percentage. See: Front-end loads and back-end loads.

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Level Load

A load for a mutual fund that is paid on an ongoing basis. A load is a fee that the investor pays in order to maintain his/her investment in a mutual fund; it is designed to cover the fund's costs; one may think of it as a sales fee. A level load contrasts with a front-end or a back-end load, in that it is paid in (usually annual) increments over the period of time during which one owns shares in the fund. See also: C-Share.

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Level load. Some load mutual funds impose a recurring sales charge, called a level load, each year you own the fund rather than a sales charge to buy or sell shares.

The level-load rate is generally lower than the sales charge for front- or back-end loads. But the annual asset-based management fee on these funds is higher than for front-load funds.

This means the total amount you pay over time with a level load can be substantially more than a one-time sales charge, especially if you own the fund for a number of years.

If a fund company offers you a choice of the way you prefer to pay the load, level-load funds are generally identified as Class C shares. Front-end loads are Class A shares and back-end loads are Class B shares.