In case of 'No Load' Funds, Which of these two is higher (Expense/ Management Fee)??

Question

In case of 'No Load' Funds, Which of these two is higher (Expense/ Management Fee)??

Answer 1

If you pay a "load" that is a sales charge (think of it as a commission).  You end up paying expenses on a mutual fund regardless of whether you paid a load or not.

The expenses are going to be higher because expenses includes any fee paid to a manager.

Answer 2

The annual expense ratio published for a mutual fund includes all the overhead incurred by the fund, and the management fee is just a part of it. Often the fund is owned by one company, and the management is handled by another company who is contracted to do the work. They negotiate a fee. If the management is done by employees of the company, then their salaries are part of the overall expense ratio. Beyond that, the fund has other types of overhead, like, the light bill... Or, the fees they may pay to someone like Schwab, or E-Trade, etc., to get them to handle their funds... and so on. Therefore, the overall expense ratio is always going to be higher than the management fee.

Answer 3

The expense ratio includes the management fee as well as other expenses such as brokerage commissions, etc. as well as any 12b-1 fees.

Answer 4

"No Load" Funds are considered no-load for their lack of expenses and fees.  I have no load mutual funds through vanguard and i think my fees total .015% of my investments.