Do no-load mutual funds have higher "management fees" to compensate for no fee up front?

If I buy a no-load will I ultimately still loose the same amount of money (or more) that I would have paid up- front on a loaded fund? Thanks.

Most usually, no-loads are much cheaper than loads. Typically, the management fees are lower too. You can find some great funds with managment fees less than .5%
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Sometimes that is true, but mostly not.

For instance, Vanguard has the lowest fees in the industry, and they are no-load.

People who want you to pay a sales load promulgate this based on limited anecdotal evidence to encourage you to pay a sales load.

Some investment firms have multiple share classes. In this case, some of the no-load classes have higher expense ratios. It is because many of these have 12b-1 fees embedded in the expense ratio. Personally, I hate 12b-1 fees.

However, there are many examples of no-load funds with no 12b-1 fees and low expense ratios. www.vanguard.com has the lowest. And www.fidelity.com also has a fine selection.

Never pay a load or 12b-1 fee, unless you have no other choice. Costs are very important in the long run.

Read chapter 19 of my free book http://www.invest-for-retirement.com to get more info about costs and their effects over long periods of time.

Good luck.