How is a front end load figured on a mutual fund?

Remember that there are also internal expenses in EVERY mutual fund, even if it is a no-load fund. The "load" is paid to the mutual fund company who then filters part of that money to the broker who sold you the fund. The ongoing internal expenses are used to pay management fees, 12b-1 fees ( which cover marketing of the fund) - a portion of these fees also get paid to your broker as a "trail" (or ongoing commission).

It is simply a percentage of the money you invest. different funds use different percentages. Generally you are better off buying no-load funds because in that case 100 percent of your money goes into the investment.

They take it right from the top. You buy 1000 worth of a 5% loaded mutual fund and you only get 950 worth of the fund. This means the fund needs to return 5% for you to just get back to even.

There are different "breakpoints"

Example:

$0 - $50k - 5%
$50k - $100k - 4%
$100k - $250k - 3%

and so on...

People think that these are super expensive, however, they are not exactly right.

The fee structure on Front End Mutual Funds (A-shares) tends to be VERY cheap in the long-run. If you plan on holding these funds for the long term (6 or 7 years + ) , they can be the cheapest alternatives.

No-Load funds are good too, however, most of the time there is no one to "advise" you what to do. Except yourself of course

Its a sales charge set by the fund management.

It all depends what your broker is charging. If it's 5%, you pay 5% of the money you give them, and the rest gets invested. So if you invest $1,000, you pay them $50 and the remaining $950 is invested.

There is a very good chance that you can find an identical or very similar fund that does not have a load fee on your own. Paying load fees is just paying your broker for advice, but the same products are available elsewhere without the fee.