Basic mutual fund question?

i am looking around in columbia funds right now-- they are the only company that i could find with a very low min deposit-- but i am looking up there funds on morning star and on the columbia funds site it has 3 class's per fund for example Columbia Acorn Select
is one of the funds it has multi ticker symbols 4 of them class a,b,c and z what is this about?????

You say "columbia funds right now-- they are the only company that i could find with a very low min deposit-- "
Where are you getting your information?? Check msn.com, investing, funds, put in symbols. Or www.yahoo.finance.com, click on purchase info. They say minimum initial is $50,000.00. That is definitely NOT a low min deposit. And that is for their Acorn Select funds, the regular Acorn A, b, c, z funds require $75,000. A fund has a front load of 5.75% (which means 5.75% of your investment goes to a salesman or broker who sold you the fund. It does not get invested for you.) B fund has a 5% fee when you sell. C fund has a 1% fee when you sell but the yearly expense ratio (charged to you) is a very very high 2.08%. Z funds are for "Qualified Investors Only" companies with 401k plans, multi-millionairs etc.
You don't say how much you have to invest so if at least $1,000, look at Vanguard's Star fund. If you have only $50 or more, plus and automatically add $50 per month from your bank account, until you reach their usual minimum of $2,500, look at the funds from T. Rowe Price. PS: Those 2 families do not charge a load so 100% of your money gets invested) and they have much lower annual expenses than Columbia.

Different load levels. "A" normally have a front load ie you pay more than the asset value of the fund up front. The other funds may have no or a lesser upfront load but higher expenses and/or a back load. How little do you have? Better to wait til you have a grand or so can buy a no load. Cheaper.

Those are the fund types, meaning how fees are charged.

Some have Loads. Loads are fees that can be charged either when you buy a mutual fund (front-end load) or when you sell a mutual fund (back-end load).

Read the prospecti of those funds to find out the load structure for those different classes.

or

Avoid funds with Loads all together. If you have a small amount to invest and that why you are looking at Columbia Acorn. Consider an indexed ETF instead. There is no minimum purchase (below the share price) and they trade like a stock.

Use the link below to learn more.

Put your money in ETFs. There is no minimum and the expense ratio's are a lot lower. The only cost is the brokerage fee. If you use a discount broker you should pay $10 or less per trade.

Or, like I just suggested to someone else, go to Morningstar.com and use their fund screener to screen for good no-load funds with minimum purchase requirements of $500 or less. Avoid load funds.