Why should I pay a load to get into a mutual fund?

Looking at mutual funds and I see American Funds all have a load.

There is never a reason to pay a load, front or back end.

That's why Vanguard funds were created. There are few others now.

comparable funds (no-load vs load) show little or no difference in historical return and if you add in the load then no-load funds win hands down.

The only reason would be if you thought a particular load fund would have better results than a similar no-load fund. The load is often part of the compensation for the person selling the fund to you.

Actually you don't always have to...funds vary widely, both in initial cost, and maintenance costs.

Some, though not many, will let you start with as little as 1000...most average 2000 to start. You just need to research a bit...

I have been investing for 40 years.
And I have read many studies that show that "load" funds do not give back a greater return than "no Load" funds.

Find a place (like a bank) that sells no load funds (front or back) and see what they have that matches your risk profile.

You SHOULDN'T pay to get into a fund unless you're getting good, NEEDED advice. Even then, you're better off learning and making your own decisions. Avoid load funds and stick with no-load funds. These can be bought through a discount broker (probably NOT a bank). Studies have shown that load funds are no better on average than no-load funds. And there are PLENTLY of excellent no-load funds out there, so paying an unnecessary load is...well, unnecessary.

American Funds is a great fund family that has had (notice past tense) wonderful total returns. But, since they have done so well, they have become very very popular. Go to www.investorwords.com and look up "asset bloat" in relation to mutual funds and the problems asset bloat can cause.

You'd have to call them to get that answer as few people out here could give you a valid reason why. (Lots of sarcasm)

Seriously though, look up dartboard analysis; it's funny. Some analysts at The Wall Street Journal, among others, simply throw darts at the mutual fund section and create a portfolio on those mutual funds that were hit by the darts. This "portfolio" has returns on par with, or better than, but not worse than, the loaded mutual funds.