# Load (Sales Charge)

*Saving & Investing — Finicade finance glossary*

A load is a sales commission charged on a mutual fund — front-end when you buy, back-end when you sell within a set period. A 5% front-end load means $10,000 buys $9,500 of fund, so you start 5% behind and the gap compounds. Loads exist to pay the salesperson, not to improve the fund, and decades of data show load funds do not outperform enough to cover them. No-load index funds made the entire structure obsolete for retail investors.

**Also known as:** front-end load, back-end load, no-load fund, sales charge

**Related terms:** [Expense Ratio](https://finicade.com/glossary/expense-ratio), [Mutual Fund](https://finicade.com/glossary/mutual-fund), [Commission](https://finicade.com/glossary/commission), [Management Fee](https://finicade.com/glossary/management-fee), [Conflict of Interest](https://finicade.com/glossary/conflict-of-interest)

Source: https://finicade.com/glossary/load