Mike 350Z

I just got back from my bank, M & T where I spoke to a "financial consultant" aka broker, about what they offer in terms of the Roth IRA. I had been settled on a couple index-type funds with low expense ratios and no-loads of course. Now this person recommended a certain load fund and said they don't offer no-load and/or index type funds at M & T.

Now I'm really confused. I probably won't be setting up my account there since I want to be able to invest in any type of fund I want, but I want to ask everyone what is best for the Roth-IRA between no-load and index type funds vs. load funds. Something else that was brought up was A shares vs. B shares on the load side. It seems B shares are the best for the long term, but is there a catch? And the thing is, I've heard good things about this particular load fund.

The other thing is, I hate paying fees and expenses just like the next guy, but I really hate the fact that it cuts into my compounding power and really eats away at your bottom line over time, so I try to minimize fees and such as much as possible.

I do have some specific funds in mind which I will publicize soon, but for now that's not really on topic.

Fibonacci

Sounds like you've already answered your own question. If you already know that you prefer index funds and want to stay in the no-load arena, then just open an account directly with a no load fund family and get started.

Mike 350Z

True...but is there any advantage to load funds (b-shares only), provided hypothetically performance is the same for both types?

doopstr

There is one simple way to figure out if a fund is worth it.

Compare it to an S&P 500 Index fund such as the Vanguard VFINX. If the fund can not consistently out perform the S&P 500 its not worth your time.

Paying a load does not equal greater performance.

And to answer your question, if you have a load fund that is in equal to the performance of the Vanguard VFINX the only advantage in holding that fund goes to the broker.