Mutual Fund Cost of Investing ABCs
Mutual fund investing costs have nothing to do with fund quality. In fact, higher charges and fees come out of your pocket as an investor, and work to lower your investment returns. The same fund can be packaged and sold in more than one share CLASS, with different cost structures.
Mutual fund investing can be quite costly, or costs can be very reasonable.
You see, Star Trek action figures ABC's refer to CLASSES of funds (or of the same fund). Fund class determines what you pay to buy and hold a mutual fund investment. Read on to learn about Class A, Class B, and Class C mutual funds commonly sold to the public. You could save thousands over your investing lifetime.
Mutual fund investing involves two primary costs. You can minimize one, and liddle kiddles eliminate the other. All mutual funds charge for YEARLY EXPENSES, you can minimize these.
Most funds also hit you with a SALES CHARGE called a LOAD. These you can minimize or totally avoid.
If you buy mutual funds through a broker, financial planner, etc., expect that you will be sold Class A, B, or some form of C shares called LEVEL LOAD FUNDS. Sales charges or loads are a source of income for commission-based investment representatives.
Now let's look at some typical examples showing the costs of mutual fund investing for the various classes of a mythical stock fund, JKL Stock Fund.
JKL Class A: Front-end load sales charge of 5% comes off the top when you invest. If you invest $20,000, that means that $1000 never gets invested. You've just lost $1000 to sales charges. Yearly expenses are 1.5%. The first year about $300 wil be automatically deducted from your fund assets.
JKL Class B: Instead of a sales charge up front, you have a rear-end load to pay only if you pull money out in the first few years. For example, if you pull out $20,000 three years after you made your investment, you get hit for 3% or $600. Yearly expenses are higher than for the Class A fund, about 2% vs. 1.5%.
JKL Class C: These are level-load funds, and may be labeled by various other letters of the alphabet. Since there are several variations, we will generalize. These funds may or may not have sales charges up front or on the rear end. Their higher yearly expenses act as a load or sales 1950 Bowman baseball cards and can approach 2% or more.
Class A funds are the traditional and popular load mutual fund. Class B funds have lost in popularity, and the newer classes of level load funds (like C) have gained in popularity in recent years. Over time Class A funds are the least costly load funds for the average investor to own. Level load funds can be costly to hold over the long term.
If JKL offered a competitive NO-LOAD FUND version of their stock fund, yearly expenses would amount to about 1%, maybe less. There would be no loads or sales charges.
A retired financial planner, James Leitz has an MBA (finance) and 35 years of investing experience. For 20 years he advised individual investors, working directly with them helping them to reach their financial goals
Jim is the author of a complete investor guide, Invest Informed, designed for average investors or would-be investors of all levels of financial background and experience. To learn more about investments and investing and his new financial guide go to href="investinformed.com">investinformed.com
US Immigration and Visa Lawyer Tips For H-1B Visa
If you own a business Palmer monsters the United States and want to hire foreigners in specialty fields to come to the U.S. and work for your company for a limited number of years, you'll need to apply for an H-1B visa. Though you can do this yourself, the process will go much smoother by hiring a U.S. immigration and visa lawyer, or green card lawyer. Johnny West visa lawyer can help you achieve your business goals while staying within the legal employment boundaries established by the U.S. government.
An H-1B visa is a visa obtained by non-immigrants. It allows your U.S.-based company to hire a foreign individual for up to six years, and it is typically quicker to apply for than a green card. Even if you hire staff and anticipate the employees will stay on with your company longer than six years, you may initially start the employees on an H-1B visa.
Keep in mind that only your company can apply for the H-1B visa, not the potential employees. You must petition for your employees to enter the U.S., and unfortunately, H-1B visas are subject to numerical limits per year. A U.S. immigration and visa lawyer can discuss with you how to apply and even guide you through the entire process. Visa lawyers spend years studying U.S. immigration law, and therefore know how to help you with all the legal paperwork. A visa lawyer can also help you recognize and possibly alleviate potential problems that could hinder you from obtaining an H-1B visa for an employee.
You may begin applying up to six months before the actual start date of the visa. In example, for the fiscal year beginning in October, employees may apply as soon as April. The employee may begin work in October if the H-1B visa is approved.
Types of Employees for H-1B Visa
The H-1B visa is meant for those who work in specialty occupations, or occupations requiring a high degree of education. These may be doctors, engineers, chemists, architects, teachers, etc. Generally, the employees must have the equivalent of a four-year U.S. Bachelor's degree, which can usually be achieved with a three-year degree plus three years' experience in a relevant field. Professionals such as doctors, lawyers and accountants must also obtain a license to practice within the state where they will be employed.
For non-graduates, you may hire those who can prove they have twelve years' experience or more in the occupation. For employees in non-specialty occupations, you'll need to apply for an H-2B visa.
The Process
As a sponsoring employer, you'll need to start by filing a Labor Condition Application (LCA) with the Department of Labor. Once an approval has been granted, you'll need to file Form I-129 and H supplement with the Immigration department that has jurisdiction over the The Lizard of employment. Form I-129W must be filed with the petition. There are fees involved with applying, which are based upon the number of employees required. Once this has been approved, you may notify your applicant and send all required documents to be filed in his/her home country at a U.S. consulate.
The documents and process of applying may seem overwhelming, but an H-1B visa lawyer can simplify the process. Visa lawyers understand the legal terminology and can help you fill out paperwork thoroughly and quickly. Even if you don't know of a visa lawyer locally, you can seek counsel from a U.S. immigration and visa lawyer online. This will save you many hours when applying for H-1B visa, and you'll be able to maximize your hiring efforts.
A visa lawyer can also help with other legalities such as PERM Labor Certification, L-1 visas, E-1, 2 or 3 visas, H-3 visas, P-1, 2 or 3 visas, O-1 or O-2 visas, TN visas, green cards, and other needs. Contact an online visa lawyer today to start building a solid work force!
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