Many people have elevated their investment thinking to a level of the socially conscious. Social responsibility in a company has come more to the forefront as each of us takes a serious look at what we are actually doing with our money. Investing in a corporation that takes pride in where they get their products, how they hire and treat staff and has a high level of concern for the environment and their carbon footprint is now a key concern.

Billions of dollars are involved in the no-load mutual fund arena, but not all companies are alike. As we move into a more elevated and global society, investors are not just looking at the bottom line, but how a company achieved their margins. No one wants to be associated with investment in a company that turns out to outsource their labor in a foreign country sweatshop. The media has uncovered a number of well known celebrities that were supposedly unknowingly doing just that. Children were employed in factory environments and dangerous conditions, just to give us some of the luxuries and clothes that we wear.

Ensuring that your no-load investment is based on a socially conscious and responsible company is going to require that you do research. Gaining the assistance of a investment counselor that does not receive dollars for recommending particular investments is the first step. They usually have resources that can cut-to-the-chase for the topic at hand. A good hard look at a company’s prospectus is just the tip of the ice burg when investing in no-load mutual funds.

A company that touts social responsibility should be willing to undergo the scrutiny needed to verify that claim. This will mean that any additional companies or corporations that they are associated with (or spin-off companies) must also have a clean slate. Socially conscious efforts cover a gamut of topics. In today’s world the highest priorities are the people, the products and the earth.

Investigation into the treatment of staff, the conductivity of the corporate managers and the board of directors is a priority. You will have to do research to ensure that the staff is employed in a safe working environment and earning equitable wages to help them achieve a better quality of life. Corporate managers as well as the board of directors should also be scrutinized to make sure that the director and treatment of the company has a longer term social responsibility and not just being used to get investors. Taking advantage of the popularity of the term ‘socially consciouses should not hide any hidden agendas.

The products that are produced by a socially conscious company should involve all aspects of a non-polluting and non-toxic situation. Earth friendly is a term that is bantered around and ‘green-slamming’ is popular to attract buyers. A company should be investing into a smaller carbon footprint, ecological efforts as well as sustainable products.

There are some websites on the net that can assist in your research. Look for any that are non-profit based, as they will be able to give you information that is closer to the truth and not slanted in any particular direction. Investing in no-load mutual funds as part of your portfolio is a good idea, but to do it the correct and responsible way, you will need to make sure the investments are in the right companies.

Source:
http://finance.wharton.upenn.edu/~rlwctr/papers/0402.pdf

No-load mutual funds have become not only more popular in the last few years but are close to reaching the ‘darling’ title of the investment world. While they can be risky and often carry their own hidden costs, it seems more people are looking to no-load mutual funds for their portfolio. The internet is filled with recommendations on the best no-load mutual funds, the top twenty five favorite no-load mutual funds, the best performing no-load mutual funds, etc. So whose advice is the best advice?

The first thing you will need to know is that the best no-load mutual funds are those that have a long term positive impact. Short spurts of growth should be viewed carefully. The major investment houses have their own favorites, based on a variety of factors. Some do include the fast-and-furious rise-to-the-top companies; but most of the favorite no-load mutual fund companies that they prefer are those with a longer term positive history.

You can spend a lot of time on the internet doing research from small to large investment firms. If you want to go in that direction, develop a list of the top twenty that seem to be recommended by all of the reputable investment companies. This is going to then require that you research not only the prospectus of each of the no-load mutual fund companies, but their individual company history. Delving into the details of the company will include any and all companies and corporations they may have as spin-off companies or divisions. Dollars are often re-directed into these companies and they may not be doing quite as well as the parent company. Find out how those companies rate in the list of investments. You don’t want any surprises by finding out that the dollars you invested were actually siphoned off to a number of low rated companies.

If you don’t quite have the time to do as much of the research as you would like, locate a reputable investment counselor or consultant that you can delegate some of the more detailed work to. The consultant should be independent, without a hidden agenda that gives him or her incentives for recommending specific no-load mutual investments. An investment consultant can assist you in narrowing down your search to a top ten.

After you get your top ten list, the final part of your research is ready to start. No-load mutual funds have a number of risks involved with them. They are not FDIC protected and they do have certain expenses. While you might find the lack of back end or front end expenses attractive, research the operating costs of each of your ten company considerations. Compare your list again with other online internet evaluations. You might want to do a search on the net to see if there are any comments or feedbacks from the general populace, but do this carefully. Some companies create their own blog areas and fill them with bogus information, touting their own company. If you do decide to use these sites, you will need to do a search on who owns and runs the site. The best method is to stick with the reputable investment house results. Compare the information on a number of sites and resources. Consult with your investment counselor to ensure that the dollars you want to spend are with the most reputable no-load mutual fund companies available.

In an era when we want to make sure that every investment move we make is a wise one, many people are interested in ecological decisions for no-load investments. Surprisingly, there is very little information on the net to use for research, but it you dig deep enough you can find no-load mutual fund investments with ecologically friendly companies.

Selecting from a number of ecology topics for your investment is the first key direction. There are many ecological topics to choose from: home building materials, zero waste, climate action, alternate fuels, anti-toxins (alternative chemicals), environmentally safe packaging, organic food products; and the list goes on. You might want to investigate to see which companies work with organizations that contribute towards an ecology based system. Many companies are partnered with ‘green banks’ as well as ‘fair trade’ organizations. The green banks focus their investment dollars into earth friendly ventures with better than competitive rates, green-lines-of-credit and green-cash. Fair trade works with local farmers and co-ops to give the profit margins to the farmers and co-ops themselves instead of the ‘middle man’. Products that are produced will have the ‘fair trade’ branding and are increasing in popularity as we progress in a green and fair economy.

If you want to really delve into the investment arena, you might consider attending some of the ‘green festivals’ that are held nationwide. These festivals not only offer companies and products that are based in an earth friendly arena, but leverage the business conference style approach for those interested in investing in the future. Many of the green companies will hold seminars and be represented as guest speakers. The purpose is to get their vision out to the public and this is a major source for you for no-load mutual fund investments. There is a great amount of networking that occurs at the green festivals, with an ability to locate more concentric contacts for you after you return home.

You may want to look into a combination effort for your investments. There are great strides being made in the healthy home, non-toxic and sustainable divisions. There are earth-friendly home builders that are using sustainable and recycled materials as well as non-toxic substances in lieu of chemicals. These can include the base building structure all the way to insulation, ceiling, flooring, water systems and recommendations for sustainable furniture.

You may have thought that the pesticides and cleaners that are on the market are safe, simply because the government allows them to be on the shelves. This is not the case. There are still many that are unsafe or actually haven’t had testing for long term use in humans. While it is a good idea to find some of the start up companies for your no-load investments don’t overlook some of the well know companies. Some of the largest corporations have made conscious decisions to begin producing natural and organic pest products as well as plant based and organic cleaners.

Plastics are everywhere and, since they are petroleum based, they end up in every area of our environment. The largest problem involves plastic products that end up in our oceans, creating huge ‘plastic islands’ that float around, untamed and uncontrolled, killing a lot of sea life. Since plastics take centuries to biodegrade, there are many companies that are creating plant based and biodegradable alternatives. Other companies have produced Styrofoam alternatives for the intense amount of packing used for shipping.

If you want to get into the local level for no-load investments, do a bit of research in the restaurant, big box and chain topic. Find out which companies that you currently purchase your weekly products from have made strides to offer earth friendly products, reduce their carbon footprint, build using sustainable products and stop carrying the toxic products that can hurt us, our children and the wildlife.

If you are serious about making ecology based decisions for no-load mutual funds, you might want to diversify your investments in a number of divisions. As always, do your homework and if you are unsure about a company it is wise to seek out the advice of an investment professional. A small dollar spend will be worth it, to get the guidance you need on a particular company and their success rate.

Clean or alternative energy is the direction that the entire world is going in. While there may still be a few nay-sayers on the topic of global warming, it is painfully obvious to the rest of us that are realists that we cannot continue to dump on our land, sea and air without Mother Nature retaliating back. Companies that have moved in the direction of alternative energy are cropping up everywhere, from existing (and formerly polluting) companies to start ups. It’s a hot topic – but can be a bit of a tricky description.

Believe it or not, we are still in the beginning stages of definition specific criteria that apply to alternative energy. Technologies are abounding but there remains a bit of a hazy line when it comes to the name alternative energy. A rule of thumb for your no-load mutual investment decisions should be those companies that are creating products or services that offer more than just energy efficiency, but clean energy alternatives. This means that the results not only offer earth friendly agents, but drastically reduce the use of existing pollutant based energies.

A company that proclaims the name of alternative energy must follow through in all aspects of the corporate culture. It’s not enough to make a solar cell product that saves a home on electricity, the product should be made of earth friendly and sustainable products and the company itself should abide by certain spin off rules. These rules or guidelines should include the fact that the company itself is reduced its own carbon footprint, partnering with other companies that are on the same energy efficient and earth-friendly path and investing their own profits into improved products.

There are all kinds of pros and cons regarding some of the general topics of alternative energy. A guideline for you, as an investor, is to also realize that a true alternative energy is not one that will produce any byproduct that is actually more detrimental to the environment, people or earth. You might be a proponent of nuclear energy, but, using this guideline – nuclear energy is actually one of the worst and should not be considered as an alternative energy investment. If you disagree, just look at the mountains that are filled with toxic byproduct waste, in containers that will only last hundreds of years and yet the waste will take thousands of years to reduce in radioactivity.

A good no-load mutual fund investment for alternative energy can come in surprising topics as well. Recycling is a major topic and in the forefront of most of the world’s corporations. What to do with the mass amounts of plastics, Styrofoam, paper and glass has become big business. Most communities in the U.S. have some kind of recycling program and the waste management companies are taking their investment into alternative energy even further through the use of non-electric vehicles. If you contact the Environment Protection Agency, you can get a list of the best counties in the country involved in the recycling efforts and work with the companies that are showing the highest level of profitability.

As we continue down the path of additional alternative energy sources we can expect that the requirements for a company to comply with that title will become more defined. You will need to keep on top of this topic to ensure that you invest your no-load mutual funds in the best and most wise direction.

In today’s investment world, I don’t think anyone is surprised by leading news stories. Over the last ten years the media has released astounding news that seems to stop everyone in their tracks. Call us tainted, but, the investment territory topic has reached some pretty bad lows in behavior. With the exposure of so many companies aligned with questionable overseas and international alliances, many people are now focused on ensure that the no-load mutual fund investments remain USA and American based.

No-load mutual funds remain a sustainable investment, even in a questionable economy. To focus on making sure that your dollars spent remain in the United States, you are going to have to do a little research. To begin with, it might be a good idea to contact a reliable (and trustworthy) investment counselor. Make sure the counselor does not have an alternative agenda by receiving dollar incentives for recommending specific investment companies. A small amount of time spent with the counselor will assist in your research and cut the time you have to spend trying to figure things out.

Investing in no-loading mutual funds that are American based requires that you take a good hard look at a company’s prospectus. This will include any additional corporation names and investments that the company may be associated with. Look at the successful projects that they have worked on (and completed) as well as the current ones. The company does not have to be one of the big-names, start ups are often good to assist in diversification of your portfolio. These may be a bit more risky but often offer a lower dollar investment.

Researching a specific company’s members, board of directors and management: This may sound like it’s a bit too intrusive, but these are the people that are making the decisions for the direction of a company and where the dollars will be spent. A company’s CEO may not be an American citizen and therefore has a hidden agenda for the investment of the company direction. A board of directors may decide to get rid of an American-based staff and send these jobs off-shore. To be truly an American-based company, all aspects of the company investment should be in the USA. This information may take you and your investment counselor a bit of time to resolve. Just because a company appears to be American-based, does not mean that the functionality of the company is all in the USA.

A key factor to remember is that no-load mutual funds are not guaranteed by the FDIC as other investments are; even if you purchase via a well known bank or investment house. Use past performances as a guideline and don’t jump on any investment that had a sudden jump in one year. Long term and gradual elevation is important to view when considering your hard earned dollars.

All no-load mutual funds have some kind of additional expense associated with your investment. If the no front or back end costs sounds too good to be true, find out if there are operating expenses, what they are and where the operating expenses are directed for expenditure.

If you are truly serious about making sure your dollars stay in the United States, then you have to peel off the layers of any company that offers no-load mutual finds. However, after you are done, you will sleep better at night knowing you have placed your money back into your country and the people that work here.

In the last ten years, many retirement portfolios have run the gamut of being reduced to a minimum, all the way to non-existence. Retirement plans have been changed and extended due to the major losses in portfolio investments. The heartbreak of losing a retirement fund that one has worked their entire life towards, has made investors skiddish. Some of the more adventurous investors are raising their heads and actively seeking alternatives for the investment dollars that they have left. No load funds have been in the fray for quite some time, but the question remains: are no load funds the best direction to take for a retirement portfolio?

If you are an investor that has been tainted by financial advisors that failed you in the past and are selecting the path of a do it yourselfer, you need to understand that you will need to have the knowledge base of a professional. Good no load funds can perform just as well as load mutual funds over the long term. But, those are the key words ‘long term’. There is a family of fund companies that offer a variety of target dates for maturity. Choosing a no load fund target date will depend upon your plans for retirement (or adjusted plans for retirement).

Selecting good yield no load mutual funds in a mix can assist in off setting any of those that don’t perform as well as expected. Luckily, there are a number of these available. Doing research using reliable ranking companies, combined with detail reads on the prospectus can help you narrow down your choices. Some of the better no load funds also offer low initial dollar investment. This gives you the ability to add a variety of funds to your portfolio.

Funds are ranked with the ‘star system’. Two and three star rankings have been shown to almost be equal. They are the riskiest investments, but are usually lower in cost. Five stars is the highest ranking and also have a higher cost associated with the investment. Portfolio turnover is another consideration. If a fund has a high turnover, it is not the investment to consider when talking about your retirement dollars. If you do the research, you will find there are quite a number of good, five star no load funds with reasonable costs and low portfolio turnover. Some have been designated as the best for retirement investment.

You may want to use the assistance of a totally reliable investment counselor. This will save you time and money. However, use the buyer-beware concept. Make sure the counselor is completely independent and does not receive a commission for recommending specific funds.

There are no easy answers, and every choice you make will require a bit of work on your part. Whether you choose your own funds or work with a counselor, you will also want to try to stay on top of the investment news. Using reliable internet resources makes this portion of work a lot simpler.

Social media has taken the internet by storm. Unless you live under a rock, almost everyone is a member of a social media page. People around the world have joined and use social media for instantaneous communication. Going viral, a message can promote a particular situation all the way to a complete revolution. While social media started out as an individual mode, businesses have recognized the marketing value and have signed up. So how reliable is social media when you are thinking about investing in no load funds?

The first thing you have to remember about a business social media page is that the purpose is completely different from an individual’s page. While a person might join to find and communicate with people they know, they will invite their fellow members to be ‘friends’. A business has a market focus to get their message out. They invite people to ‘like’ them. Those that accept end up with the marketing news on their social media page and eventually, everyone that are their ‘friends’ also have that marketing message. It’s an easy and free method to extend a viral invitation for a sale, information or an event.

The general public uses social media to offer immediacy in opinions. If a company does poorly, that message will be shared in nano-seconds and the message will get out. Social media pages are now a platform for all kinds of businesses, including investment organizations. Opinions, feedback and opportunities abound on the social media pages. Companies are using their social media pages for press releases, investment information and guidelines. Some of these have generated situations where a little known investment has sky rocketed almost over night. It has also had the down side of bad news spreading to bring a company or investment to its knees.

A key topic to remember is that not all information on social media pages is either accurate or correct. Do a search on your social media site to get as much of the story as possible. Do additional internet searches to confirm the data. The social media pages are just one of the many resources you should be using for any investment opportunity, but specifically no load fund investments. Since no load funds are usually considered higher risk, follow up any information you find on the social media pages with research on some of the top investment organizations. These companies focus on the data only, and are not swayed by the kind of influences one finds on social media pages.

So the answer is yes, use social media pages as one of the sources of information, but use it sparingly. Social media is, exactly as it sounds: social. Input on social media pages can contain hidden agendas, mis-information and topics that should be questioned. You can get alternative views and feedback, but, when you are talking about your investment dollars you should consider many other, more reliable sources as well. Social media pages are a springboard only.

The internet has opened a world of information and opportunity, never before seen. If we have a question, we can access the net on our smartphones, type in a question, and get an answer. It has taken the concept of immediate-gratification to a whole new level and we have an entire generation that has grown up not knowing what life without the net was like. But, there is a down side to the net. The popularity of ‘blogging’ has created an environment where everyone who can type, thinks they are a writer. Others have created web sites and presented themselves as experts. This has blossomed into a lot of mis-information. So how do you filter through all of the nonsense and find the golden nuggets of truth when you are looking to no load investments?

There is an ocean of information on the internet, however, do not measure all net info as equal. You can scan through some of the web sites and blogs. Most will continually repeat the differences between load and no load mutual funds. Some will sound logical and offer simple common sense. Other sources will encourage a bit more risky investment based on our global future. Reading through these will give you some basic data to start with, but should not be the sole reason for investing.

You can start with the major players in doing your research: Dow Jones and Standard & Poors (S&P) are just two of the most well known. There are about twenty other major investment organizations that have up-to-the-minute information on no load mutual funds. Balance the data on all of the sites and narrow your choices based on the star rating of the no load funds. There are actually some web sites that seem to have done some of the work for you. Be careful, as these may be sites that appear to be open and honest, but actually have a hidden agenda for specific investments.

The star rating of a fund is the ranking that it’s given based on performance and return. Most investment houses will tell you those no load funds with a two or three star rating are high risk. Looking for the five star rating no load funds that demonstrate longevity and good performance is your final goal. Comparing the data from each of your investment sources will narrow down your selections. Do an internet search on the companies, the goals and above all, read the prospectus; even the fine print. Research the corporate members. The internet contains a plethora of information and this includes the good, the bad and the ugly.

A final word of advice. It is your hard earned money. When you make your final selections of no load funds, seek out a reliable investment counselor. By reliable, this means one that will have your investments at heart and not receive additional commissions based on the funds they recommend. The investment counselor can offer experienced information and give you guidance that you may not have been previously aware of.

In this crazy investment time, people are continually searching for the best place to put their dollars. Over the last ten years, portfolios have increased and decreased and investment counselors scramble to assist their customers for the most efficient return on investment (ROI). While no load funds initially appeared as an answer to the prayers of investors, it’s not that easy to select the best no load mutual funds.

No load mutual funds outwardly appear as a method to save money, by changing the face of investment. Typical load funds have initial costs (front end) and sale costs (back end) that decrease profitability. No load funds, however, may have hidden costs that you must consider. These are call maintenance fees and can actually crank up the fees to a higher percentage that the load mutual funds.

If you are not going through an investment counselor, you will need to do a lot of work. Many of the best investment ranking companies are on line and you can use the internet as a resource for your work. A do it yourself investor will need to devote many hours researching no load investments. If your time is too valuable, you can opt with an investment advisor that may charge a minimal fee that gets you to the finish line of no load mutual fund selections. In this, you will have to be careful. Some advisors receive a commission on the other side, for specific investments. Make sure the advisor you use does not have this conflict of interest attitude when working with your portfolio.

There are a few rules-of-thumb that you want to keep in mind when choosing no load funds. Look for the no load funds that have low maintenance or management fees. This will help in your total ROI. Seek out those no load funds that have a low turnover in the portfolio performance. There may be hidden reasons that a no load fund has high turnover, so avoid those. The larger actively managed no load mutual funds may seem appealing, but, there is a down side. These often have high turnover and the fees can reduce your eventual ROI. Longevity is the key word. There are a lot of new funds that may sound good, but you need to look for those that have a performance of a minimum of three years. Their growth can demonstrate a slow or fast percentage, but they should demonstrate growth over a period of years. Stay away from the smaller funds. You might consider yourself an out-of-boxer, looking to invest in what sounds promising. This is a risky proposition. The more difficult part of your work will be to eliminate those funds that would be considered inferior. Before investing in a no load fund, read the prospectus of the fund. Some will present only the best face of the investment, without a clear picture of true performance. Two or three star funds probably perform just about the same. Your best choices will be the four or five star funds. Elimination of those that are the bottom of the barrel will increase your ROI chances.

With the shifts in the economy, investors are continually searching for avenues to increase their portfolio presence. Another main concern is investing with the least overall expense. No load funds have been a bright spot in the investment world, offering little or no initial investment cost, while giving a good return on investment (ROI). If you are just doing research, you will want to know what are no load funds.

When you are looking into the investment world, you have a number of choices. You can work through a professional investment company, attempt the investments yourself (known as ‘day-trading’) or go through a secondary party, known as a broker. Working with other professionals will often require a fee. This fee is to compensate the professional for their in-depth knowledge and experience in helping you select the most secure and best investments. No load mutual funds offer the investor an opportunity to work directly through an investment company and forgo the commission charge.

The benefit of the no load fund is not only the up front commission savings, but you have an additional savings if you opt to sell the fund. Typically, in load funds, there is a commission at the initial purchase as well as the sale point. These charges are known as front-end and back-end (or redemption) fees. In some cases, a load mutual fund may be directed as a level-load. This will add an additional percentage charge annually, until the final sale.

An overall analogy indicates that load funds do not always perform better than no load funds. With the above in consideration, one would think that the investment decision is a no-brainer. This is not necessarily so. As with anything in life, there are good and poor load and no load investments. There are no load funds of particular excellence, with high rankings that can perform better than load funds. This works in the reverse as well.

So is there a down side? Since nothing is really free in this life, you must do your homework when looking into no load funds. There may not be front end or back end fees, but, there might be maintenance or custodial fees. These are charges that are levied a percentage of the investment on an annual basis. In some cases, if you do the math, these fees are actually higher than what would be charged in a load mutual fund. The dollars may sound good, initially, but if you extrapolate the charges, the maintenance fees will be costlier in a very short span of time.

The best rule of thumb is to do some in-depth research. Fund the no load funds that are ranked the highest. Make sure that these mutual funds offer longevity. Just because they have outperformed in one year, doesn’t mean it was always this way. They must show excellence over a minimum of three years. Even if it is a gradual increase in value, the no load fund will demonstrate profitability.

For more information, go to:
http://www.investopedia.com/terms/n/no-loadfund.asp#axzz1Yrqb0K4s
http://finance.yahoo.com/funds/how_to_choose/article/100601/Load_vs__No-Load_Funds