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Expenses It is important to look at the fees a mutual fund charges before investing in it. These fees will decrease your investment return, and you should be comfortable with them before investing in a fund. A section on fees and expenses usually appears near the beginning of the prospectus. Fees are always calculated as a percentage of assets and can range anywhere from .5% up to 8.5%. Since fees vary depending on the type of fund, the fund's strategy, and other factors, it's also critical to compare fees to other funds with similar characteristics. For example, foreign funds generally have higher fees than domestic funds. Managers have greater expenses with running a foreign and pass this on to investors in the form off management fees. This doesn't mean that an investor should avoid buying a foreign fund. A foreign fund may offer the opportunity for greater capital appreciation. However, it would be wise to compare different the fee structure of different foreign funds and take this into consideration when making a purchase decision.

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