Sales Load: What It Is, Types, Example

What Is a Sales Load?

By Kristi Waterworth – Updated Nov 7, 2025 at 11:31 AM EST

Key Points

Sales loads are fees paid when buying or selling mutual funds, not included in expense ratios.
Three types of sales loads exist: front-end, back-end, and level loads, each affecting investment differently.
Calculating sales loads is straightforward; multiply the investment amount by the sales load percentage.

When you invest in a mutual fund, there are an array of fees involved, one of which is the sales load, sometimes called a sales charge. If you're asking yourself, "What is a sales load?" you've come to the right place. We'll discuss this fee in depth below.

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About the Author

Kristi Waterworth has been a contributing real estate and financial expert at The Motley Fool, covering real estate, investing, and personal finance topics, since 2020. Kristi has been interviewed by various TV media outlets and podcasts for her real estate investing expertise – from residential real estate to digital real estate and everything in between. Kristi’s journalist career spans over 25 years, and she has written about real estate investing, homeownership, and home construction specifically for the last decade. She was also previously a licensed Realtor and general building contractor before the Great Recession and housing market collapse. She holds a bachelor’s degree in American history from Columbia College in Missouri.

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