Fees and Costs |
What fees will I pay to your firm? |
- Fees and costs affect the value of your account over time. Please ask your financial professional to give you personalized information of fees and costs you will pay.
- AF&T is not a fee-based broker and will not charge you a fee for brokerage services. Fees are charged to you by the Mutual Fund Company.
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What fees will the Mutual Fund company charge me? |
- Mutual funds and variable annuities fees are charged to you by the various fund companies each time you invest.
- Fee details can be found in a mutual fund’s prospectus, a legal document that each mutual fund is required to file with the SEC. A sales charge, often referred to as a load, is the broker’s sales commission or fee deducted from your investment when you buy the fund. All funds charge annual expense fees to cover the fund’s operating costs, including management fees, distribution and service fees (commonly known as 12b-1 fees), and general administrative expenses. These expenses are deducted from the fund before its returns are calculated. Mutual funds may be offered in multiple share classes (most commonly Class A shares and Class C shares). Class C shares may be subject to Contingent Deferred Sales Charges (CDSC). This structure allows each investor the opportunity to select a share class that is best suited to his or her investment goals. The differences typically revolve around how much you will be charged for buying the fund, when you will pay any sales charges that apply, and the amount you will pay in annual fees and expenses, i.e. IRA setup and annual custodian fees. With variable annuities you may have to pay surrender charges to sell the investment.
- You will pay fees and costs whether you make or lose money on your investments. Fees and costs will reduce any amount of money you make on your investments over time. It is your responsibility to ensure you understand what fees and costs you are paying.
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How do you make money and what conflicts of interest do you have? |
- AF&T makes money only when you invest. We are paid a percentage commission by the mutual fund company, based on the amount you invest, as stated in the fund’s prospectus. We generally do not have conflicts of interest in the mutual fund business as we do not benefit from our recommendations to you. We do not offer our registered representatives non-cash compensation or incentives of any kind, including those based on number of clients, products sold, sales contests, sales quotas, bonuses, or revenue the firm earns from the broker’s recommendations.
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Questions to ask your financial professional |
- Do the math for me. How much would my Class A or Class C charge be? What would make the sales charge more or less?
- What additional costs should I expect in connection with my account?
- Tell me how you and your firm make money in connection with my account. Do you or your firm receive any payments from anyone besides me in connection with my investments?
- Are there any other potential conflicts of interest and if so, what would they be?
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