An FA at my bank is trying to talk me into moving one of my matured IRAs into a frond-load mutual fund. I have just over $10,000 in the IRA. Among the funds he's offering is the Franklin Rising Dividends Fund Class A (FRDPX). It's front-loaded at 4-5%, depending on the amount invested, and has a 0.91% management fee, which includes 12b-1 fees.
The fund's performance looks pretty good, and my portfolio is light on dividend producers, but I'm wary for a number of reasons.
First, I've never really gotten any good advice from FAs. They've talked me into buying funds that performed poorly and tried to talk me into selling stock that has continued to rise after they said it was due to drop, for the purpose of investing in their recommended stocks or funds.
Second, I've read that loaded funds should be avoided because they don't necessarily perform any better than no-load funds.
Third, the fees are higher than, say, an index fund, and there seems to be little evidence that higher fees mean better performance.
So what you you all think?
The fund's performance looks pretty good, and my portfolio is light on dividend producers, but I'm wary for a number of reasons.
First, I've never really gotten any good advice from FAs. They've talked me into buying funds that performed poorly and tried to talk me into selling stock that has continued to rise after they said it was due to drop, for the purpose of investing in their recommended stocks or funds.
Second, I've read that loaded funds should be avoided because they don't necessarily perform any better than no-load funds.
Third, the fees are higher than, say, an index fund, and there seems to be little evidence that higher fees mean better performance.
So what you you all think?