You can buy most mutual funds by contacting the fund companies directly with their 800 number or online. Other funds are sold through brokers, banks, financial planners, or insurance agents only. If you buy through a third party there is a good chance they'll hit you with a sales charge (load). Companies that sell shares directly to the public without brokers or sales commissions are typically called direct-marketed no-load funds. When buying direct from a fund company, there are no transaction costs. This puts all of your money to work immediately. While most funds are sold without any sales charges or loads, some charge a low initial fee, usually 1%-3% less and are called low-load funds.

You can invest in a no-load mutual fund by completing an application and submitting it along with a check for your investment. At that time, you can also establish an Automatic Monthly Investment plan, or indicate other services that you are interested in, such as the ability to invest over the telephone, bank wire, or online. Once you make an investment, you are a shareholder in the fund and you'll receive a confirmation of each investment or redemption you make, along with periodic reports and statements. The fund will also report dividend payments or capital gains distributions and provide the tax status of your earnings. You can now open and fund their mutual fund account electronically and can also opt to receive their statements and financial documents electronically; cutting down on paperwork.

More and more funds can be purchased through no-transaction fee programs that offer funds of many different companies. These "fund supermarkets" lets you consolidate your holdings and record keeping, even if you own several funds and still allows you to buy and sell funds without sales charges from many different companies. Schwab's OneSource, Vanguard's FundAccess, and Fidelity's No Transaction Fee Program called FundsNetwork are examples of fund supermarkets. Many large brokerages and discount brokerages such as Waterhouse securities and Scottrade have similar offerings. This method of purchasing mutual funds may work well for those investors who have the time to do their own research and want to conveniently purchase funds from several different fund companies in order to meet their investment goals. Selling a fund is as easy as purchasing one. All mutual funds will buy back (redeem) your shares on any business day.

**Recommended Reading**
	What Wall Street Doesn't Want You to know: How you can build wealth investing in index funds. Every investor should read this book. Swedroe explains why investors should buy low-cost index funds, broadly diversified internationally and across asset classes.

When you should sell your Mutual Funds:
Deciding when to sell a mutual fund is harder than buying one. That's because once your money is committed, your emotions come into play, causing you to hold on to mutual funds that don't fit your financial goals anymore and to dump losers just before they bounce back. Most people close out a fund because they need the money or want to change their investment strategy. However, here are some sell signals that you should consider:

• Your investment objective changed - As long as a fund is meeting your objectives, you should hold on to it. But you shouldn't hesitate to move your money if your investment goals change. For example, as you get closer to retirement or when your children are near college age, you should stop taking risks with your investments. Begin switching some of money from growth stock funds to short-term bond funds and money market funds. You can't afford to lose a chunk of it in a last-minute market dip.
• Change in investment style of the fund -You should also consider switching funds if the fund no longer meets the criteria or reasons you initially led you to invest in that fund. For example, if you notice changes in performance, volatility or fund's investment style.
• Changing of a management - If a star manager of your fund leaves, you might want to give some time let new management prove that they can handle the job. But if the new manager start underperforming the market and it's peers in the same style for 1 or 2 years, you should consider selling it.
• Fund has grown too large or too fast - If the funds assets grown too large or too fast, it may be harder to achieve high returns.

Next-->>  Reading a mutual fund table and tracking your mutual funds