Help Selling Mutual Funds

Mutual funds are designed to be held on to for the long term. Because of this, they like to discourage active trading by charging fees for early sales. For example, they may charge you a hefty fee if you sell your shares within 30 days or six months of purchase. If you have not owned your shares for very long, you sell your shares, you should carefully read your fund's policies with regards to early sale fees.

Also, some types of shares may carry back-end charges that were waived when you purchased. If you bought these types of shares, you would be required to hold those shares for a certain period, typically six years, before you would have the fee waived completely. The fee typically declines at a certain rate every year, and the earlier you sell, the more you would have to pay in back-end charges.