From: rais@rainbow.ecn.purdue.edu (Abdur Rais)
Newsgroups: misc.invest
Subject: Re: Is there a frequently-asked-questio
Date: 18 Aug 92 17:32:52 GMT
Organization: Purdue University Engineering Computer Network

Thanks to all who have mailed me suggestions and comments; here
is one of the FAQ on mutual funds that I received from one of them.
Abdur
-------

92/05/09:  Added/changed stuff to answer about buying funds through brokers.
92/02/19:  Added statement of additional information.
92/02/02:  Added adjustable rate bond funds.
92/01/05:  Added note about brokerage fees in expense question.
           Added infomation about fund size changes and distributions.
	   Added multifunds.
91/12/03:  Added dollar cost averaging.

Note 1:  Effort has been made to ensure accuracy, but accuracy or
usefulness is not guaranteed or warranted in any way.  Updates and
corrections are welcome.

Note 2:  This Question and Answer List pertains mainly to mutual
funds sold in the USA.  Most things are likely to be different in
other countries.

Q:  What is a mutual fund?

A:  A mutual fund, or investment company, is a corporation or partnership
    which makes investments and passes gains, losses, and taxability
    through to its shareholders or partners.

Q:  Why use a mutual fund?

A:  (1) Mutual funds provide diversification, since a fund typically
        owns a few dozen to hundreds of securities.  This reduces the
        risk of putting all eggs in one basket (one company's stocks
        or bonds, for example).
    (2) Mutual funds, by pooling funds from many investors, can hire
        investment managers less expensively, since it does not cost
        twice as much (in research, brokerage fees, etc.) to run a
        fund that is twice as large.
    (3) Mutual fund investment managers are subject to frequent reviews
	by various publications.  This means that information useful
        for selecting a mutual fund is easier to find than information
	useful for selecting one's own investment manager.
    All of these features are particularly useful to the small investor,
    who can have trouble effectively diversifying and will often pay very
    large (in proportion to the amount invested) brokerage fees (and
    management fees, if s/he chooses to hire one) if s/he invests in
    stocks and bonds directly.

Q:  Are there any disadvantages to using a mutual fund?

A:  (1) All mutual funds charge management, brokerage, and marketing
	expenses.  These expenses vary from fund to fund.
    (2) Buying mutual fund shares at the wrong time can subject the
	buyer to earlier than normal payment of taxes.
    For investors who prefer to buy and hold securities and who want
    to do their own security selection and have enough to diversify,
    a mutual fund's annual expense can be a burden on performance.
    Because of these expenses, mutual funds on average do slightly
    worse than market indices, though many funds do better and many
    do worse.  The tax implications are discussed later.

Q:  What is a "closed-end fund" vs. an "open-end fund"?

A:  A closed-end fund has a fixed number of shares outstanding and is
    traded just like a stock on an exchange or over the counter.  The
    more common open-end funds sell and redeem shares at any time
    directly to shareholders.  Open-end funds always trade at net
    asset value (sometimes a load or commission fixed by the fund
    sponsor is added when investors buy, or a redemption fee fixed
    by the fund sponsor is subtracted when investors sell), while
    closed-end funds may trade on the market at a discount (usually)
    or premium on their net asset value.  Sometimes closed-end
    funds are converted to open-end funds.

Q:  What is "net asset value"?

A:  The net asset value (NAV) is the value of the fund's underlying
    securities.  It is calculated at the end of the trading day.
    Any open-end fund buy or sell order received on that day is traded
    at the net asset value calculated at the end of the day.  A few funds
    calculate net asset value at more frequent intervals and process
    trades at those values.

Q:  A fund is "closed".  Is that the same as a closed-end fund?

A:  No.  Some open-end funds are closed to new investors because the
    fund manager feels that it cannot be as effective with a very
    large amount of money.  This typically happens with funds that
    invest in small companies.  The open-end format remains the same,
    but investments are not accepted from those who do not already
    have accounts.

Q:  What expenses are there for a mutual fund?

A:  (1) Closed-end funds charge annual expenses for research and
	trading expenses.  To buy and sell closed-end fund shares,
	the investor must usually pay additional brokerage fees, unless
	the investor finds someone to buy from or sell to directly.
    (2) Open-end funds charge annual expenses for research and trading
	expenses.  In addition, they sometimes charge the following:
	(a) A front end load or sales charge.  These vary from 1% to
	    8.5% subtracted from the amount paid (which means that
	    an 8.5% load is really 9.3% of the amount invested) and
	    are usually used to pay commissions to brokers and financial
	    advisors who sell the funds.  Very large investors can
	    sometimes get discounts on the front end loads.
	(b) A redemption fee, deferred sales charge, or back end load.
	    These work the same way as front end loads, but are charged
	    when you redeem shares.  An x% load comes out to be the
	    same as a front end or back end load.  However, many funds
	    with back end loads reduce or eliminate them for shares
	    held for longer periods of time.  These are also usually
	    used to pay commissions to salespeople.
	(c) A Rule 12b-1 fee.  Used to pay marketing expenses, which
	    means either commissions or advertising expenses.  This is
	    a fee that adds to the annual expenses; it may be as large
	    as 1.25% per year.  A large 12b-1 fee is actually worse than
	    a load for long term investors.  Some funds with large 12b-1
	    fees have declining back end loads to encourage investors
	    to hold shares long enough for the cumulative 12b-1 fees
	    to be large enough.
	A mutual fund that has neither (a) nor (b) is generally referred
	to as a no-load fund.  No-load funds are generally not sold
	through brokers or financial advisors, but are sold directly to
	investors.  Many advertise in business and financial periodicals.
	All of the above expenses for open-end funds are described on
	the first or second page of the prospectus in a standardized
	form.  Brokerage fees are _not_ normally included in such
	expense tables as they are usually accounted for in the cost
	of securities.

Q:  What are typical expenses of a mutual fund?

A:  Stock funds tend to be the most expensive, with annual expenses
    ranging from 0.2% to 3.0% with most between 1.0% and 1.5%.  Small
    company and international funds tend to be more expensive.  Bond
    fund expenses range from 0.2% to 2.0%, with most around 1.0%.  Money
    market funds tend to be the least expensive, ranging from about
    0.2% to 1.0%.  See a later answer for a more detailed description
    of these funds.  Note that some funds, particularly money market
    funds, waive expenses for a limited time to boost yield (and make
    good ad copy).  About one half of stock and bond funds have loads
    (front or back end), but money market funds do not normally have
    loads, though some have 12b-1 fees.

Q:  Why consider expenses and loads, instead of just performance?

A:  Future performance of the market or any given fund's portfolio is
    unpredictable, while expenses are known beforehand.  Therefore,
    you must be confident that the more expensive fund's portfolio will
    have a good chance of outperforming the cheap fund's portfolio by
    at least the amount of the difference in expenses and loads.

Q:  A particular load fund offers two classes of shares, one with a
    front end load and one with a declining back end load.  Which is
    better?

A:  While it may seem that the declining back end load version becomes
    a no load if held long enough, the front end load version is
    usually better because these funds generally have a large 12b-1
    fee on the back end load version.  Adding the accumulated 12b-1
    fees to the back end load generally results in the same fees paid
    for a hold time of less than about 5 years, but larger fees paid
    for the declining back end load / 12b-1 fee shares for longer hold
    times.  However, it seems that many investors make the wrong
    decision here, since the declining back end load / 12b-1 fee shares
    are much more popular.

Q:  What is a prospectus?

A:  It is a document which an open-end fund, or newly issued closed-end
    fund, is required to provide to investors.  Investors should read
    it carefully before investing or sending any money.  A prospectus
    contains descriptions of:
    (1)  fees, in a standardized format
    (2)  investment objective
    (3)  some financial data
    (4)  investment methods, risk description
    (5)  investment manager and compensation
    (6)  how to buy shares
    (7)  how to sell shares, including signature guarantee requirements
    (8)  dividend and capital gain distributions
    (9)  other services

Q:  What is a signature guarantee?

A:  It is a guarantee by a financial institution that your signature
    is genuine and the financial institution accepts liability for any
    forgery.  It is typically required for large or unusual redemptions
    of open-end mutual funds, though some funds require it for all
    redemptions.  At many funds, the guarantor must be a commercial
    bank or NYSE member brokerage firm; some funds accept savings and
    loan associations or credit unions (be careful, some savings and
    loan associations have bank-like names).

Q:  What is a statement of additional information?

A:  It is an additional statement that is incorporated into the
    prospectus by reference.  It usually describes things like:
    (1)  investment advisor, including its officers, directors,
	 and corporate relationships with other companies
    (2)  fundamental and nonfundamental fund investment policies
    (3)  investment advisor's policies (for example, forbidding
	 its directors from buying a stock before recommending
	 it to a fund that it manages)
    (4)  additional information about fee structure
    (5)  usage of brokerage firms and payment of commissions
    It is generally a good idea for an investor to request a
    statement of additional information along with a prospectus.
    While this statement may be uninteresting for most funds,
    it is a good idea to know everything that is disclosed.

Q:  What are distributions?

A:  A mutual fund may receive dividend or interest income; it is required
    to pay out this income to its investors.  Most open-end funds offer
    an option to purchase additional shares with the distributions.
    A mutual fund may also, in the process of trading, realize capital
    gains.  These must also be distributed to investors.  As with
    dividends, there is usually the option to reinvest in additional
    fund shares.  Most front end load funds allow reinvesting these
    distributions without paying the load.  Distributions generally
    occur late in the year, though funds that receive large amounts
    of dividend income may make monthly or quarterly distributions.
    A distribution lowers the net asset value of the fund by the
    amount of the distribution.  Funds with high turnover of securities
    tend to make significant capital gain distributions every year,
    while funds with low jurnover of securities may accumulate
    unrealized gains for several years before making a large capital
    gain distribution.  Also, funds that are increasing in size tend
    to make smaller capital gain distributions because they buy more
    than they sell, while funds decreasing in size tend to make larger
    capital gain distributions because they sell more than they buy.
    These distributions have important tax consequences as detailed
    later.

Q:  What do mutual funds invest in?

A:  Almost anything.  There are funds that invest in almost anything
    an investor could want to invest in.  The most common types are
    described below.  Examples do not necessarily imply endorsement.
    (1) Money market funds:  these try to maintain a constant $1 NAV
	per share (though they cannot guarantee that), while yielding
	dividends from their investments in short term debt securities.
	They offer very low risk, but usually low long term return.
	Most restrict investments to the top two (out of four) Moody's
	and Standard and Poor ratings for short term debt; some (including
	national government only funds) restrict themselves to only
	the top rating, providing a bit of extra credit safety, usually
	at a slightly lower yield.  Most also invest in repurchase
	agreements (repos) collateralized by short term debt securities;
	these are subject to credit or fraud risk of the other party in
	the repo (regardless of the credit risk of the securities being
	repoed).  Their market value is NOT insured by the FDIC or other
	government agency.  If a sufficient amount of a money market
	fund's assets default, the fund will be unable to maintain the
	$1 NAV (losing principal), though this hasn't happened yet (in
	the few cases it did happen, the fund sponsors purchased the bad
	debts).  Usually, their yields are better than FDIC insured bank
	or savings and loan association money market deposit accounts.
	(a) Regular funds:  invest in short term debt of all types.
	    Example:  Dreyfus Worldwide Dollar, Vanguard Money Market
	    Reserves Prime Portfolio.
	(b) Government funds:  invest only in national government or
	    government agency debt or repos involving such debt.
	    Slightly lower credit risk than regular funds.  Example:
	    Vanguard Money Market Reserves Federal Portfolio.
	(c) Treasury funds:  invest only in direct obligations of the
	    national government or repos involving these securities.
	    Lowest credit risk and dividend distributions are exempt
	    from state income taxes in most states.  Example:  Dreyfus
	    100% US Treasury Fund LP, Fidelity Spartan Treasury Money
	    Market Fund, Benham Capital Preservation Fund.
	(d) Municipal funds:  invest only in debt of state or local
	    governments.  Dividend distributions are exempt from
	    national income taxes.  Example: Vanguard Municipal Bond
	    Fund Money Market Portfolio.
	(e) Single state municipal funds:  invest only in debt of
	    one state or its political subdivisions.  Dividend
	    distributions are exempt from national income taxes and
	    that state's income taxes.  Note that a single state fund
	    is usually less diversified than a regular municipal fund.
	    Example:  Calvert Tax Free Reserves California Portfolio,
	    Vanguard California Tax Free Fund Money Market Portfolio.
    (2) Bond funds.  These invest in longer term debt securities.
	Thus the short term risk is greater than the infinitesmal
	risk of the money market.  But returns are usually higher.
	Their NAVs may fluctuate due to both interest rate risk and
	defaults.  Unlike individual bonds, most bond funds do not
	mature; they trade to maintain their stated future maturity.
	Thus bond fund buyers are usually put into the trader's model,
	subject to interest rate risk, instead of the buy and hold until
	maturity or call model, where interim price changes don't matter.
	The types of debt are similar to those of money funds (but
	longer term); however, futures and options are sometimes used
	for hedging purposes.  The other classifications are described
	below:
	Time to maturity, interest rate risk:
	(a) Short term:  usually less than 5 years maturity.  Interest
	    rate risk is low.  Example:  Scudder Short Term Bond Fund.
	(b) Long term:  up to 30 year average maturity.  Interest rate
	    risk is high.  Example:  Vanguard Fixed Income Investment
	    Grade.
	(c) Mortgage backed:  has some unusual interest rate risks.
	    When interest rates rise, they lose value like other bonds.
	    When interest rates fall, homebuyers refinance, causing them
	    to prepay old mortgages, which in turn causes bonds backed
	    by these mortgages to be called.  Example:  Vanguard Fixed
	    Income GNMA.
	(d) Adjustable rate:  this type of fund is like other mortgage
	    backed funds, but it invests in adjustable rate mortages.
	    Therefore, the two sided interest rate risk faced by fixed
	    rate mortgage backed bonds in considerably reduced.  However,
	    the interest income will fluctuate widely, even though the
	    principal value is more stable.  Since most adjustable rate
	    mortgages have caps on how high the rate can go (typical
	    limits are a 2% increase during a year and 6% increase during
	    the life of the load), risk increases if interest rates
	    increase quickly or by a large amount.  Example:  Benham
	    Adjustable Rate Government Securities.
	(e) Target maturity:  the few funds in this category buy only
	    bonds of the given maturity date.  Thus one can actually
	    hold these to maturity, ignoring the interim price fluctuations.
	    Example:  Benham Target 2015.
	Credit risk:
	(a) Investment grade:  restricted only to bonds with low to
	    medium-low credit risk (national government bonds are
	    automatically considered low).  This generally means the
	    fourth highest Standard and Poor's or Moody's rating
	    (S&P BBB or Moody's Baa).  Some funds have higher standards.
	    Example:  Vanguard Fixed Income Investment Grade.
	(b) High yield or junk:  buys bonds of any credit rating,
	    seeking maximum interest yield at the risk of default.
	    Example: Fidelity Plymouth High Yield.
    (3) Stock funds.  These invest in common and/or preferred stocks.
	Stocks usually have higher short term risk than bonds, but
        have historically produced the best long term returns.
	Stock funds often hold small amounts of money market investments
	to meet redemptions; some hold larger amounts of money market
	investments when they cannot find any stock worth investing in
	or if they believe the market is about to head downward.
	Some of the possible investment goals are described below.
	They are not necessarily mutually exclusive.
	(a) Growth.  These funds seek maximum growth of earnings and
	    share price, with little regard for dividends.  Usually
	    tend to be volatile.  Example: Janus Fund, Phoenix Growth
	    Fund.
	(b) Aggressive growth.  Similar to growth funds, but even more
	    aggressive; tend to rise higher and fall lower.  Example:
	    Fidelity Magellan, 20th Century Growth, Janus Twenty.
	(c) Equity income.  These funds are more conservative and seek
	    maximum dividends.  Example:  Financial Industrial Income,
	    United Income.
	(d) Growth and income.  In between growth funds and income funds,
	    they seek both growth and a reasonable amount of income.
	    Example:  Dodge & Cox Stock, Investment Company of America,
	    Vanguard Windsor.
	(e) Small company.  Focuses on smaller companies.  Usually of the
	    growth or aggressive growth variety, since smaller companies
	    usually don't pay much dividends.  Example:  Scudder
	    Development, Janus Venture, 20th Century Vista.
	(f) International.  Focuses on stocks outside the USA, generally
	    investing in many nations' companies.  Example:  T. Rowe
	    Price International, Vanguard Trustees' Commingled
	    International.
	(g) Country or regional funds.  These funds buy stocks primarily
	    in the designated country or region.  Example:  Scudder
	    Japan Fund, Latin America Investment Fund.
	(h) Index funds.  These funds do no management, but just buy some
	    index, like the Standard and Poor 500.  Some index funds,
	    particularly those emulating indices with large numbers of
	    stocks such as the Wilshire 4500 or Russell 2000, emulate
	    the index by buying a subset with similar industry mix,
	    capitalization, price/earnings ratio, etc.  Expenses are
	    generally very low.  An investor who wants to invest in stocks
	    but doesn't want to take the time to select his/her own stocks
	    and doesn't even want to select a fund manager may have
	    good use of index funds.  Examples:  Vanguard Index Trust
	    500 (S&P 500), Vanguard Index Trust Extended (Wilshire 4500),
	    Dreyfus Peoples Index (S&P 500), Dreyfus Peoples Index Midcap
	    (S&P midcap 400).
	(i) Sector funds.  These funds buy stocks only in one industry.
	    Investors who select industries but don't want to select
	    stocks may find these funds useful.  Risk is very high if
	    used as the main component of one's stock investments, since
	    diversification is much less than with general stock funds.
	    Example:  Fidelity Select, Vanguard Specialized, Financial
	    Strategic (each of these has several portfolios).
    (4) Balanced funds.  By mixing stocks and bonds (and sometimes other
	types of assets) a balanced fund is likely to give a return
	between the return of stocks and bonds, usually at a lower
	risk than investing in either alone.  An investor can create
	his/her own balanced fund by buying shares of his/her favorite
	stock fund(s) and his/her favorite bond fund(s) in the desired
	allocation.
        (a) Regular balanced funds:  These funds usually hold a fixed
	    or changeable within preset limits allocation between stocks
	    and bonds.  Examples:  Vanguard Wellington, Pax World Fund,
	    Dodge & Cox Balanced.
	(b) Asset allocation funds:  These funds may switch to any
	    allocation, usually based on market timing to some degree.
	    Examples:  Merriman Timed Asset Allocation, Fidelity Asset
	    Manager.
    (5) Multifunds.  These funds buy primarily other mutual funds.
	They choose other funds based on one or more of the investment
	goals outlined above.
	(a) No-management funds:  These funds hold fixed proportions
	    of other funds.  They are offered by fund companies as
	    cheap balanced funds -- the underlying funds are other
	    funds managed by the same company.  There are generally
	    little or no expenses other than those of the underlying
	    funds.  Examples:  Vanguard Star, T. Rowe Price Spectrum.
	(b) Managed funds:  In these funds, a manager picks which other
	    funds s/he believes are managed well.  Sometimes these
	    funds are market timing funds which prefer to leave the
	    stock picking to other managers.  These funds have
	    expenses above and beyond those of the underlying funds.
	    Examples:  Fundtrust funds.

Q:  What is a "socially responsible" fund?

A:  In addition to the usual investment goals, these funds restrict
    their investments to whatever they define as socially responsible.
    Such criteria can include:  avoiding military, alcohol, tobacco,
    and gambling industries, avoiding South Africa, preferring companies
    that treat their employees and the environment well.  Not all
    such funds have the same investment or social criteria -- a
    socially conscious investor must choose a fund that matches both
    investment goals and social criteria, as well as giving decent
    perfomance, not an easy thing to do in all cases with the limited
    number of such funds.  Examples: Pax World Fund (balanced), Dreyfus
    Third Century (stock), Muir Investment Trust (California municipal
    bond), Working Assets (money market).

Q:  A mutual fund has a new manager.  How does that affect it?

A:  It depends on how it was managed before.  A fund managed by a
    team of managers is unlikely to be strongly affected by one
    of them being replaced, since the replacement is usually chosen
    to fit in with the rest.  If the fund is managed with one person
    in charge, that person's departure may significantly affect the
    investment style and performance of the fund.  Sometimes, the
    new manager works as an apprentice to the old manager before
    taking over the fund.

Q:  Where can I get comparative information on mutual funds?

A:  You can ask a full service broker or financial advisor, but s/he
    is likely to only be familiar with a few load funds.  However,
    many periodicals (Barron's, Money, Forbes, Fortune, Business Week,
    etc.) have regular (often quarterly or annually) mutual fund
    review issues.  In addition, there are many books available on
    mutual fund investing.  It might be advantageous to look in a
    library or bookstore for several of these review issues or books,
    since different reviewers have different criteria (for example,
    Forbes takes a 10 year view, while Fortune takes a 3 year view).
    These periodicals and books usually have phone numbers which
    you can call to get the fund's prospectus and other information.
    Note that some ratings account for loads, while others do not.
    Past performance is no guarantee of future results of either the
    fund or the securities markets in general.

Q:  Should I buy mutual funds directly, or through a broker?

A:  For most load funds, buying through a full service broker costs
    nothing extra because the load will be the same.  However, at
    least one broker advertises in Barron's that it will trade load
    funds at a flat fee instead of a load.  The SEC is considering
    a rule to allow load fund sellers more freedom in discounting
    the load.  For no-load funds, any broker (full service or discount)
    will charge a brokerage commission (with the possible exception
    of brokers associated with the fund company, such as Fidelity or
    Vanguard), so it is cheaper buy a no-load fund directly (which means
    no commission).  However, holding funds in a brokerage account
    may allow easier bookkeeping and easier trading between funds
    from different fund families.  For closed-end funds, a broker
    is usually necessary; the brokerage commissions will be similar
    to those for other stocks traded on exchanges (and these vary
    widely, sometimes to a factor of 10 between different brokers).

Q:  What good is a family of funds?

A:  Families of funds sometimes offer additional services, such as
    telephone switching from one fund to another within the family.
    With load fund families, switching from one load fund to another
    is sometimes allowed without paying a second load.  Some families
    may make bookkeeping easier by listing all of an investor's
    different funds on one statement.  Others reduce expenses by
    sharing services which realize economies of scale.  But families
    of funds also give themselves better marketing opportunities --
    with a large number of funds, it is more likely that one will
    rise above the pack and provide good ad copy.

Q:  What is dollar cost averaging?

A:  Dollar cost averaging is an investment method in which the investor
    buys a fixed dollar amount of the investment at regular intervals.
    It is usually used for more volatile investments.  It is best
    suited for mutual funds, since they allow relatively small amounts
    to be bought at a time and will credit fractional shares.  Dollar
    cost averaging reduces the risk of putting a lot of money in at a
    market top.  The fixed amounts purchase more shares when the
    price is low than when the price is high, so even if the final
    price is at the average of all the buy prices, the investor can
    make a profit.  However, dollar cost averaging cannot prevent
    a loss if the market is in an overall decline.  Some mutual funds
    facilitate dollar cost averaging by allowing investors to set up
    automatic drafts on their bank accounts.  Since dollar cost averaging
    causes many small lots to be bought at different prices, accurate
    records should be kept for tax calculations (see next question).

Q:  What are the tax implications of mutual funds?

A:  Like shares of stock, selling mutual fund shares may cause you to
    realize a capital gain or loss.  Mutual funds also distribute dividends
    received and their own realized capital gains, usually at the end
    of the year; these distributions, whether taken in cash or reinvested,
    are taxable (note that the nontaxability of municipal bond funds
    applies only to dividend distributions; capital gain distributions
    are always taxable).  Thus it is often a bad idea to buy a mutual
    fund just before the distribution date, since part of your investment
    will be immediately returned to you as a taxable distribution, resulting
    in you paying taxes much earlier than if you bought just after the
    distribution.  Although the distribution lowers the net asset value
    of your shares, allowing you to "deduct" it when you sell the shares,
    paying taxes sooner rather than later prevents you from gaining
    investment income on the amount that is taxed.  Note that reinvesting
    is considered identical to taking the distribution in cash and
    sending the same amount into the fund as a new investment, so don't
    forget about it when calculating the basis in your account.  When
    selling, it is best to know the different methods of calculating
    the basis of shares sold ahead of time, since some methods require
    that you designate which shares are to be sold.  For more information,
    call 1-800-TAX-FORM and ask for publications 544, 550, and 564, and
    schedules B and D.

Q:  How do I put mutual funds in an IRA?

A:  Most funds have a bank or trust company arranged to be an IRA custodian
    for any IRA shareholders.  If you buy the fund directly, using this
    custodian, you must use a different application available from the fund
    company.  The custodian usually charges $10 to $15 per fund account
    per year.  This is a significant expense for small accounts, not too
    significant for larger accounts.  Alternatively, you can open a
    brokerage account IRA and purchase mutual funds within that.  This
    would be similar to using a broker to buy funds normally, but incurs
    a single IRA custodian fee (usually $25 to $50).  Custodian fees,
    but not loads or commissions, may be paid separately from the
    contribution, and may be separately tax deductible.  Call 1-800-TAX-FORM
    and ask for publication 590 and form 8606 for general IRS information
    about IRAs.  Note that the tax issues of distributions as detailed
    previously don't affect IRA accounts.
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