My CU made me laugh today

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They're offering mutual funds that have a 4.5% to 5.75% front load and a net expense ratio ranging from 1.31% to 2.52%! The small cap and international funds also have a 2% redemption fee (within 30 days of purchase).

I like them for their banking services, but this....

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

How weird. I'm getting 5.01% interest on a credit union checking account, but their investment options are not great. But, uh, they aren't bad. I don't remember seeing upfronts like that on anything. I've been reading frequently since spring 2008 of CUs having good returns on various accounts. Tried to help my sister locate one in SE Georgia and the CUs there looked pretty bad. Few services, few loans, rates no better than a bank, etc.

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I didn't look through all of the funds my CU uses, but the ones I've seen so far have yielded similar results to the market itself. So, no benefit that I can see for buying them versus, say, a market index fund for cheaper, or a celebrated fund manager at the helm for that premium.

Worse yet, with MAGSX for example, their funds have only been around for about two years, and the fund managers have only been around for less than one year. The one year performance yield is -44.45%.