Shen is debating purchasing a mutual fund, but he has some questions for his financial advisor, Valerie. The following table presents information on four different open-end mutual funds that Shen and Valerie are discussing. Use the information in the table to answer the questions that follow.

FUND	NAV	NET CHG	YTD % RET
GlbEx p	13.32	-0.04	2.8
IntRA r	29.77	0.06	5.7
MRGG	37.81	0.20	8.2
MajTrk	38.21	0.29	9.3

SHEN: After some research, Ive narrowed it down to these four funds, but can you explain to me the relationship between 12b-1 fees and fund performance?

VALERIE: Generally, funds that charge 12b-1 fees, such as GlbEx p, outperform funds that do not charge these fees.

SHEN: What about front-end load fees? For example, suppose MajTrk has a front-end load fee of 6%, when do I pay this fee?

VALERIE: If you purchase 100 shares of this fund at the NAV, you will pay a commission of

, but when you sell these shares you will pay

in front-end fees.

SHEN: It sounds like these fees could start to add up. Whats the most I can expect to pay in fees?

VALERIE: If a fund charges a 4% front-end load and a 2.5% 12b1 fee, then it can charge a maximum of only

% in back-end load charges without violating the cap.

SHEN: Thanks! This was really helpful. So it sounds like youd recommend looking for funds whenever possible.