just like in any other business, Investment in Mutual Fund requires some certain service charges, this charges are called fees. so, before you embark into investment in mutual fund.

MANAGEMENT CHARGE: this is usually the amount that is paid to the fund administrators for their professional advices.this charge must be below one percent of your investment.

CUSTODIAN CHARGE: this is the amount of money that is paid to the trustee (ie the keeper of your mutual fund investment) of your account . this should be about one tenth of one percent of your total investment in the fund.

SALES CHARGES: like it's name, this is amount of money that a broker charges in the sale of your mutual fund assets. this fees usually ranges from one to eight percent of your total investment and varies from broker to broker. also, in some brokerage firm your sale charges depends on the size of your account which means that the more big your account size is the lesser your sales charges.
CONTINGENT DIFFERED SALE CHARGES are charges that is levied on an account to discourage movement in and out of funds by investors. Generally this is between one to five percent of the amount, and they apply from 1 to 6 years of the initial purchase of account and are usually on a declining scale.
12-B1 DISTRIBUTION PLAN allow fees to be assessed over the life of the investment to compensate the distributor of the fund. These range from .25 to 1.25% of the average net asset value per year. redemption fees are extremely rare but may be charged; generally 1-2% of the amount redeemed.