This January 13, 2003 NASD investor alert describes Class A, B, and C mutual funds shares and lists some considerations in the choice of classes. (Note that The Skilled Investor believes that you should understand the full lifetime costs of paying any form of sales load. Investment sales loads can be an excessively costly way to pay for "advice.")

On its "About" homepage, NASD describes itself as "the world's leading private-sector provider of financial regulatory services ... for more than 60 years. ... We oversee the activities of nearly 5,100 brokerage firms, about 171,000 branch offices and more than 662,000 registered securities representatives. ... NASD licenses individuals and admits firms to the industry, writes rules to govern their behavior, examines them for regulatory compliance and disciplines those who fail to comply. ... With a staff of nearly 2,500 and an annual budget of more than $500 million, NASD is a world leader in capital markets regulation."