Goldman, Sachs & Company has adopted a policy to charge retail investors for holding their securities.

Plenty of funds, though, have resisted the temptation to charge investors more for their services.

(International Value is a no-load fund, but it does charge investors who stay less than a year a 2 percent redemption fee.)

UNTIL recently, the mutual fund industry faced few questions about what it charged investors.

At that time, all of the company's other funds, and most of those in the industry, charged investors an up-front sales fee, or load.

Without that extra source of income, brokers may raise the commissions they charge investors, Nasdaq officials say.

Its sales force of 1,100 representatives visits customers in their homes and, it was charged, misled investors about the risks of the funds.

Most private equity firms charge investors a 1.5 or 2 percent "management fee," whether or not a fund makes money.

They are accused of charging excessive commissions and misleading investors about the nature of the risks of their investments over five years beginning in 1984.

That and the fees asset managers/pension funds charge retail investors for truly *appalling* returns (if any).