melvoight:

I advise my clients to buy the A shares, pay the load up front and have lower expenses always.  And have the flexibility to exchange to another fund family without being dinged in back end fees.  I love American Funds, but clients may at some point decide they want to try another family.

Mel,

Look through the sugar coating and see the truth.

Ofcourse, considering breakpoints makes much sense, the amount of investment and breakpoints should always be taken into consideration.  However, AF takes care of this by limiting investment of B-shares to less than $50k.  They also convert both B & C shares after 8 and 10 yrs, respectively, both of these things show some fiduciary responsibility of AF. 

The complexity of the alphabet soup creates misunderstanding and inappropriate choosing of share classes, even with trained FA's.  One must run the numbers with a spreadsheet or such through assumptions and scenarios to see the magic work.

B-shares can make sense.  The CDSC is totally irrelevant.  One can pay MORE fees with the A-shares, and have less money working for them.  There is nothing about the CDSC that should keep someone from switching funds, it does not matter.  In fact, if this is the concern then you should be "selling" C-shares.

So bone up Mel, and your clients should be better served.

Brian