No-load funds are mainly for speculative investors and can also have much higher long-term costs than load-funds -- fact, or fiction? Unfortunately, that's the type of information that brokers at Forth Worth, Texas-based First Command used to sell funds to their clients, who are primarily armed forces personnel, according to the SEC.

The Fort Worth, Texas-based broker dealer agreed to pay $12 million to settle SEC allegations that it used misleading tactics to sell systematic plans to investors, the SEC announced on Wednesday.

According to the SEC, First Command's brokers, the "vast majority" of who are themselves retired military personnel, made incorrect comparisons of systematic plans and misinformed investors about the Federal Thrift Savings Plan.

Approximately 40 percent of current active duty general officers and approximately 33 percent of commissioned officers are clients of First Command.

The $12 million settlement will be used to reimburse some customers and also for education programs. 

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