You can avoid this with a Vanguard account that you use to buy Vanguard index funds. There are no commissions or service fees in that case.[1]
Same for Fidelity funds (or many iShares ETFs) in a Fidelity account.
Oh, cool I didn't realize that.
Re:Investing for Geeks
by brianwawok on Friday September 16, 2016 @11:00PM
(#12518881)
Most 401k plans are commission free (just a flat %)
Say you have Fund A and Fund B set to automatically invest 50/50 your $100 dollar contribution bi-weekly, with a buy commission of $5. You pay buy commissions on fund A and B 4 total times a month, so you've wasted 10% of your monthly investment ability ($200 - $20). In a year that money is $194 at 8%. (This used to be the case with old ShareBuilder/ING/Capital One---not sure about the new-style other brokers)
Consider a monthly payment to Fund A and two weeks later a monthly payment to Fund B. You saved half commission cost of above, and in a year your return is ~$205.