Mutual Funds

Investor Information

What Every Investor Should Know

• It's important to understand how certain fees and expenses will affect your investment and return. Learn more by reading Mutual Fund Share Classes and CompensationMutual Fund Share Classes and Compensation (PDF).
• Learn more about our revenue sharing arrangements.
• Learn more about mutual fund share transfer restrictions.

FINRA Investor Alert: College Savings Plans

November 7, 2006: We all want to get our money's worth. This is true when it comes to paying for a college education - but it's also true when it comes to investing for higher education. Learn more about this and go directly to this Investor Alert found on the FINRA website and read the FINRA's November 7, 2006 article, "College Savings Plans - School Yourself Before You Invest".

FINRA: Notice to Members

November 3, 2003: The FINRA issued guidance for making refunds to clients who may not have received full breakpoint discounts on class A mutual fund transactions.

Learn more about this and go directly to this Notice to Members found on the FINRA website and read the FINRA's November 3, 2003 article, "Mutual Fund Breakpoints: Are You Owed a Refund?"

FINRA: Report of the Joint NASD/Industry Task Force on Breakpoints

July 2003: At the request of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, FINRA, working with the Securities Industry Association (SIA) and the Investment Company Institute (ICI), led a task force on breakpoints. This report outlines the recommendations of the Task Force.

View the full report of the Joint FINRA/Industry Task Force on Breakpoints and the section on implementation of the recommendations.

FINRA Investor Alert: Class B Mutual Fund Shares

June 25, 2003: Buying mutual funds through a broker or other investment professional usually means choosing among different mutual fund share classes. The differences among these classes is how much you will pay in expenses and how much your broker will be paid for selling you the fund. This alert informs you how to make cost-effective purchases of different classes of shares.

Go to this Investor Alert found on the FINRA website. See Step 2 in this Alert to view and use the Mutual Fund Expense Analyzer, which compares the expenses of different fund classes.

FINRA Investor Alert: Mutual Fund Breakpoints

January 14, 2003: The FINRA issued an Investor Alert relating to mutual fund breakpoints. This alert explains how breakpoints work and what you need to know to make sure that, should you purchase mutual fund shares eligible for breakpoints, you are charged the lowest possible front-end sales charge.

Go to this Investor Alert, "Mutual Fund Breakpoints: A Break Worth Taking", found on the FINRA website.