1. Why invest in a Mutual Fund?

Mutual Funds are a popular way to enhance growth and reduce risk. Depending on your objectives and the amount of risk you're willing to accept, an Investment Representative can help you select the fund that best meets your needs.

2. What are the advantages of investing in Mutual Funds?

The principal advantages of mutual fund ownership are:

• marketability and liquidity
• professional management
• diversification

The first advantage to mutual fund ownership, guaranteed marketability, is very important to investors. It is the ability to get out of an investment. Here, open-end investment companies shine. By statute, the investment company guarantees to redeem the current value of a client's investment within seven days. However, the investment company has the right to demand a written request for redemptions. The second important advantage to mutual fund ownership, professional management, stems from the fact that the investment advisor or management company is much more knowledgeable than the average investor. Professional advisors work full time managing portfolio assets -a luxury few investors can afford when investing on their own. The third advantage would be the fund's availability to diversify much better than an individual could.

3. What information must you receive before buying?

A fund must provide a copy of the prospectus to investors before accepting their initial investment. Its purpose is to provide complete disclosure of information about the fund. Information listed in the prospectus includes the following:

The objective: This allows you to find a fund that matches your investing objective.
Performance: This describes how the fund has performed in the past. Since the funds may change managers or limit choices to particular sectors of the economy, past performance does not guarantee future success.
Risk: Each fund must list the level of risk involved in achieving its objectives.

4. How does a fund produce income for the investor?

When a fund invests in debt, the IOU usually requires interest payments at specific times, such as semi-annually. Similarly, a fund investing in the stock of a corporation receives whatever cash dividends that company pays. Interest payments and dividend income by law must be passed through to the fund's shareholders - you. You can even have that income reinvested in more fund shares. Also, when a fund actually sells a stock or bond that has increased in value, the fund realizes a capital gain. Periodically, the fund will distribute such gains to its shareholders in the form of dividend checks unless you have instructed it to reinvest the gains.

5. How do you find out how your Mutual Fund is performing?

By contacting your investment representative at your financial institution. Also, the value of securities a mutual fund holds is computed every day and made publicly available. You can get that value by looking it up in many daily newspapers. For off-shore funds, look in The Financial Times-London. The value of a share is stated as Net Asset Value (N.A.V.).

6. Are Mutual Funds regulated by any agency of the Government?

The main law governing mutual funds is the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended by the U.S. Congress over the years. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (S.E.C.) is responsible for regulating mutual funds as well as most publicly-traded securities. Off shore mutual funds are regulated by the laws of the country in which they are organized.

7. Are Mutual Funds insured?

No. They are not bank products. They are not insured by the FDIC. They are not obligations of any bank. They are not guaranteed.

8. Is your principal protected?

Unlike a bank deposit, the value of your principal can rise or fall. People invest in mutual funds because of the fact they want their principal to rise over time. The value of a fund depends on the value of the securities it owns. Stocks and bonds fluctuate in value and therefore so do mutual funds.

9. Can you lose principal in a Mutual Funds Investment?

Because the value of a fund fluctuates, when you sell ("redeem") your shares, the price may be more or less than what you paid for it. Just as the value of your home doesn't always stay the same, neither does the value of a mutual fund. If you sell your home soon after you buy it, chances are greater you won't make a profit. The same is true for mutual funds. Most real estate and mutual funds are long-term investments.

10. Does the past success of a Mutual Fund guarantee future success?

Past performance may help you evaluate a fund, but how well it has done in the past is no guarantee for the future. Because no one can foresee the future, it is never possible to be certain that what has been successful in the past will continue to be successful.

11. Is it easy to get your principal out whenever you want?

Yes. You can sell back ("redeem") your shares on any business day. The money from the sale can be sent to you by check or credited to a bank account through a wire transfer if you have made those arrangements ahead of time.

12. What are the penalties charged for selling your shares in the Mutual Funds?

There are no penalties for selling at any time. However, if you buy shares on which sales charges are deferred, you may have to pay some or all of the commission at the time you sell. The prospectus will spell out conditions under which you might pay a commission.

13. Should you invest funds that you will need shortly?

Probably not. Most people want assurance money they immediately need will be there when they need it. Mutual funds (except for money market funds) by their nature fluctuate in value and therefore may not be the most comfortable place for your emergency funds.

14. Is there an advantage to investing in more than one Mutual Fund?

"Don't put all your eggs in one basket" has always been one of the best pieces of investing advice. By putting your money into different kinds of funds you increase the stability of your investments and give yourself the opportunity to make more money over time.

15. How do you decide which Mutual Fund you should invest in?

Talk to your Investment Representative about your needs - why you're making the investment in the first place. The Representative will identify those funds that provide the best combination of return and safety for you and what you want to accomplish with the investment.

16. What can a Mutual Fund Invest In?

The exact types of securities a fund can hold are spelled out in the fund's prospectus. A fund is limited to those investments and those investments only. A fund that says it will invest only in U.S. Government bonds cannot then go off and buy something else.

17. Who decides which investments are selected for the fund?

Typically, a fund manager will have an extensive background in investments and finance, either through years of experience, intensive education, or both. Many fund managers today are Chartered Financial Analysts or hold some other designation representing extensive formal training in investment analysis.

18. How many investments does a typical fund have?

A typical mutual fund will invest in 50 to 200 different securities. The very large number of investments gives most funds much more diversification than any individual could afford and, historically, greater diversification has meant greater safety.

19. What type of investments are in the mutual funds?

Most funds buy stocks or some form of debt. Stocks represent a share of ownership in a corporation. As an owner the mutual fund (and through it, you) shares in the profits (or losses) of the corporation. Debt is an IOU, such as a bond, that will be paid off at a stated date in the future; the mutual fund receives interest payments and after paying expenses, passes them along to you as dividends.

20. How do investments in stocks provide gains for the funds that include stocks in their portfolios?

When a company's stock price rises, the increase shows up in the value of a fund that owns the stock. If shares in Company ABC make up 5% of a fund's value and the price of ABC stock doubles (and everything else stays the same), then the fund will show a 5% increase in its value.

 Stocks also make money through cash dividends some companies pay shareholders. These dividends reflect the corporation's profits in the long run; as profits increase, corporations often increase cash dividends. The rate paid is sometimes as high or higher than is available from alternative investments which lack the potential for growth of stocks.

21. What are the risks involved with buying stocks?

Buying individual stocks probably is too risky. But the risks goes down as the number of stocks owned increases; you're less and less subject to random, unpredictable, events. That's one of the advantages of investing in stocks through mutual funds; no single stock usually represents as much as 5% of a fund's value.

The risk in stocks also varies with the kind of company. In general, older, larger companies paying big dividends represent less risk (and less potential reward) than younger, newer companies. Different mutual funds invest in different kinds of companies.

Risk also is a function of time. Historically, as a group, both larger and smaller stocks have made money over any 20-year period since 1926.

22. How do investments in bonds and other debt instruments provide income for the funds that invest in these instruments?

Debt securities, such as bonds, usually pay interest on a regular basis, just as people do with mortgages. The interest paid is established when debt is originally issued. That rate reflects (1) the quality of the debt - as judged by independent rating services as to how likely it is the money will really be repaid; (2) the length of time for which the money is borrowed - usually, it costs more to borrow for a longer period, and (3) the level of interest rates at the time - for example, today interest rates are low, so debt carries a lower rate than a couple of years ago.

The value of a debt security can go up (or down) as any of those things change. Most often, the interest rate level changes. If interest rates increase, debt issued at today's rates will be less valuable; why would people accept 6% when they could get, say 10%? Similarly, if interest rates decrease, debt issued at today's rates will be more valuable.

23. What are open-end funds?

The typical mutual fund is an open-end fund. Open-end means that the fund will sell as many shares as investors want. You can't trade shares of open-end funds in the stock market. You can only buy or sell them through the mutual fund company itself. Finding a buyer for your shares, however is not a problem; every fund is required to buy back your shares immediately upon your request.

All mutual funds listed in The Wall Street Journal's Mutual Funds quotation table are open-end funds. Off-shore funds are quoted in the Financial Times-London.

24. Who runs the Mutual Fund?

Investment companies, brokerage houses and some financial institutions operate mutual funds. And, although they're legally prohibited from operating funds themselves, many banks also offer their customers the opportunity to invest through affiliations with mutual fund companies.