With Advisors 401(k) you select your plan's investments.

With Advisors 401(k) you select your plan's investment approach:

Select from more than 200 mutual fund families with trusted names like John Hancock Funds, MFS Funds and Oppenheimer Funds.

There are several factors to weigh in choosing your plan's investment approach:

The performance histories of the mutual fund family you're considering.

Your employees' current and projected investment goals.

Your employees' familiarity and comfort with investing.

The type of mutual fund investments you choose affects the management fees your plan's participants will be assessed.

Mutual funds with higher management fees will need to perform better for your employees to yield the same amount as they would with lower-fee funds. All sales loads and transaction fees as well as ongoing expenses (such as management fees) are listed near the front of each investment's prospectus.

Important information about mutual funds accounts.

For more information about a fund or fund group...
Nothing herein is an offer or solicitation of these securities, products or services in any jurisdiction wherein their offer or sale is not qualified or exempt from regulation. For more information about any fund groups listed in this website, including investment policies, charges and expenses pertaining to those fund groups, contact an NASD-registered Broker/Dealer or any mutual fund company listed in this website.

• For fund information and free prospectuses, you can also contact the mutual fund company directly at the number listed with the company's investments in this website.
  
  
• Many mutual fund companies also offer online viewing of prospectuses.
  
  
• Fund prospectuses are detailed descriptive documents about investments. They are published by the mutual fund company housing the investment and list all fees involved as well as other important information. They must meet stringent disclosure rules.
  
  
• Fund prospectuses are always FREE. Please carefully read the prospectus for any investment your company is considering for its 401k plan before making any decisions or investing or sending money to the mutual fund companies. Sections of the fund prospectus pertaining to risks, investment goals and investment policies are particularly significant.  You may also want to request from the mutual fund company and read the fund company's annual and semi-annual report to shareholders for a clearer picture of the fund's investment goals and policies.
  

Past investment performance information
A fund's past performance never guarantees its future results. Performance history should only be one of several determining factors in choosing your plan's investments.

Shares are not FDIC insured.
Shares of mutual funds are not deposits of, or guaranteed or endorsed by, any financial institution; they are not insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), Federal Reserve Board, or any other agency, and they involve risk, including the possible loss of the principal amount invested.

Shares may be worth more or less than when purchased.
The investment return and principal value of an investment will fluctuate. An investor's shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than original cost.

Mutual fund purchase limitations
All mutual fund purchases are subject to a three (3) business day holding period; no exchange or liquidation is allowed within this three-day period.

• With the exception of qualified plans such as 401(k), investing in mutual funds is available only to U.S. citizens and permanent residents of the United States.
  

Mutual funds come in three classes.
Many mutual funds are offered in more than one of the three classes of shares (A, B and C). Classes differ in their pricing conventions and/or annual fees. Because there is wide variation even within a single class of mutual funds, reading prospectuses is the only way to be certain of particular investment's pricing and fee structure, regardless of its class.

• In deciding whether to choose a particular class of shares for the company plan, it is important to consider the amounts your employees will likely be investing, the shares' anticipated holding period and other relevant factors explained in each investment's prospectus.
  

Broker/Dealers must be registered.
Federal and state securities laws require that, prior to any direct communication between a broker-dealer or investment advisor and a prospective client residing in a particular state, the broker-dealer or investment advisor must first be registered in the state, or must qualify for an exemption from such requirement. A NASD Registered Representative, SEC-Registered Investment Advisor, or any mutual fund company can supply you with free mutual fund prospectuses and other information about commissionable (i.e. "load") mutual funds, unless the financial services provider is not currently registered in your state. If your financial services provider is not currently registered in your state, any request you make for information about load mutual funds can be fulfilled by a Broker/Dealer, Investment Advisor, or mutual fund company who is registered in your state.

Common investment types, terms and objectives:

• Money Market Fund: A relatively low-risk mutual fund (when compared with others) managed to maintain a stable $1 share price/NAV. Investments in these funds are neither insured not guaranteed by the U.S. government, and there can be no assurance that a fund will be able to maintain a stable net asset value of $1 per share.
  
  
• Bond Fund (aka, Fixed Income Fund): Mutual funds that have higher risks than money market funds but seek to pay higher yields. Not restricted to high-quality or short-term investments (as are Money Market Funds). Because there are many different types of bonds, bond funds can vary dramatically in their risks and rewards. Long-term bond funds invest in bonds with longer maturities (a longer length of time until final payout). The values of long-term bonds can go up and down more rapidly than those of shorter-term bond funds.
  
  
• Stock Funds (aka, Equity Funds): Mutual funds that generally involve more risk than Money Market or Bond funds -- but they also can offer the highest returns. A Stock Fund's value (NAV) can rise and fall quickly over the short term, but historically stocks have performed better over the long term than other types of investments. Not all stock funds are the same (e.g., Growth Funds focus on stocks that may not pay a regular dividend but have the potential for large capital gains; other specialize in a particular industry, such as technology).

 

Common investment terms

• Expense Ratio: The annual fee charged to mutual fund shareholders (usually as a percentage of total investment) for the administration, operation and management expenses associated with a particular fund. May include management fees, 12b-1 fees and other fees, but does not include sales charges. Shows the actual amount that a fund takes out of its assets each year to cover its expenses.

• Index: Indicators of trends in markets, sections of the economy, or other economic indicators, such as precious metal or Treasuries. Some of the most common indices include the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the NASDAQ Composite and the S&P 500.

• Investment Objective: Indicates a particular fund's investment goals, based on the wording in the fund's prospectus.

• Mutual Fund: A collection of money invested in a group of assets (stocks, bonds and other securities) and managed by an investment company (a mutual fund company or other). The combined holdings of the stocks, bonds and other securities and assets the fund owns are known as it s portfolio. Each investor owns shares of the portfolio; each shares represents a percentage ownership in the portfolio holdings.

• Net Asset Value (NAV): The per share market value (price) of a mutual fund; in general, the price offered to purchase one share of the mutual fund. The NAV in most cases is calculated b including the closing day's prices of all securities held in a particular fund, plus all other assets owned by the fund (including cash), subtracting all liabilities of the fund, and then dividing the sum by all the outstanding shares of the fund on that given day. If the fund is a no-load fund, then the offering per share price for the fund and the NAV per share will be the same.

• Prospectus: A fund's formal written statement, generally issued on an annual basis. In this statement the fund sets forth is proposed purposes and goals, and other facts (such as performance history and investment objective) that an investor should know in making an informed decision.

• S&P 500: The Standard & Poor's 500; a market value weighted index of 500 blue chip stocks. An index that's considered to be an overall benchmark of the market as a whole.

• Ticker Symbol: The letters assigned to a particular stock, option or mutual fund used to identify that particular security for trading or quoting purposes.

 

Common investment objectives:

• Money Market: Seeks stable income by investing in short-term IOU's .Yields reflect variations in prevailing short-term interest rates.

• Government Bond--General: Offerings that pursue income by investing in a combination of mortgage-backed securities, treasuries and agency securities.

• Corporate Bond--General: Seek income by investing in fixed-income securities, primarily investment-grade corporate bonds.

• Corporate Bond--High Yield: Seek income by generally investing 65% or more of assets in bonds rated below BBB. The price of these issues is generally affected more by the condition of the issuing company (similar to stock) than by the interest rate fluctuation that usually causes bond prices to move up and down.

• World Bond: Seek current income with capital appreciation as a secondary objectives by investing primarily in debt obligations issued throughout the world. These bonds are frequently foreign government issues.

• Balanced: Seek both income and capital appreciation by investing in a generally fixed combination of stocks and bonds. These funds generally hold a minimum of 25% of their assets in fixed-income securities at all times.

• Asset Allocation: Income and capital appreciation are dual goals for funds with this objective. Managers often use a flexible combination of stocks, bonds and cash; some, but not all, shift assets frequently based on analysis of business-cycle trends.

• Equity-Income: Funds expected to pursue current income by investing at least 65% of their assets in dividend-paying equity securities.

• Growth and Income: Growth of capital and current income are near-equal objectives for these funds. Investments are typically selected for both appreciation potential and dividend-paying ability.

• Growth: Funds that pursue appreciation by investing primarily in equity securities. Current income, if considered at all, is a secondary concern.

• Emerging Growth: Seek rapid growth of capital and that may invest in emerging market growth companies without specifying a market capitalization range. They often invest in small or emerging growth companies and are more likely than other funds to invest in IPS's or in companies with high price/earnings and price/book ratios. They may use such investment techniques as heavy sector concentrations, leveraging and short-selling.

• Small Company: Seek capital appreciation by investing primarily in stocks of companies with market capitalization of less than $1 billion. In this objective, income payments from dividends are unlikely.

• World Stock: Funds that invest primarily in equity securities of issuers located throughout the world, while maintaining a percentage of assets (normally 25% to 50%) in the United States.

• Foreign Stock: Funds that invest primarily in equity securities of issuers located outside of the United States.

• Specialty: Funds that invest primarily in equity securities of issuers within a narrow industrial category. (ie. automotive, travel, electronics, etc.)