Before you invest in any traditional investment company—such as a mutual fund, closed-end fund, or unit investment trust (UIT)—you should read the fund’s prospectus and any other available information from the fund. Below you’ll find descriptions of the different types of information that investment companies provide to investors. For information available to exchange-traded fund (ETF) investors, please refer to that separate topic.
Prospectus
An investment company prospectus contains important information about its fees and expenses, investment objectives, investment strategies, risks, performance, pricing, and more. A UIT’s prospectus (but not a mutual fund’s or closed-end fund’s prospectus) will also typically list the securities that the UIT holds.
When an investor purchases shares of a mutual fund or a UIT, the fund or UIT must provide the investor with a prospectus. Similarly, when an investor purchases shares of a closed-end fund during the fund’s public offering, the fund must provide the investor with a prospectus. When an investor purchases shares of a closed-end fund on the secondary market, however, the investor will not necessarily receive a prospectus. This is because the investor is purchasing his or her shares from another investor rather than from the fund itself. You can find tips on how to read a mutual fund prospectus on our website.
Profile
Some mutual funds (but not closed-end funds or UITs) also furnish investors with a "profile," which summarizes key information contained in the fund’s prospectus, such as the fund's investment objectives, principal investment strategies, principal risks, performance, fees and expenses, identity of the fund’s investment adviser, investment requirements, and other information.
Statement of Additional Information (SAI)
Mutual funds and closed-end funds (but not UITs) also are required to have statements of additional information (SAIs). Although funds are not required to provide investors with the SAI, they must give investors the SAI upon request and without charge.
The SAI conveys information about the fund that is not necessarily needed by investors to make an informed investment decision, but that some investors find useful. The SAI affords the fund an opportunity to expand discussions of the matters described in the prospectus. The SAI generally includes the fund’s financial statements and information (or additional information) about: the history of the fund; some fund policies (such as on borrowing and concentration policies); officers, directors, and persons who control the fund; investment advisory, and other services; brokerage commissions; tax matters; and performance such as yield and average annual total return information (for mutual funds only).
Shareholder Reports
A mutual fund and a closed-end fund also must provide shareholders with annual and semi-annual reports, 60 days after the end of the fund’s fiscal year and 60 days after the fund’s fiscal mid-year. These reports contain a variety of updated financial information, a list of the fund’s portfolio securities, and other information. The information in the shareholder reports will be current as of the date of the particular report (that is, the last day of the fund’s fiscal year for the annual report, and the last day of the fund’s fiscal mid-year for the semi-annual report).
How to Obtain These Documents
Investors can obtain all of these documents by: calling or writing to the investment company (all investment companies have toll-free telephone numbers); from the investment company’s website; contacting a broker that sells the investment company’s shares; accessing the SEC’s EDGAR database; or contacting the SEC’s Office of Public Reference at (202) 942-8090 (phone), (202) 942-9001 (fax), or publicinfo@sec.gov (email).
http://www.sec.gov/answers/mfinfo.htm