S&P 500

An unmanaged group of stocks often considered representative of the stock market in general. This index is composed of 400 industrial, 20 transportation, 40 utility, and 40 financial companies.

S&P 500 INDEX FUND

A fund that invests primarily in the stocks included in the S&P 500 Index. Sometimes referred to as "blue-chip" stocks, they tend to be of large, well-established companies.

S&P 500 INDEX (MONTHLY REINVESTMENT)

A broad-based measurement of changes in stock market conditions based on the average performance of 500 widely held common stocks. Performance figures assume that all dividends are reinvested.

SAI (Statement of Additional Information)

An attachment to the fund's prospectus that contains more detailed, supplementary information. Also referred to as "Part B," the SAI is available at no charge upon request from a fund.

SALES CHARGE

An amount charged to purchase shares in many mutual funds sold by brokers or other sales agents. The maximum allowable charge is 8.5% of the initial investment.

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY FUND

A fund that invests primarily in the stocks of companies engaged in science and technology industries.

SEC YIELD

A standardized calculation that the Securities and Exchange Commission requires mutual funds to use when advertising rates of income return. This standardized rate ensures that investors are comparing "apples to apples" when comparing ads from different mutual fund companies.

SECTOR FUND

A fund that invests primarily in securities of companies engaged in a specific investment segment. Sector funds entail more risk, but may offer greater potential returns than funds that diversify their portfolios. For example, a sector fund may limit its holdings to securities from a particular country or geographic region, or it may specialize in the securities of energy-related firms, or in companies that produce precious metals.

SERIES FUNDS

Funds that are organized with separate portfolios of securities, each with its own investment objective.

SETTLEMENT DATE

The date agreed upon by the parties to a transaction for the payment of funds and the delivery of securities.

SHAREHOLDER

An investor. The shareholder is the owner of shares of a mutual fund.

SHORT-TERM FUND

A fund that invests primarily in securities with maturities of less than one year. Short-term funds include taxable money market funds and tax-exempt money market funds (also known as short-term municipal bond funds).

SIGNATURE GUARANTEE

A stamp or seal given by a bank or member of a domestic stock exchange that authenticates a signature. A signature guarantee is typically required by a mutual fund sponsor to conduct certain transactions, such as the change in ownership of an account.

SMALL-CAPS

Shorthand for small capitalization stocks, small-caps usually have a market capitalization of $500 million or less. In general, small caps tend to be less established companies that offer more growth potential than larger capitalized companies, but which also entail greater risk.

SMALL COMPANY GROWTH FUND

A fund that seeks aggressive growth of capital by investing primarily in stocks of relatively small companies with the potential for rapid growth.

SPREAD-LOAD CONTRACTUAL PLAN

A contractual plan for purchasing shares of a mutual fund in which sales charges are not concentrated in the first payment or in the first few payments made by the investor.

STANDARD DEVIATION

A measure of the degree to which a fund's return varies from the average of all similar funds.

STATE MUNICIPAL BOND FUNDS

These funds invest in bonds issued by municipalities located all in one particular state. Residents of that state earn income that is exempt from federal, state, and sometimes city income taxes.

STATEMENT OF ADDITIONAL INFORMATION (SAI)

An attachment to the fund's prospectus that contains more detailed, supplementary information. Also referred to as "Part B," the SAI is available at no charge upon request from a fund.

STOCK FUND

A fund that invests primarily in stocks.

STRIP

A brokerage house practice of separating a bond into two separate securities: a principal portion (PO) and an interest portion (IO). A variation known by the acronym "STRIPS" (Separate Trading of Registered Interest and Principal of Securities) is a stripped zero-coupon bond that is a direct obligation of the U.S. Treasury. Other strips include Treasuries stripped by brokers, such as TIGERS, and Salomon Brothers' tax-exempt M-CATS.

SWITCHING

The movement of assets from one fund to another. Also know as "exchanging." An investor will switch mutual funds when their investment objectives change or because of market conditions. This is usually done within a family of funds, but can be done between different fund families. There usually is no charge for a certain number of transactions per year, after which a transaction fee may apply.

SYSTEMATIC WITHDRAWAL SYSTEM

An optional service often available to shareholders that would arrange for a fixed amount to be redeemed from an account and sent to the shareholder on a regular basis (usually monthly, quarterly, or semi-annually).

SYMBOL

The 5-digit identifier code assigned to each mutual fund by NASDAQ. This code is used to identify the correct fund in all transactions. This symbol may only loosely resemble the newspaper listing--these tend to be phonetic abbreviations of fund names.

Past performance does not guarantee future results. The investment return and principal value of an investment will fluctuate so that an investor's shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original cost. Current performance may be lower or higher than the performance data quoted.

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