Welcome to the

Mutual Fund Expense Analyzer

Sponsored by the

Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA)

Like most investments, mutual funds have sales charges (also called sales loads) and expenses that are ultimately paid by investors. Because the sales charges and expenses can vary widely from fund to fund, the FINRA has developed the Mutual Fund Expense Analyzer as a tool to help you compare how sales loads and other fund expenses can reduce your overall returns.

Even small differences in sales charges or expenses can make a big difference in your return over time. For example, let's say you invest $10,000 in two funds, both with annual returns of 10%. Fund A has total annual fund operating expenses of 0.18% and Fund B has expenses of 0.9%. Fund A, the lower expense fund, will grow to about $165,313.20 in 30 years. Fund B will only be worth $133,042.44 - a difference of  $32,270.76! By using the Expense Analyzer, you can calculate and compare the effect of sales charges and expenses for up to two different funds, or two different classes of the same fund.

NOTE: Before beginning, you should have the following information, which is available from the fund’s prospectus, from the fund’s website, or from third-party resources like http://biz.yahoo.com/funds:

• The schedule of front-end sales charges, if you are considering Class A shares which carry a front-end sales charge.
• The schedule of deferred sales charges, if you are considering Class B shares which do not have a front-end sales charge, but which will assess a sales charge if you sell the shares before a certain date (usually six or seven years from purchase.)
• The annual fund expenses (including so-called 12b-1 fees) for each Class of shares you are considering. Each Class has its own fees, and there can be large differences in the fee amounts between the different Classes of the same fund.
• The amount you believe these funds might grow in value annually and the number of years you believe you will own them. You may want to try several different combinations of growth rates and holding periods. For example, funds which may appear more favorable under certain assumptions (short or long holding period; low or high growth rate) might compare less favorably if the assumptions were changed.

If you have questions about any of these subjects, please contact your VSR financial representative. You might also wish to visit the websites of the FINRA and United States Securities and Exchange Commission, which have useful information about mutual funds and what investors should know before investing.