February 11, 2008
I wholeheartedly support this type of change to a mutual fund's prospectus. The current formats are too lengthy and filled with legalese. I throw them away unopened and go to Morningstar.com to read about my funds.
Also, I own a managed fund from JP Morgan Chase. It is actually a grouping of 10-12 mutual funds managed by the bank. The fund statements and privacy updates etc. clog my mailbox every month or quarter. I cringe when I think about the costs to produce the reports both for the fund (surely passed along to their clients i.e. me) and of course for the planet.
One point on the actual content:
1. Benchmarks - most funds use some sort of combination of indices so just listing the SP 500, while useful to show that SPY may beat the fund, is not helpful in gauging if the fund manager actually did what he set out to do. Show the actual benchmark performance vs. the fund's.
Other than that, the new format looks great. Good luck.
SH