Fee assessed by a mutual fund to cover advertising and promotion expenses. It is assessed against the net assets of the fund, so all fund shareholders pay it. A 12b-1 fund must be registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and the charge must be disclosed in the fund's prospectus.

The 30-day SEC yield represents net investment income earned by a fund over a 30-day period, expressed as an annual percentage rate based on the fund's share price at the end of the 30-day period. The formula for calculating this yield is specified by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and assumes all portfolio securities are held until maturity. The formula translates the bond fund's current portfolio income into a standardized yield for reporting and comparison purposes.

A method of calculating a money fund's yield by annualizing the fund's net investment income for the last seven days of each period divided by the fund's net asset value at the end of the period.

The returns presented reflect the return before taxes, the return after taxes on dividends and capital gain distributions, and the return after taxes on dividends, capital gain distributions, and gains (or losses) from the redemption of shares held for 1-, 5-, and 10-year or since-inception periods as applicable. After-tax returns reflect the highest federal income tax rate but exclude state and local taxes. The after-tax returns reflect the rates applicable to ordinary and qualified dividends and capital gains effective in 2003. During periods when the fund incurs a loss, the post-liquidation after-tax return may exceed the fund's other returns because the loss generates a tax benefit that is factored into the result. An investor's actual after-tax return will likely differ from those shown and depend on his or her tax situation. Past before- and after-tax returns do not necessarily indicate future performance.

Coefficient measuring the portion of an investment's return arising from nonmarket risk. Alpha represents the difference between a fund's actual returns and its expected performance (i.e., the relationship between the fund's performance and its beta over a three-year period). An investment whose price is low relative to its alpha is undervalued and considered a good selection.

This indicates the volatility of a portfolio's total returns as measured against its mean performance. Unlike alpha and beta, which are relative to a benchmark index, standard deviation is an absolute measure. In general, the higher the standard deviation, the greater the volatility or risk.

Return on an investment over a specified period, including price appreciation (or depreciation) plus any reinvested income, expressed as an average annual compound rate of return. Average Annual Total Return is always hypothetical and should not be confused with actual year-by-year results. It smoothes out all of the variations in annual performance to tell you what constant year-by-year return would have produced the investment's actual cumulative return. This gives you an idea of an investment's annual contribution to your portfolio, provided you held it for the entire period.

A charge an investor pays when withdrawing money from an investment. It is designed to discourage withdrawals. Back-end loads typically decline each year a shareholder remains in a fund.

The index is a market capitalization weighted index including U.S. government and fixed-coupon domestic investment grade corporate bonds with at least $100 million par amount outstanding.

Tracks investment-grade government, corporate, agency, and mortgage-related bonds in markets outside the U.S.

is an unmanaged index that tracks domestic investment-grade bonds, including corporate, government, and mortgage-backed securities.

A broad-based benchmark that measures the investment grade, US dollar-denominated, fixed tax exempt bond market. The index includes state and local general obligation, revenue, insured, and pre-refunded bonds. The US Municipal Index was incepted in January 1980.

Measures US dollar-denominated, fixed-rate, nominal debt issued by the US Treasury. Treasury bills are excluded by the maturity constraint, but are part of a separate Short Treasury Index. STRIPS are excluded from the index because their inclusion would result in double-counting. The US Treasury Index is a component of the US Aggregate, US Universal, Global Aggregate and Global Treasury Indices. The US Treasury Index was launched on January 1, 1973.

Beta is a statistical measure of how volatile a fund's returns have been compared with an appropriate benchmark index such as the S&P 500 Index. The beta of every index is 1.00, no matter how volatile the index is. If a fund's beta is higher than 1.00, its returns have fluctuated more than its benchmark's. A beta lower than 1.00 means the fund has been less volatile than the benchmark.

Designed to mirror the investable universe of the $US-denominated high yield debt market. The index inception is January 1986.

Identification number assigned to every stock, corporate bond, and municipal bond by the Committee on Uniform Securities Identifications Procedures (CUSIP), which is established by the American Bankers Association.

The distribution of earnings to stockholders and shareholders. The per-share amount is decided by the board of directors. On individual stocks, dividends are usually paid quarterly. Mutual fund dividends are paid out of net income and may be distributed on a monthly, quarterly (March, June, September, and December) or annual basis.

Duration is a measure of a bond fund's sensitivity to interest rates. For example, a fund with a duration of five years will rise about 5% in price in response to a one-percentage-point decline in rates and fall 5% in response to a one-percentage-point increase in rates.

The rate at which a company's earnings are expected to increase in the future.

Relies on fundamental research to provide long and short exposure to global large-cap stocks. Long positions are established in companies the financial professional views as most attractive and short positions are established in companies viewed as least attractive.

The date on which a stock's price drops by the amount of a previously announced dividend. It is the day after the "record date," defined later. Stocks trading "ex dividend" have an "x" next to their name.

This amount, expressed as an annualized percentage of total assets, is what shareholders pay for mutual fund operating expenses and management fees.

Accounting period covering 12 consecutive months, 52 consecutive weeks, 13 consecutive four-week periods, or 365 consecutive days, at the end of which the books are closed and a profit or loss is determined.

Seeks consistent positive returns without constraints to particular benchmarks or fixed income asset classes.

Sales charge applied to an investment at the time of purchase. For example: An investor who purchases $10,000 of a fund with a 4% front end load will invest only $9,600 initially.

A broadly diversified stock market index based on the investable market capitalization of more than 1,200 predominately larger companies. The index's major markets include the U.K., Japan, and developed countries in Europe and the Pacific Rim.

The date on which the fund commenced operations.

For a mutual fund, a distribution of dividends and interest earned on the fund's underlying securities.

A measure of the significance or quality of excess return. It is defined as the ratio of excess return to the standard deviation of excess return. A larger number is better - either a very positive excess return or a consistent excess return with low standard deviation.

 An investor's financial goal, such as long-term capital growth or current income. Investors' objectives, combined with their risk profiles, help them narrow their search for investment vehicles appropriate for their particular needs.

A plan to allocate assets among investments, including stocks, bonds, commodities, and real estate, to reach a financial goal. A strategy should be based on an investor's age, tolerance for risk, amount of capital available to invest, and future needs for capital.

Tracks U.S. dollar government bonds of 31 foreign countries.

The J.P. Morgan Emerging Markets Currency Index (EMCI) is an tradable index product that tracks short-term interest rates in liquid Emerging markets by utilizing non-deliverable FX forward contracts in the markets.

A sales charge that does not change over time. Although a level load will typically be lower than a front-end or back-end load, investors end up paying a higher commission if they hold the fund for many years.

Consist of all the mutual funds in a particular category as tracked by Lipper Inc.

Consist of a small number of the largest mutual funds in a particular category as tracked by Lipper Inc.

Sales charge paid by an investor who buys shares in a load mutual fund or annuity.

The difference between the purchase price of a security and the price at which it was sold, assuming the difference is positive and the investment gained in value. For tax purposes, the profit realized from the sale of securities or other capital assets held for more than 12 months. Quarterly distributions are paid at the end of each quarter (March, June, September, and December). Annual distributions are paid in December.

Seeks to leverage global research expertise to select investments that we believe represent the best investment ideas across all equity and fixed income asset classes.

Fee for portfolio management charged against fund assets. The fee is listed in each fund's prospectus and is based on a percentage of the fund's total asset value.

The value of a corporation calculated by multiplying the number of outstanding shares by the current share price.

• MSCI All Country Asia Ex Japan Index tracks the stocks of developed and emerging countries in Asia, excluding Japan.
• MSCI All Country World Index tracks the equity market performance of global developed and emerging markets.
• MSCI All Country World Index ex-U.S. is a market capitalization weighted index of over 850 stocks traded in 22 world markets.
• MSCI All Country World Index-Information Technology is an index that is designed to measure global developed and emerging markets technology stock performance.
• MSCI EAFE Index tracks the performance of stocks of about 1,000 companies in Europe, Australasia, and the Far East (EAFE).
• MSCI EAFE Small-Cap Index is an market capitalization-weighted index of almost 1,000 small-cap stocks in 21 world markets.
• MSCI Emerging Markets Europe and Middle East Index is a market capitalization weighted index consisting of more than 100 securities in seven world markets.
• MSCI Emerging Markets Index is a market capitalization-weighted index of over 850 stocks traded in 22 world markets.
• MSCI Emerging Markets Latin America Index is a market capitalization-weighted index of approximately 140 stocks traded in seven Latin American markets.
• MSCI Europe Index is a market capitalization-weighted index of approximately 500 stocks traded in 15 European markets.
• MSCI Japan Index is an unmanaged index of approximately 300 foreign stock prices, and reflects the common stock prices of the index translated into U.S. dollars, assuming reinvestment of all dividends paid by the index stocks net of any applicable foreign taxes.

The Morningstar Category classifies a fund based on its investment style as measured by underlying portfolio holdings (portfolio statistics and compositions over the past three years). If the fund is new and has no portfolio, Morningstar estimates where it will fall before assigning a more permanent category. When necessary, Morningstar may change a category assignment based on current information.

A Morningstar Rating reflects a mutual fund's historical risk-adjusted performance as of a specific date. Funds are rated for up to three time periods (three, five, and 10 years). These separate ratings are then weighted and averaged to produce an overall rating. Funds with less than three years of performance history are not rated. Morningstar computes risk-adjusted return by subtracting a risk penalty (as determined by the amount of variation in the fund's monthly returns) from the fund's load-adjusted excess return. Funds are then ranked within their respective Morningstar categories, and stars are assigned. The top 10% of funds in each category receive five stars, the next 22.5% receive four stars, the next 35% receive three stars, the next 22.5% receive two stars, and the bottom 10% receive one star. A high rating reflects either above-average returns, below-average risk, or both.

Index tracking the rate at which mortgages are being refinanced, as determined by the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Index of U.S. stocks traded in the over-the-counter market

Differences between a company's total assets and liabilities.

The closing market value of all securities owned in the portfolio plus all other assets such as cash, minus all liabilities, divided by the total number of shares outstanding.

Mutual fund offered by an open-end investment company that imposes no sales charge (load) to purchase shares. Investors can buy shares directly from the fund company, rather than through a broker.

A Morningstar Rating for funds reflects a mutual fund's historical risk-adjusted performance as of a specific date. Funds are rated for up to three time periods (three, five, and 10 years). These separate ratings are then weighted and averaged to produce an overall rating. Funds with less than three years of performance history are not rated. Morningstar computes risk-adjusted return by subtracting a risk penalty (as determined by the amount of variation in the fund's monthly returns) from the fund's load-adjusted excess return. Funds are then ranked within their respective Morningstar categories, and stars are assigned. The top 10% of funds in each category receive five stars, the next 22.5% receive four stars, the next 35% receive three stars, the next 22.5% receive two stars, and the bottom 10% receive one star. A high rating reflects either above-average returns, below-average risk, or both.

Date on which a declared dividend is scheduled to be paid.

Relationship between the market price of a stock and company's book value per share. Book value refers to the value at which an asset is carried on the balance sheet. Price-to-book can be used as a guide to determine whether a stock is currently overpriced or underpriced.

P/E is a valuation measure calculated by dividing the price of a stock by its reported earnings per share from the latest fiscal year. The ratio is a measure of how much investors are willing to pay for the company's earnings. The higher the P/E, the more investors are paying for a company's current earnings.

P/E is a valuation measure calculated by dividing the price of a stock by its estimated earnings for the next fiscal year. The ratio is a measure of how much investors are willing to pay for the company's future earnings. The higher the P/E, the more investors are paying for the company's expected earnings growth in the next fiscal year.

P/E is a valuation measure calculated by dividing the price of a stock by the analysts' forecast of the next 12 months expected earnings. The ratio is a measure of how much investors are willing to pay for the company's future earnings. The higher the P/E, the more investors are paying for a company's earnings growth in the next 12 months.

Projected earnings growth rate (IBES) is a company's expected earnings per share growth rate for a given period based on the forecast from the Institutional Broker's Estimate System, which is commonly referred to as IBES.

Formal written offering document used to sell securities, which enables an investor to make an informed decision. The prospectus describes the fund's objectives, investment strategy, risks, fees, and other important information. It also includes a financial statement and other essential data.

Relies on quantitative research capabilities to provide long and short exposure to small- and mid-cap U.S. stocks.

Fee charged to shareholders by a mutual fund when they sell shares within a specified period. The time limit and size of fee vary among funds. The fee is usually paid to the fund, not the fund's investment professional. Its purpose is to protect long-term investors from short-term traders.

The price per share at which a mutual fund's dividends and/or capital gains are invested. This reduced price reflects the distribution of dividends and/or capital gains and is commonly referred to as the "ex-dividend" price.

Amount, expressed as a percentage, earned on a company's common stock investment over a given period. Tells shareholders how effectively their money is being employed.

ROE is a valuation measure calculated by dividing the company's current fiscal year net income by shareholders' equity (i.e., the company's book value). ROE measures how much a company earns on each dollar that common stock investors have put into the company. It indicates how effectively and efficiently a company and its management are using stockholder investments.

The relationship between the degree of risk associated with an investment and its return potential. Typically, the higher the potential return of an investment, the greater the risk.

R-squared measures how much a fund's past returns can be explained by the returns from its benchmark index. If a fund's total returns were precisely synchronized with the index's return, its R-squared would be 1.00 (100%). If a fund's return bore no relationship to the index's return, its R-squared would be 0. The higher the R-squared, the more the fund's return can be explained by the performance of the index, and so the performance of the market or market segment. The lower the R-squared, the more the return can be explained by the fund manager's decisions.

It tracks the stocks of 2,000 small U.S. companies.

• Growth Index - measures the performance of those Russell 2000 companies with higher price-to-book ratios and higher forecasted growth values.
• Value Index - measures the performance of those Russell 2000 companies with lower price-to-book ratios and lower forecasted growth values.

Measures the performance of those Russell Midcap companies with higher price-to-book ratios and higher forecasted growth values. The stocks are also members of the Russell 1000 Growth Index.

It is a market capitalization weighted index of 15- and 30-year fixed-rate securities backed by mortgage pools of the Government National Mortgage Association (GNMA).

Salomon Smith Barney 1-7 Year Treasury Index tracks U.S. government debt obligations maturing within one to seven years.

Salomon Smith Barney Treasury Index tracks U.S. government debt obligations maturing in more than one year.

Value added from sector weighting versus the benchmark. 

Calculations for equity funds, based on the securities in the fund's portfolio on a certain date. For domestic equity funds, sector weightings show the percentage of the fund's net assets invested in each of the 10 major industry classifications. Morningstar uses the following sectors: utilities, energy, financials, industrial cyclicals, consumer durables, consumer staples, services, retail, health, and technology.

Value added from security selection within the sector or indicated. 

An increase in a corporation's number of outstanding shares without any change in shareholders' equity or the aggregate market value of the shares. For example, XYZ Company declared a 2-for-1 stock split and you owned 100 shares before the split valued at $20 per share, or $2,000. After the split, you would have 200 shares valued at $10 per share, still worth $2,000. Dividends per share also fall proportionately.

A measure of the risk-adjusted return of a portfolio. Generally, the larger the number, the better the portfolio's historical risk-adjusted return.

The difference between the purchase price of a security and the price at which it was sold, assuming the difference is positive and the investment gained in value. For tax purposes, the profit realized from the sale of securities or other capital assets held 12 months or less. Quarterly distributions are paid at the end of each quarter (March, June, September, and December). Annual distributions are paid in December.

Tracks the performance of the U.S. stocks not included in the S&P 500, which are primarily small- and mid-capitalization stocks. The index includes approximately 4,000 stocks.

Tracks the performance of a broad spectrum of small-, mid-, and large-capitalization U.S. stocks. Because the largest stocks in the index carry the most weight, large-capitalization stocks make up a substantial majority of the S&P Total Market's value. The index includes approximately 4,500 stocks.

Standard Deviation is a statistical measure of the historic volatility of a mutual fund or portfolio, usually computed using 36 monthly returns. More generally, it is a measure of the extent to which numbers are spread around their average. The wider the dispersions, the larger the standard deviation. The higher the deviation, the greater the volatility. This is an independent measure of volatility; it is not relative to an index.

Tracks the stocks of 400 mid-size U.S. companies.

Market value-weighted index of 500 stocks representing industrial, financial, technology, and utility companies.

Selects the various instruments across asset classes that include currencies, equity index, futures, and bond or interest rate futures based on whether the instruments exhibits positive characteristics or factors.

Letters that identify a security for trading purposes on the consolidated tape.

Return on an investment over a specified period, including price appreciation (or depreciation) plus any reinvested income.

• Cumulative Return: The actual return of an investment for a specified period. A cumulative return does not indicate how much the value of the investment may have fluctuated during the period. For example, a fund could have a 10-year positive cumulative return despite experiencing some negative years during that time.
• Average Annual: This is always hypothetical and should not be confused with actual year-by-year results. It smoothes out all of the variations in annual performance to tell you what constant year-by-year return would have produced the investment's actual cumulative return. This gives you an idea of an investment's annual contribution to your portfolio, provided you held it for the entire period.

The standard deviation of monthly excess returns of the portfolio over the benchmark.

A percentage of holdings a fund buys and sells during a year.

Primarily uses equity index call and put options to take advantage of the relative attractiveness of the volatility premium.

The dollar-weighted average maturity of a portfolio's securities without taking into account interest rate reset dates for certain adjustable-rate securities. It is a measure that reflects how a fund may react in periods when credit spreads are widening or liquidity conditions are tightening. In general, the longer the fund's average life, the greater its exposure to interest rate fluctuations. Money funds must maintain a weighted average life of less than 120 days.

The weighted average maturity is a measure of a fund's interest rate sensitivity. In general, the longer the average maturity, the greater the fund's sensitivity to interest rate changes. The weighted average maturity may take into account the interest rate readjustment dates for certain securities. Money funds must maintain a weighted average maturity of less than 60 days.

Takes into consideration the amount held of each security in relation to the total amount.