Mutual funds have become the investment of choice for millions of American families. More than 80 million people, or one out of every two households in America, have over $6 trillion invested in mutual funds. And why not? Mutual funds make it easy and less costly for investors to satisfy their need for capital growth, income and/or income preservation. Additionally, mutual funds bring the benefits of diversification and professional money management to the individual investor, providing an opportunity for financial success once available only to the very rich.
Morgan Keegan supports all regulatory and legislative efforts designed to maintain the high industry standards for disclosure in fund prospectuses, shareholder reports, advertisements, sales literature and financial disclosures. As a firm, we support the SEC's ongoing disclosure reform campaign, which has included the overhaul of the mutual fund prospectus, the creation of the fund profile, and the plain-English rule.
We believe you have a right to know and understand the risks and costs in terms of fees and expenses associated with any investment you make through our advisors. Additionally, you have a right to be informed of any supplemental or undisclosed compensation that may be provided to Morgan Keegan as a result. In voluntary compliance with proposed disclosure requirements for supplemental or undisclosed compensation, Morgan Keegan offers the following:
Differential compensation
Morgan Keegan does not compensate its financial advisors ("advisors") directly or indirectly with any additional compensation for selling one mutual fund or insurance product over any other. Morgan Keegan does not promote directly or indirectly the sale of any specific mutual fund or insurance share class pricing option over another.
Undisclosed Compensation
Your Morgan Keegan advisor does not receive additional direct compensation over and above that specifically provided and disclosed by prospectus unless such has specifically been provided to you in writing prior to the transaction. Morgan Keegan does allow its advisors to participate in training and/or educational meetings that may be offered by ANY mutual fund or insurance distributor, subject to the approval of the advisor's manager.
As a firm, Morgan Keegan may be reimbursed by fund or insurance distributors or their affiliates for expenses we incur for advisor educational meetings, client seminars, and conferences held periodically during any given year in the normal course of business. The decision to provide reimbursement is at the sole discretion of the distributor. Morgan Keegan does not have direct or indirect control over this decision process.
Record Keeping Reimbursement
We trade with all fund distributors on a networked basis, which means we submit a separate trade for each individual client trade to the fund in our name for the benefit of the client. It is possible to network on multiple levels, which incur different levels of expense to Morgan Keegan based on the degree of record keeping, tax reporting and other services provided at a specific networking level. We receive direct reimbursements for these expenses from certain mutual fund companies. The distribution companies who provided record keeping reimbursement are outlined in the table below.
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Companies Who Have Provided Morgan Keegan Record Keeping Reimbursements* January 2008 - June 2008
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- American Funds
- Franklin Templeton
- Hartford
- Thornburg
- Van Kampen
- MFS
- RMK Select Funds
- Fidelity
- Columbia
- Eaton Vance
- Munder
- Oppenheimer
- AIM
- Federated
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- Davis
- Putnam
- Prudential
- Alliance Bernstein
- John Hancock
- Principal (formerly WM Group)
- AXAEnterprise
- DWS Scudder
- ING
- Delaware
- Seligman
- Riversource
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| *in descending order of reimbursement amount |
Morgan Keegan Agreements
Morgan Keegan operates an open platform as it relates to mutual funds. If a client or advisor requests a dealer agreement be put in place and the complex is available from a networking perspective, we have generally sought to satisfy the request regardless of the potential for networking reimbursement or other consideration. We currently have dealer agreements in place with more than 300 fund complexes, which encompass more than 7,500 individual funds both load and no-load. In the fixed and variable annuity area we have approximately 50 sales agreements. Our advisors are free to choose any product that is best suited to meet your goals and objectives from any distributor with whom we have signed agreements in place.
From this list of 300 mutual fund and 50 insurance distributors, Morgan Keegan has identified a select group we believe offer a broad spectrum of high quality investment opportunities coupled with outstanding client and advisor support. These companies were reviewed and evaluated based upon various factors, including but not limited to the number and variety of funds offered; length of track record; short- and long-term performance of the funds offered; size of assets under management; ability to support our advisors and clients through training, education, and sales literature; and, level of interest and demand among our clients and advisors.
These companies and others in the past, and may in the future, provide voluntary hard dollar financial support for certain educational, training and related projects designed to improve our service to you. Companies selected for inclusion in this group were evaluated without regard to any financial benefit that may or may not be received by Morgan Keegan previously or in the future. These payments, commonly referred to as revenue sharing, are paid out of the distributors' portion of fees that were charged to your fund's assets. You do not pay any additional fees over and above those fees outlined by prospectus as a result of Morgan Keegan having received these payments. Your advisor receives no portion of these payments in the form of commissions unless such has been disclosed to you in writing.
We do not require any company to provide support as a precondition for being included on or sold through the Morgan Keegan platform. The decision to provide financial support is at the sole discretion of the distributor. Morgan Keegan has no direct or indirect control over this decision. The degree of financial support varies from company to company due to the voluntary nature of the payments. The distribution companies who provided direct financial support to Morgan Keegan are outlined in the tables below.
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Annuities Support Payments* January 2008 - June 2008 |
- Pacific Life
- ING
- John Hancock
- Hartford
- Jackson National
- Equitable
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- American Enterprise
- Sun LIfe Financial
- AIG
- Met Life
- SunAmerica
- Allianz
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| *in descending order of reimbursement amount |
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Mutual Funds Support Payments* January 2008 - June 2008
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- Franklin Templeton
- American Funds
- Hartford
- Invesco
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| *in descending order of reimbursement amount |
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Alternative Investments Support Payments* January 2008 - June 2008 |
- Inland
- Hines Real Estate
- Dearborn
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| *in descending order of reimbursement amount |
Additional Information
An informed investor benefits everyone. We urge you to ask questions and seek additional information on these and other important issues that may affect your financial future. Every mutual fund provides an informational document known as a "prospectus." It contains specific information on fees, expenses and risks associated with your investment. You should take the time to read the prospectus carefully before you invest your money. (See Understanding the Prospectus.) You can find additional information on mutual funds in general, by visiting educational websites of the Securities and Exchange Commission (www.SEC.gov), the Financial Industry Regulatory Authroity, Inc., (www.FINRA.org), the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (www.SIFMA.org), and the Investment Company Institute (www.ICI.org).
All investment products including mutual funds involve risk. Principal value and investment return will fluctuate, so an investor's shares/units when redeemed may be worth more or less than the original amount. A complete explanation of risks, charges and expenses may be found in theprospectus. Investors should carefully read and understand the information contained in the prospectus before investingor sending money.