The simple things in life: flowers ... birds ... trees ... mutual fund reports? It is not often that one comes across the oxymoron of a simplified shareholder report but State Street Research said today it has done just that.

Related Links

State Street Research Funds

The mutual fund company has souped up its reports in a move to clarify and simplify its investor communications. The new version will offer investors and potential investors a colorful, glossy, photo rich booklet about the fund.

The new version contrasts greatly to last year's olive-green and white low-grade paper and bland columns of numbers. The changes were managed by an internal staff with the help of outside consultants.

"The tremendous popularity of mutual fund investing requires new approaches to communications," said Joan Miller, senior vice president of State Street Research. "Millions of Americans up and down the demographic scale now own mutual funds, and many are unfamiliar with investment terminology. To us, it just makes business sense - give people the information they want in language they can understand. And better-informed investors make better clients for the representatives who sell our funds."

Included in the overhauled reports are call-outs on financial pages that explain the numbers behind the numbers and educational information in the form of side bars and feature articles.

Future moves include revamping financial reports and all of the funds' annual reports, Miller said. All printing for the company is done by W.E. Andrews.  

Stay ahead of the news ... Sign up for our email alerts now
CLICK HERE