SOFE Member (State Street Research)

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SOFE is the acronym for SUPPORTERS OF FINANCIAL EDUCATION

State Street Research
One Financial Center
Boston, MA 02111-2690
Telephone: 800-562-0032
www.ssrfunds.com

The Bull's-Eye Rating System

You'll notice that each of the fundfreebies entries have from 0 to 3 bull's-eyes after it. I'm using that symbol as a way to evaluate the content of each piece.

Now don't think that just because there aren't any bull's-eyes after a piece that it's not worth ordering. That's not the case at all. All of the materials presented are informative and have educational merit. And, little to no fund family p.r. fluff in them. I know this for a fact as I've read through each entry and personally decided upon its Bull's-Eye rating.

Here's what the ratings mean:

O to 1 bull's-eye means the piece is solid and informative.
2 bull's-eyes means the piece is a cut above the 1 bull's-eye entries.
3 bull's-eyes means content is strong, very educational and definitely worth a read.

INVESTING BASICS

State Street Research's Investment Insights: How we dig deeper to uncover value investments in today's equity market. An 8-page, 8 1/2" x 11" pamphlet discussing why value is an attractive investment strategy. One reason is that value stocks have outperformed growth stocks over long periods of time. Another, over short periods of time they can less volatile. While this pamphlet focuses specifically on State Street Research's investment approach, there is solid, educational information in it.

MUTUAL FUND BASICS

Style Investing, from State Street Research. An 8 1/2" x 11", 6-page mini-let. Everyone is talking about investment style but what is it really? FYI, investment style has two components. One, the type of stock, i.e., growth or value. The second, the size of the companies invested into, i.e., small-cap, large-cap, etc. This concise little piece will help you understand style, market capitalization and even walks you through the Morningstar Style Box and the Lipper Style system. Order it.

MUTUAL FUND BASICS

Small-Cap Investing, from State Street Research. An 8 1/2" x 11", 4-page mini-let. From 1926 through 1998, small cap stocks were where the most money was made in the market, according to various sources. But small-cap stocks aren't what they used to be and neither is the market. Get a handle about the benefits---and risks---of small-cap stock fund investing through this easy-to-understand guide.

MUTUAL FUND BASICS

Value Investing, from State Street Research. An 8 1/2" x 11", 4-page mini-let that provides the skinny on value investing and even includes the kinds of price filters that portfolio managers use in determining the "value" of a company. Here's some of what this piece contains: "While value funds traditionally do better than growth funds in bear markets, they generally offer more stability and less risk in any environment..."

MULTI-LINGUAL REPORTS (SPANISH)

State Street Research realizes how diverse out nation's investing public is and offers mutual fund investing reports written in Spanish on the following subjects:

Managing Your Taxes/Manejando sus Impuestos
To order this information FREE from State Street Research, please click the "add to cart" button on the right. Once you select the item(s), you may continue shopping, or go directly to the checkout stand. YES, please mail me this information!

Investing for Your Child's Education/No Hay Mejor Inversion
To order this information FREE from State Street Research, please click the "add to cart" button on the right. Once you select the item(s), you may continue shopping, or go directly to the checkout stand. YES, please mail me this information!

Investing in Mutual Funds/Invirtiendo en Fondos Mutos
To order this information FREE from State Street Research, please click the "add to cart" button on the right. Once you select the item(s), you may continue shopping, or go directly to the checkout stand. YES, please mail me this information!

Investing for Retirement/Invierta para Su Retiro
To order this information FREE from State Street Research, please click the "add to cart" button on the right. Once you select the item(s), you may continue shopping, or go directly to the checkout stand. YES, please mail me this information!

MULTI-LINGUAL REPORTS (CHINESE)

State Street Research realizes how diverse out nation's investing public is and offers mutual fund investing reports written in Chinese on the following subjects:

Managing Your Taxes
To order this information FREE from State Street Research, please click the "add to cart" button on the right. Once you select the item(s), you may continue shopping, or go directly to the checkout stand. YES, please mail me this information!

Investing for Your Child's Education
To order this information FREE from State Street Research, please click the "add to cart" button on the right. Once you select the item(s), you may continue shopping, or go directly to the checkout stand. YES, please mail me this information!

Investing in Mutual Funds
To order this information FREE from State Street Research, please click the "add to cart" button on the right. Once you select the item(s), you may continue shopping, or go directly to the checkout stand. YES, please mail me this information!

Investing for Retirement
To order this information FREE from State Street Research, please click the "add to cart" button on the right. Once you select the item(s), you may continue shopping, or go directly to the checkout stand. YES, please mail me this information!

HOW WE FIGURE THINGS

Since the educational data we received comes from a variety of different sources---and in all different sizes and shapes---we figured it would be best to have specific labels for each differently sized piece.

To keep things in order, we count everything: The front cover is one page, the inside cover, page 2, etc. Consequently, there will no doubt be a difference in the number of pages you read in the reviews about the piece and the number of pages printed in it.

With that in mind, here's a legend that names the various sized pieces. Read through it and you'll know why we call booklets booklets and pamphlets pamphlets:

Report. These are one- or two-page, often two-sided, reports on 8 1/2" x 11" papers. MFS and Pioneer have many of them.

Mini-let. That's a one-page piece of paper of various sizes folded in various ways. Copy here might read: "8 12" x 17" paper folded in thirds".

Pamphlet. Something with up to 12 pages---that includes counting the front and back cover pages, for a total of 4 pages right there. (This differs from the Mini-let in that these are separate pages and not part of one sheet of paper folded down.)

Booklet. Any unbound piece over 12 pages in length, covers again being counted in as 4 pages.

Tiny Book. All bound pieces, like some of the Scudder things. Count cover pages also.

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