Common use of LETTERS OF INTENT Clause in Contracts

LETTERS OF INTENT. Most mutual funds allow investors to qualify for breakpoint discounts by signing a Letter of Intent, which commits the investor to purchasing a specified amount of Class A shares within a defined period of time, usually 13 months. For example, if an investor plans to purchase $50,000 worth of Class A shares over a period of 13 months, but each individual purchase would not qualify for a breakpoint discount, the investor could sign a Letter of Intent at the time of the first purchase and receive the breakpoint discount associated with $50,000 investments on the first and all subsequent purchases. Additionally, some funds offer retroactive Letters of Intent that allow investors to rely upon purchases in the recent past to qualify for a breakpoint discount. However, if an investor fails to invest the amount required by the Letter of Intent, the fund is entitled to retroactively deduct the correct sales charges based upon the amount that the investor actually invested. If you intend to make several purchases within a 13 month period, you should consult your financial advisor and the mutual fund prospectus to determine if it would be beneficial for you to sign a Letter of Intent. As you can see, understanding the availability of breakpoint discounts is important because it may allow you to purchase Class A shares at a lower price. The availability of breakpoint discounts may save you money and may also affect your decision regarding the appropriate share class in which to invest. Therefore, you should discuss the availability of breakpoint discounts with your financial advisor and carefully review the mutual fund prospectus and its statement of additional information, which you can get from your financial advisor, when choosing among the share classes offered by a mutual fund. If you wish to learn more about mutual fund share classes or mutual fund breakpoints, you may wish to review the investor alerts available on the NASD Web site. See xxx.xxxxx.xxx/xxxxx_xxxxxxxx.xxx, and xxx.xxxxx.xxx/xxxxx_xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx or visit the many mutual fund Web sites available to the public.

LETTERS OF INTENT. Most mutual funds allow investors to qualify for breakpoint discounts by signing a Letter of Intent, which commits the investor to purchasing a specified amount of Class A shares within a defined period of time, usually 13 months. For exampleinstance, if an investor plans to purchase $50,000 worth of Class A shares over a period of 13 months, but each individual purchase would not qualify for a breakpoint discount, the investor could sign a Letter of Intent at the time of the first purchase and receive the breakpoint discount associated with $50,000 investments on the first and all subsequent purchases. Additionally, some funds offer retroactive Letters of Intent that allow investors to rely upon purchases in the recent past to qualify for a breakpoint discount. However, if an investor fails to invest the amount required by the Letter of Intent, the fund is entitled to retroactively deduct the correct sales charges based upon the amount that the investor actually invested. If you intend to make several purchases within a 13 month period, you should consult your financial advisor investment professional and the mutual fund prospectus to determine if it would be beneficial for you to sign a Letter of Intent. As you can see, An understanding of the availability of breakpoint discounts is important because it may allow you allows investors to purchase Class A shares at a lower priceprices. The availability of breakpoint discounts may save you money and may also affect your decision decisions regarding the appropriate share class classes in which to invest. Therefore, you investors should discuss the availability of breakpoint discounts with your financial advisor an investment professional and carefully review the mutual fund prospectus and its statement of additional information, which you can get be obtained from your financial advisoran investment professional, when choosing among the share classes offered by a mutual fund. If you wish to learn more More information about mutual fund share classes or and mutual fund breakpoints, you may wish to review breakpoints is available through the investor alerts that are available on the NASD Web siteFINRA web site at xxx.xxxxx.xxx or more directly at: xxxx://xxx.xxxxx.xxx/Investors/ProtectYourself/InvestorAlerts/MutualFunds/index.htm Mutual Fund Fees and Revenue Sharing. See xxx.xxxxx.xxx/xxxxx_xxxxxxxx.xxxThe Clearing Agent may receive servicing fees from mutual funds that participate in The Clearing Agent’s mutual fund no-transaction-fee program in lieu of clearance charges to HFS. Participation by HFS in this program is optional and HFS may share with The Clearing Agent in such fees. These fees may be considered revenue sharing and are a significant source of revenue for The Clearing Agent and may be a significant source of revenue for HFS. These recurring fees are based on the value of your assets. The Clearing Agent also receives operational reimbursements from mutual funds in the form of networking or omnibus processing fees. These fees are based on a flat fee per holding and are reimbursed to The Clearing Agent for the work it performs on behalf of the funds, which may include but is not limited to, subaccounting services, dividend calculation and posting, accounting and reconciliation, client confirmation and statement preparation and mailing, and xxx.xxxxx.xxx/xxxxx_xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx or visit the many tax statement preparation and mailing. These fees are a significant source of revenue for The Clearing Agent. For additional details regarding The Clearing Agent’s mutual fund no-transaction-fee program or a listing of funds that pay The Clearing Agent networking or omnibus fees, please refer to: xxxx://xxx.xxxxxxxx.xxx/mutual_fund.htm. Money Fund Fees and Revenue Sharing. Money fund processing and revenue sharing fees are significant sources of revenue for The Clearing Agent and may be significant sources of revenue for HFS. The Clearing Agent receives fees from money fund providers for making available money market funds or FDIC-insured bank deposits, which you have selected through HFS. These fees are paid in accordance with an asset-based formula based on established amounts of money market funds or FDIC-insured bank deposits available through The Clearing Agent. HFS may share in these fees. A portion of The Clearing Agent’s fees is applied against costs associated with providing services on behalf of the funds, which may include sweep systems, subaccounting services, dividend calculation and posting, accounting and reconciliation, client statement preparation and mailing, tax statement preparation and mailing, marketing and distribution related support, and other services. The Clearing Agent receives processing fees from certain money fund providers, including one which is associated with HFS. These fees reimburse The Clearing Agent for operational services it performs on behalf of the funds, which may include sweep systems, subaccounting services, dividend calculation and posting, accounting and reconciliation, client statement preparation and mailing, tax statement preparation and mailing, or other services. For a listing of money funds that pay The Clearing Agent revenue sharing and processing fees, please refer to: xxxx://xxx.xxxxxxxx.xxx/money_fund.htm. Form date: July 30, 2009 1 Access Device refers to any computer, personal digital assistant (PDA), beeper, televi­sion, telephone or any other communications device, including any software, whether provided through HFS or otherwise, that enables you to access and use the HFS Service via a wireless connection, the Internet, the World Wide Web sites available to the publicor any other computer or tele­phonic network.

LETTERS OF INTENT. Most mutual funds allow investors to qualify for breakpoint discounts by signing a Letter of Intent, which commits the investor to purchasing a specified amount of Class A shares within a defined period of time, usually 13 months. For example, if an investor plans to purchase $50,000 worth of Class A shares over a period of 13 months, but each individual purchase would not qualify for a breakpoint discount, the investor could sign a Letter of Intent at the time of the first purchase and receive the breakpoint discount associated with $50,000 investments on the first and all subsequent purchases. Additionally, some funds offer retroactive Letters of Intent that allow investors to rely upon purchases in the recent past to qualify for a breakpoint discount. However, if an investor fails to invest the amount required by the Letter of Intent, the fund is entitled to retroactively deduct the correct sales charges based upon the amount that the investor actually invested. If you intend to make several purchases within a 13 month period, you should consult your financial advisor and review the mutual fund prospectus to determine if it would be beneficial for you to sign a Letter of Intent. As you You can see, understanding the availability of breakpoint discounts is important because it may allow you to purchase Class A shares at a lower price. The availability of breakpoint discounts may save you money and may also affect your decision regarding the appropriate share class in which to invest. Therefore, you should discuss the availability of breakpoint discounts with your financial advisor and carefully review the mutual fund prospectus and its statement of additional information, which you can get from your financial advisor, when choosing among the share classes offered by a mutual fund. If you wish to learn more about mutual fund share classes or mutual fund breakpoints, you may wish to can review the investor alerts available on the NASD FINRA Web site. See xxx.xxxxx.xxx/xxxxx_xxxxxxxx.xxx, and xxx.xxxxx.xxx/xxxxx_xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx site at xxx.xxxxx.xxx (Investor Information > Investor Alerts > Mutual Funds) or visit the many mutual fund Web sites available to the public.

LETTERS OF INTENT. (XXXx) : Most mutual funds allow investors to qualify for breakpoint discounts by signing a Letter of Intent, which commits the investor to purchasing a specified amount of Class A shares within a defined period of time, usually 13 months. For example, if an investor plans to purchase $50,000 worth of Class A shares over a period of 13 months, but each individual purchase would not qualify for a breakpoint discount, the investor could sign a Letter of Intent at the time of the first purchase and receive the breakpoint discount associated with $50,000 investments on the first and all subsequent purchases. Additionally, some funds offer retroactive Letters of Intent that allow investors to rely upon purchases in the recent past to qualify for a breakpoint discount. However, if an investor fails to invest the amount required by the Letter of Intent, the fund is entitled to retroactively deduct the correct sales charges based upon the amount that the investor actually invested. If you intend to make several purchases within a 13 month period, you should consult your financial advisor and the mutual fund prospectus to determine if it would be beneficial for you to sign a Letter of Intent. As CAUTION: If you fail to invest the entire amount stated in your Letter of Intent, the mutual fund can seeretroactively collect the higher fee. In the case of either ROAs or XXXx, understanding you usually may credit mutual fund transactions in other related accounts, in different mutual fund classes, or in different mutual funds that are part of the same fund family, toward your discounts. For example, a fund may allow you to get a breakpoint discount by combining your fund purchases with those of your spouse or children. You also may be able to credit mutual fund transactions in retirement accounts, educational savings accounts, or in accounts at other brokerage firms. Understanding the availability of breakpoint discounts is important because it may allow you to purchase Class A shares at a lower price. The availability of breakpoint discounts may save you money and may also affect your decision regarding the appropriate share class in which to invest. Therefore, you should discuss the availability of breakpoint discounts with your financial advisor and carefully review the mutual fund prospectus and its statement of additional information, which you can get from your financial advisor, when choosing among the share classes offered by a mutual fund. If you wish to learn more about mutual fund share classes or mutual fund breakpoints, you may wish to review the investor alerts available on the NASD Web site. See xxx.xxxxx.xxx/xxxxx_xxxxxxxx.xxxFINRA’s website xxx.xxxxx.xxx or xxxx://xxx.xxxxx.xxx/Investors/InvestmentChoices/MutualFunds/ , and xxx.xxxxx.xxx/xxxxx_xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx or visit the many mutual fund Web sites websites available to the public. Switching Mutual Funds Switching activity involves the movement of an investor from one product to another. Most mutual funds are designed for long term investing. Switching from one fund to another could cause surrender charges, additional fees and/or commissions that could otherwise be avoided. Prior to switching, please consider that there may be an appropriate fund within the same fund family into which you can exchange to achieve your new investment objective, which will not result in additional charges. Switches that are based on poor performance may not be appropriate. Past performance is no guarantee of future results, and there is no assurance that your new fund will perform better than your old fund. ****** Thank you for taking the time to read this important document. Please review with your registered representative any questions you may have regarding the information contained, and how these considerations may impact your investment decisions.