Prospectus & Guide
All mutual fund companies are required to provide a prospectus to prospective shareholders. A prospectus can be thought of as an owner's manual for a mutual fund. It contains the information you need to make an informed buying decision. Inside the Commerce Funds prospectus you will find the following information, listed fund by fund beginning with the equity funds:
Download the Prospectus[PDF] for the following Commerce Funds:Overview of Each Fund
Investment Objectives and Strategies
This will tell you what the fund strives to achieve and how it goes about reaching those goals. When choosing a Commerce Fund to invest in, make sure its stated objectives are in line with your own investment objectives.
Primary Risks
Here you will find an explanation of some of the risks involved in investing in a fund. This information is summarized in table format beginning on p. 60 of the Prospectus.
Fund Performance
This area will show you calendar year-by-year total returns for each fund. It will also list average annual total returns as of the previous calendar year-end for each Commerce Fund and a corresponding broad-based market index.
You may receive more current Commerce Funds performance information by contacting us at 1-800-995-6365 or by e-mailing us at commercefunds@commercebank.com. Performance materials are published at least quarterly for each fund.
Fees and Expenses
Broken down into two sections for each fund, this part of the prospectus will tell you the costs involved in owning fund shares. The Shareholder Fees are those you would pay directly from your investment. Shares of The Commerce Funds have no Shareholder Fees. The share class has Annual Fund Operating Expenses, which are "cost of doing business" expenses. These expenses are deducted from the total assets of the fund itself, not directly from your account. Annual Fund Operating Expenses will lower the share price of a fund.
At the end of each Fee and Expense table is an example of the costs associated with a $10,000 investment in that fund. All mutual funds use the same assumptions for their calculations so it should be easy for you to compare the costs of investing in one fund versus the costs of investing in another.
Financial Highlights
These tables will show you how each fund performed year by year since its inception. The table lists all inflows and outflows that affected a fund's net asset value each year. It also shows expense ratios and how frequently the fund bought and sold securities.
Investment Securities and Practices
This part of the prospectus details investment policies and risks of the Funds in table format. The first table shows some of the investment methods and securities each fund may use, and the second table summarizes the risks involved in investing in each fund. The Commerce Funds' Statement of Additional Information, which is available free of charge by contacting The Commerce Funds, provides a more detailed description of the securities and methods each fund is permitted to use and the risks associated with doing so. The Commerce Funds' annual and semi-annual reports show the securities and methods each fund has actually been using in the past year.
Account Policies and Features
This area of the prospectus will tell you step-by-step how to go about buying or selling shares of The Commerce Funds. It also contains information on how to customize your account with features such as dollar cost averaging and automatic investments.
Tax Information
This is a brief summary of the federal income tax consequences of investing in The Commerce Funds. Please consult with your tax adviser for specific guidance on your Commerce Funds investments.
A prospectus for the Commerce Funds containing more complete information may be obtained by calling 1-800-995-6365 or by downloading it from this website. Please consider a Fund's objectives, risks, and charges and expenses, and read the prospectus carefully before investing. The prospectus contains this and other information about the Fund.
The mutual funds referred to in this Web site are offered and sold only to persons residing in the United States and are offered by prospectus only. The prospectus contains more complete information about the funds, including charges and expenses, and should be read carefully before investing.
The method of calculation of the 30-Day Standardized Subsidized Yield is mandated by the Securities and Exchange Commission and is determined by dividing the net investment income per share earned during the last 30 days of the period by the maximum public offering price (“POP”) per share on the last day of the period. This number is then annualized. The 30-Day Standardized Subsidized Yield reflects fee waivers and/or expense reimbursements recorded by the Fund during the period. Without waivers and/or reimbursements, yields would be reduced. This yield does not necessarily reflect income actually earned and distributed by the Fund and, therefore, may not be correlated with the dividends or other distributions paid to shareholders. The 30-Day Standardized Unsubsidized Yield does not adjust for any fee waivers and/ or expense reimbursements in effect. If the Fund does not incur any fee waivers and/or expense reimbursements during the period, the 30-Day Standard Subsidized Yield and 30-Day Standardized Unsubsidized Yield will be identical.