# 1933 Act/Rule 481(b) (1)

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## Record

- **Collection:** Agency decision
- **Document type:** Agency decision

## Text

1933 Act/Rule 481(b) (1)

HALE AND DORR

1940 Act/Rule 22d-1
Form N-1A under both Acts

COUNSELLORS AT LAW

60 STATE STREET, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02109

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617-526-5000

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June 25, 1996

~.

Heidi Stam
Associate Director
O£fice of the Chief Counsel
Division of Investment Management
Securities and Exchange Commission
450 Fifth Street N.W.
Washington, DC 20549

Re: No-action request concerning a new simplified form of prospectus for the
registered open-end management investment companies and series (the

"Funds") managed or sponsored by John Hancock Advisers, Inc. (" JHA ") and
distributed by John Hancock Funds, Inc. (collectively, the "Applicants")
Dear Ms. Stam:

Enclosed is a prototype for a new simplified prospectus to be used by the

Funds. The enclosed form of consolidated prospectus (the "prototype prospec­
tus ") pertains to the growth Funds. The prototype prospectus is being used as

a model for preparing consolidated prospectuses for the global/ international
Funds, the growth and income Funds, the income Funds, the tax-exempt bond Funds
dnd the money market Funds. The Applicants filed the prototype prospectus in
post-effective amendments to the growth Funds' registration statements with the
Commission in the middle of April, 1996. Pursuant to Rule 485 (a) under the
Securities Act of 1933 (the "1933 Act"), the prototype prospectus will auto­
matically become effective on July 1, 1996. The Applicants have filed most of
the other prospectuses in post-effective amendments to the respective Funds'
registration statements with the Commission in. June, 1996. These prospectuses
will automatically become effective on or after August 30, 1996.
The
Applicants ' prospectus simplification project was inspired in part by
recent appeals for more readable prospectuses by members of the Commission and
the Commission's staff. The prototype prospectus was prepared by a team con­
sisting of JHA personnel from various departments and outside consultants spe­
cializing in written communications and graphic design. In making decisions
about the formt of and disclosure in the prospectus, this team focused prima­
rily on the goal of making the prospectus clearer, more accessible and less
intimidating to the average investor.

One of the innovative features of the prototype prospectus is the inclu­
sion of an "Overview" section on page 3 of the prospectus. This Overview iden­
tifies the investment objective ("goal"), primary investments and investment

WASHINGTON, DC

BOSTON, MA
HALE AND DORR IS A PAKTNERSHIP INCLUDING PROFESIONAL CORPORATIONS

MANCHESTER, NH

Heidi Stam
Securities and Exchange commission
June 25, 1996
Page 2

adviser of the Funds, which are the most important characteristics common to
all of the Funds. The Overview also discusses who mayor may not be appropri­
ate investors in the Funds and provides a key to the symols or icons used in
the two-page spread devoted to each of the Funds. The Overview is designed to
deal with the greater complexity of a prospectus that covers multiple Funds and
to help investors compare the similarities and differences among these Funds.
It is intended to provide a context for the two-page Fund-specific sections
that immediately follow the Overview. Thus, the Overview is intended to be an

. introduction to the prospectus' investment disclosure, not a sumry of the en­
tire prospectus.

One of the team's strategies was to eliminate non-essential or repetitive
disclosure and technical language that would conceal the most material disclo­
sure or impede a reader's progress in reaching and understanding that disclo­
sure. The amount of disclosure about anyone topic was also affected by the
team's effort to present information in manageable segments that would not
strain the attention span of the average reader. Accordingly, the Applicants
respectfully request that the staff of the Commission advise them that it will
not recommend enforcement action to the Commission if the Funds' prospectuses
comply with Form N-IA in the manner described in the table set forth below.

Requirement of
Form N-lA or Rule

Innovative

Rationale

Prospectus Feature

for New Feature

Cover Pacre
Form N-IA, Items
1 (a) (iii) and 3 (d)

The outs ide cover page
is required to include

The substance of

The clause (A) and (B) disclo­

clause (A) and (B)

a statement that (A)"

appears on the front
cover of the prototype prospectus, but
not in the same

sure in the prototype prospectus
is more forceful and direct than
the language of Form N-IA. The
back cover is the most logical

the prospectus sets
forth concisely the

informtion about the
registrant that a prospective investor ought
to know before investing; (B) the prospectus

1

words.1 The substance of clause (C)
and the last sentence appears on the

place to discuss the availability of additional inform­
tion and shareholder reports.

More space can be devoted to
this discussion if it is located

The exact language of this disclosure is as follows:

This prospectus 9ives vital information about these
funds. For your own benefit and protection, please
read it before you invest, and keep it on hand for fu­
ture reference.

Heidi Stam
Securities and Exchange Commission
June 2S( 1996
Page 3

Requirement of

Innovative

Rationale

Form N-lA or Rule

Prospectus Feature

for New Feature

should be retained for
future reference; and
(C) a statement of ad­
ditional information

back cover of the
prototype prospectus
under the heading
"For further infor­

on the back cover. This extra
space and the isolation of this
disclosure from other text give

("SAI') has been- filed

mation."2 It is

with the Commission and
is available upon re­
quest and without

accompanied by

reports to

charge. . The cover page

shareholders and how

should also include
instructions for ob­
taining an SAI and a
statement that the SAI
has been incorporated
by reference into the

to obtain them. 3

information about

prospectus.
2

i t roughly equal prominence wi th

shorter, more crowded disclosure
on the front cover page or the
financial highlights page.

An investor who does not read
past the cover page of a prospectus is probably not very
interested in obtaining the SAI.
This is borne out by the infre­
quency with which investors currently request SAIs, in spite of
the existing requirement for

The exact language of this disclosure is as follows:

The SAI contains more detailed informtion on all as­
pects of the funds. The current annual/semi-annual
report is included in the SAI.
A current SAI has been filed with the Securities and
Exchange Commission and is incorporated by reference
into this prospectus (is legally a part of this pro­

spectus) .
To request a free 'copy of the current annual/semi­
annual report or SAI, please write or call: (name, ad­

dress and phone numer of transfer and shareholder ser­
vice agent) .
3 The exact language of this disclosure is as stated in the last sentence in

footnote 2 and as follows:
Two documents are available that offer further informa­
tion on John Hancock Growth Funds:

ANAL/SEMI-ANAL REPORT TO SHAHOLDERS
Includes financial statements, detailed performance
information, portfolio holdings, a statement from port­
folio management and the auditor's report.

Heidi Stam
Securities and Exchange Commission
June 25, 1996
Page 4

Requirement of

Innovative

Rationale

Form N-lA or Rule

Prospectus Feature

for New Feature

cover page disclosure. Thus,
this requirement appears not to
be advancing the Commission's
goal of encouraging requests for

Item 3 (d) requires a

statement about the
availability of share­
holder reports to be
located in the finan­
cial highlights section
of a próspectus.

SAIs.
The back outside cover page is a
more prominent location for dis­
closing the availability of
shareholder reports than the

financial highlights page. If

this disclosure is located in
the financial highlights section
of a multiple fund prospectus,
it is likely to be overlooked by
investors. Thus, Form N-IA's
disclosure goals could be served
just as or more effectively with
back cover disclosure concerning
the availability of the SAI and

shareholder reports.
Item 1 (iv)
Requires the date of
the prospectus and SAI
to be disclosed on the
outside cover page.

The date of the' pro­
spectus, but not the
SAI, is disclosed on
the front cover of
the prototype pro­
spectus. Instead,

the back cover wi 1 1
contain at least one
reference to the
"current" SAI.

Although the date of
the SAI will usually
be identical to the
prospectus date, the
SAI date will be
disclosed on the
back cover whenever
it differs from the

prospectus date.

As a practical matter, the date
of the SAI is virtually always
the same as the prospectus date.
Any request for an SAI would be
interpreted as a request for the
currently effective SAI. The
use of the word "current" before
the word SAI will alert
investors who may have-an
outdated SAI that their original
SAI may have been superseded by
a more current SAI. Thus, it is
not necessary to specify the
date of the SAI if it is the
same as the prospectus date.
Including too many dates on the

prospectus cover tends to give
it a more legalistic and
cluttered appearance, which can

be intimidating to investors.

Heidi Stam
Securities and Exchange Commission
June 25! 1996
Page 5

Requirement of
Form N-lA or Rule

Innovative

Rationale

Prospectus Feature

for New Feature

The Rule 481 (b) (1)

Several studies have shown that
all upper case text is
measurably harder to read than
ordinary upper and lower case
text. Lower case words have
distinctive shapes that enable
readers to read groups of
letters. Words printed all in
capitals must be read letter by
letter because these words do
not have distinctive shapes.
Therefore, it is less efficient
and more tiring to read all
capitals text. Miles A. Tinker,
Legibility of Print (1963);
Miles A. Tinker, Prolonged

Item 1 (v)
Incorporates the re­
quirements of Rule
481(b)

(1) under the

Securities Act of 1933
(the "1933 Act"). Rule
481 (b) (1) requires the

following legend in

legend appears on
the cover page of
the prototype pro­
spectus in bold face
type, but not in all
upper case letters.

capital letters printed
in ten point Roman

type. "THESE SECUI­
TIES HAVE NOT BEEN AP­
PROVED OR DISAPPROVED

BY THE SECUITIES AN
EXCHAGE COMMISSION OR

AN STATE SECUITIES
COMMISSION NOR HA THE

SECUITIES AN EXCHAGE

Reading Tasks and Visual

COMMISSION OR AN STATE
SECUITIES COMMISSION

Research, 39 J. appl. Psycho.
(1955); M.A. Tinker and D.G.
Paterson, Influence of Tye Form
'on Speed of Reading, 12 J. appl.
Psycho. (1928) at 359-68.

PASSED UPON

TH AC­

CURCY OR ADEQUACY OF

THIS PROSPECTUS. AN
REPRESENTATION TO THE

The use of all capitals may even
cause some readers to skip over
all caps text entirely.
Although the use of all capitals
in the legend was originally
intended to emphasize the
legend's importance, it instead
has the counterproductive effect
of making the legend less acces­
sible to investors. The use of
bold face type, together with
the relatively uncluttered de­
sign of the prototype prospec­
tus' cover page, makes the leg­
end nearly as prominent as an
all capitals format.

CONTRAY IS A CRIMINA
OFFENSE. H

Items 2 and 3; Item G
of General Instructions
Instruction 1 under
Item G requires thdt

The expense tables
required by Item

The Applicants believe that
investors benefit from receiving

Heidi Stam
Securities and Exch~nge Commission
June 25, 1996
Page 6

Requirement of

Innovative

Rationale

Form N-lA or Rule

Prospectus Feature

for New Feature

disclosure responding
to Items 1, 2 and 3 of
Form N-1A appear in

2 (a) and the con­

a consolidated prospectus
offering a spectrum of similar

Funds. A consolidated

numerical sequence in
mutual fund prospec­

informtion tables

required by Item 3
for all the Funds do
not precede
disclosure about the
Funds' particular
investment policies
and characteristics.
In addition, on a

tuses. Also, this dis­

closure may not be pre­
ceded or separated by

any other item.

densed financial

Fund by Fund basis,
the Item 4

disclosure will
precede Items 2 and
3 for a particular

Fund. Thus, Item 4
disclosure for each

Fund immediately
precedes and appears

together with that

Fund's expense table
and financial high­
lights on a two-page
spread that can be
viewed all at one

prospectus enhances inves tors'
awareness of the range of
available Funds and may enable
investors to make abetter

informed investment decision.
The two-page spread format
groups together all the inform­
tion that applies to a particu­
lar Fund. This formt makes a
valuable connection between a
Fund's disclosure about invest­
ment goals and permissible in­
vestments and the Fund's his­
torical record in achieving
those goals. Also, the two-page
spread combines text and figures
in a way that is less impen­
etrable to average investors.
With this format, the required
expense and financial data still
appear in a very prominent and
more accessible location. The

time. Each Fund's

disclosure required by Item 4 of

financial highlights

Form N-1A precedes the
disclosure required by ¡tern 2
and 3. However, the Funds
believe that placing text before
statistical tables if more
attractive and less intimidating
to investors. The ability to
see both types of disclosure
simultaneously on the same twopage spread is consistent with
the policy underlying the Form
N-1A requirement that the
expense table and financial
highlights precede a fund's
investment disclosure. The use
of icons and the introduction of

page includes a bar
chart showing the

historic performnce
volatility of that
class of the Fund

which has the long­

est performnce his­

tory.

The alternative to

this formt would
have been to locate
the expense tables

and financial
highlights of the

s even growth Funds
before any

investment
disclosure. Such a

Heidi Stam
Securities and Exchange commission
June 25" 1996
Page 7

Requirement of

Innovative

Rationale

Form N-lA or Rule

Prospectus Feature

for New Feature

format would require
investors to wade

a performance volatility bar
chart, together with the graphic
design of the two-page spread,
further enhance the prominence,
clarity and user friendliness of
the Funds' expense and financial

through 14 pages of
statistical tables

and footnotes to
find the Funds'

investment

data.

disclosure. This
format would
discourage many

investors,
especially those who
are less comfortable
with figures, from
continuing to read

the prospectus. In

addition, this

format isolates each
Fund's expense and
financial data from
the other disclosure

pertaining
specifically to that

Fund.

Item 3 (c)
If a registrant
advertises any
performance data, the

The disclosure
required by Item

prospectus must include

appear in the

3 (c) would not

a brief explanation of

prototype

how performnce is

prospectus, even
though the Funds may

calculated, whether the
data reflect sales
charges or other non­
recurring charges and
the effect on

performance of
excluding those

charges. If the
registrant advertises
performance calculated
in more than one
manner, the prospectus
should briefly explain

advertise
performnce data.
Any required Item

3 (c) disclosure
would be moved to
the SAIs to the
extent that it does
not already appear
in the SAIs. This
disclosure would be
incorporated by
reference into the

The Applicants believe that
prospectus disclosure about how

performnce data are calculated
for purposes of a separate

advertisement has no material

bear ing on an inves tor's

decision whether to purchase

Fund shares. This disclosure
would only be meaningful to
investors if accompanied by

actual performnce figures.
However, the prototype
prospectus contains no

performance figures other than
those required to be included in
the financial highlights
section. Although incorporating
the content of a Fund's SAI

performance disclosure by

Heidi Stam
Securities and Exchange Commission
June 25, 1996
Page 8

Innovative

Rationale

Form N-lA or Rule

Prospectus Feature

for New Feature

the material
differences between the

prospectus by virtue
of the incorporation

reference into its prospectus
does not satisfy the provisions
of Instrùction E, the required
Item 3 (c) disclosure may not
really be necessary to comply
with the requirements of Rule

Requirement of

calculations. As

statement that

indicated in the second

appears on the back

paragraph of
Instruction E to Form
N-1A, these prospectus
disclosure requirements
are not met by
incorporating by
reference the
disclosure appearing in
the SAIs.

cover.

482 under the 1933 Act. 4
Therefore, the Applicants
beiieve that it would be
appropriate to put all
disclosure explaining
performance calculations in the
Funds' SAIs.

4 A similar rationale was used to justify a proposed amendment to Form N-1A
that would allow money market funds to move prospectus disclosure explaining
the methodology for calculating performance data to their SAIs. Release No.
33-7196, IC-21216 discusses the proposed amendment as follows:
Item 3 (c) currently requires a brief explanation in the
prospectus of how the fund calculates performance data
that it advertises. 25 Because money fund yields are
calculated in a uniform manner prescribed by the Com­
mission, an investor is unlikely to use these descrip­
tions when evaluating advertisements from the fund.
The Commission therefore proposed to permit a money
fund to place its response to this item in the SAI if

the r~sponse is incorporated by reference into the pro­
spectus .26 The Commission requests comment on whether
this option should be made available to other mutual

funds.

25 This disclosure provides a basis for inclusion of
performnce informtion in advertisements. Rule 482
advertisements may only include information the "sub­
stance of which is set forth in the prospectus. (Cita­
tions omitted)

26 Proposed Instruction to Item 3 (d). Because infor­
mation incorporated by reference from the SAI is deemed
to be included in the prospectus, the legal requirement
that the substance of the information in an advertise­
ment be contained in the statutory prospectus would be
met. If adopted, the response to this ~tem would be
the only response to a prospectus item that could be

Heidi Stam
Securities and Exchange Commission
June 25, 1996
Page 9

Requirement of

Innovative

Rationale

Form N-lA or Rule

Prospectus Feature

for New Feature

The prototype pro­
spectus does not
contain this infor­
mation, which will

The seven Funds covered by the
prototype prospectus are series

,be transferred to

corporations with different
organization dates and juris­
dictions. Although this disclo­
sure would occupy a significant
amount of space, the collective
experience of the team suggests
that most investors (other than
lawyers) do not find this dis­
closure interesting or meaning­
ful. The technical nature of
this disclosure suggests that it
belongs in the Funds' SAIs.
However, the Applicants believe
that investors are interested in

Item 4 (a)
Requires disclosure of
the date, form and ju­
risdiction of organi­
zation of the regis­

trant.

the Funds' SAIs.
Page 25 of the pro­
totype prospectus
provides an unusu­
ally clear and de­
tailed description
of, and diagram ex­
plaining, the duties
of the Funds' Boards
and the various en­
tities that provide
services to the

Funds. In addition,
the prospectus will
disclose the name
of each investment
company registrant
of which any Fund is
a series.

of several registered investment
companies that are trusts

or

the. service providers that they
are indirectly hiring by
investing in the Funds. This
disclosure appears in the space
that would otherwise be occupied

by Fund organization data.

Item 7 (c); Rule 22d-1

under the ,1940 Act
Requires disclosure, if
applicable, of the
registrant's ability to

wai ve sales charges in
connection with a
merger, acquisition or
other reorganization.

This disclosure

will

appear in the Funds'
SAIs instead of the

prototype
prospectus.

Unlike other sales charge waiv­
ers, waivers in connection with
a Fund reorganization do not
involve favoring particular cat­
egories of investors or share­
holders. Accordingly, informa­
tion about this type of waiver
is not very material to most
investors. The technical and
legalistic nature of this infor­
matión suggests that it belongs
in the Funds' SAIs.

incorporated by reference from the SAI.

Heidi Stam
Securities and Exchange Commission
Juhe 25, 1996
Page 10

Requirement of

Innovative

Rationale

Form N-lA or Rule

Prospectus Feature

for New Feature

Application for

Exemption Concerning a
Deferred Compensation

P Ian for Fund Trus tees
The Funds and the other
investment

companies

managed by JHA applied
for and .obtained an

exemption (File no.
812-9256) authorizing
them to invest in other

John Hancock Funds to
the extent necessary to
value deferred Trustee
compensation by
reference to a
hypothetical or actual
investment in these

other Funds. This
exemption provided the
Funds with an exception
to their fundamental
investment policies
prohibiting investments
in other investment
companies and
eliminated the need to

have Fund shareholders
approve an amendment to
the these fundamental
investment policies.
The body of the
application, but not
the notice published in

the Federal Register,
represents that the

Funds' prospectuses
will disclose this
exception to their
fundamental policies
restricting investments

The disclosure
referred to in the

application for
exemption will
appear in the Funds'
SAIs, but does not
appear in the

prototype
prospectus.

The Funds' investment
restrictions on investments in
other investment companies and

information about Trustees'
compensation are currently
disclosed in their SAIs rather

than their prospectuses. It

seems incongruous to disclose
the exception in the prospectus
when the actual restriction and
information about Trustee
compensation appear in the
Funds' SAIs. Given the
technical nature of the
disclosure and the difficulty of
understanding it in isolation
from the related SAI disclosure,
the Applicants believe that it
is appropriate to move this
to the Funds' SAIs.
disclosure

Heidi Stam
Securities and Exchange Commission
June 25., 1996

Page 11

Requirement of

Innovative

Rationale

Form N-lA or Rule

Prospectus Feature

for New Feature

in other investment
companies.5 However,

the inclusion of this

disclosure in the
prospectus is not an
express condition of
the notice or the
exemptive order issued
by the Commission.

For the reasons set forth above, the Funds respectfully request that the
staff of the Commission advise them that it wìll not recommend enforcement ac­
tion to the Commission if the Funds use a consolidated simplified prospectus
that satisfies the provisions of Form N-1A in the manner described above and
that is in substantially the same format as the enclosed prototype prospectus.

5

The exact language of the application was as follows:
The Applicants submit that it is appropriate,
in the public interest and consistent with the
protection of investors and the purposes
fairly intended by the policy and provisions
of the 1940 Act to grant an exemption from the

provisions of Section 13 (a) (3), so as to en­
able the above-referenced Funds to invest in
Underlying Securities without a shareholder
vote; provided that each such Fund ap­
propriately discloses to investors in its pro­
spectus, the exception to its fundamental in­
vestment restriction that such Fund may in­
vest, pursuant to an order granted by the Com­
mission and in accordance with applicable law,
in another investment company to the extent
that Deferred Compensation under the Plan is
valued in the Accounts by reference to an hy­
pothetical investment in the Investment Funds.

Heidi Stam
Securities and Exchange Commission
June 25, 1996
Page 12

For the convenience of the staff in reviewing this request, four ad­
ditional copies of this letter are enclosed. If the staff has any comments or
this request or if for any reason the staff determines
questions concerning
that it cannot grant the request as proposed, it is requested that the staff
contact the undersigned at (617) 526-6371 or Thomas Connors at (617) 375-1724

before any written response is issued.
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P'OBL'lC

EdUN, 2 8 1996 .

RESPONSE OF THE OFFCE OF

DISCLOSUR AN REVIW
DMSION OF INSTMNT MANAGEMENT

Our Reference No. DR 1-96
John Hancock Funds. Inc.

By letter dated June 25, 1996, you request assurance that we would not recommend
enforcement action to the Commssion if the prospetuses of open-end management
companes and their series manged or sponsored by John Hancock Advisers, Inc. and
distrbuted by John Hancock Funds, Inc. ("Fund" and collectively, the "Funds") satisfy

certin requirements of Form N-1A and a prior exemptive order in the maner described in
your letter.
You state that the Funds undertook a prospectus simplification project that was

inpired in part by recent appeals for more readable prospectuses by the Commssion. The
priar goal of the project was to create a clearer, more accessible, and less intimdating

selling document for investors. You state that consolidated prospectuses coverig a group of
"growt" Funds have been filed with the Commssion as par of post-effective amendments to
the Funds' registration statements on Form N-1A under Rule 485(a) of the Securities Act of
1933 ("Prototye Prospectus"). i It is expected that upon the automatic effectiveness of these
post-effective amendments, the Prototye Prospectus for the "growt" Funds wil serve as the
model for the preparation of consolidated prospectuses coverig other groups of John
Hancock Funds.
You state that one of the strategies employed in preparg the Prototye Prospectus

language in the current
prospectuses tht was found to adversely affect the reader's abilty to find relevant, material
was the elimination of non-essential, repetitive, and techncal

disclosure, or impede the reader's understading of that disclosure. Another strategy was to
create a concise format.

that presented disclosure in mangeable ségments.

We address each of the issues you raise below in generaly the same order as they
appear in your lettr; however, (or convenience in addressing your request we have grouped

simar items together under separate headings.

i More than one post-effective amendment was fied for the "growt" group of Funds

beause the Funds are series of several registered investment companes. These
amendments were filed on Apri
16 and 17, 1996, and wil be effective automatically
on July 1, 1996. Other Funds filed post-effective amendments on June 13, 1996 that

wil become effective automatically on August 30, 1996.

2
A. Proposed Changes to the Prospectus Cover and Back Cover Pages
1. Retention of Prospectus Information

Item l(a)(ii) of Form N-IA requires the outside cover page of the prospectus to
include a statement tht'the prospectus sets fort concisely inormation about the registrant
tht a prospective investor ought to know before investing. The item also requires a

statement tht the prospectus should be retained for futue reference. You propose to include
the substace of these requirements on the front cover page of the Prototye Prospectus, but
not in the same words contained in the item. You believe that your proposed language wil
be "more forceful and direct. "2

We recognie that it has become customary for registrants to use language tht
explicitly tracks the form's requirements to convey these concepts. Item l(a)(ii), however,
does not require any particular language. Your proposal contain the substace of the

disclosure required by the item and in our view satisfies its requirements.
2. Availabilty of Other Information

Form N-IA requires a prospectus to disclose that other inormation about the fud is
available. Item l(a)(ii) of the form requires that the front cover state that a Statement of

Additional Information ("SA!") has been fied with the Commssion and is available upon
request and without chage. Item l(a)(iv) requires the reference to the SA! to include its
date. Item 3(d) requires a statement in the fincial highlights section of the prospectus

inormg shareholders about the availabilty of the mangement's discussion of pedormance
for the most recent fiscal year.
You propose to move these statements to the back cover page of the Prototye
Prospectus. Furer, intead of disclosing the date of the SA!, you propose to state on the
back cover page tht a curent SA! is available upon request. In your view, the back cover

page is the most logical place to discuss the availabilty of additiona inormtion and
shaeholder report . You state tht more space ca be devote to ths discussion oñ the back

cover page. Because the date of the SA! is usuy the same as the date of the prospetus,
you propose to include the date of the SA! only when it differs from the date of the
prospectus.

2 According to the Prototye Prospectus, the cover of the prospetus wil state that:
"Ths prospectus gives vital inormation about these funds. For your own benefit and
protection, please read it before you invest, and keep it on hand for future reference. "

3

With regard to the availabilty of shareholder report, you believe that Form N-IA's
disclosure goals could be served just as, or more, effectively by back cover page disclosure
of the availabilty of such report. You also state that disclosure on the back cover page is

more promient than disclosure that is contained in the fmacial highlights section and, in the
case of a multiple fud consolidate prospectus, is less likely to be overlooked by investors.

Whe we do not necessary agree with all of yöur anlysis of these issues, we agree
tht the back cover page can be used to alert investors concerng the availabilty of both the
SA! and shareholder report. Furer, we do not object if the date of the SA! is omitted,

provided that the date of the cUrent SA! is the same as the prospectus. If the SA! does not
have the 'same date as the prospectus, you represent tht the date of the SA! wil be included
with the statement of availabilty of the SA! on the back cover page.
3. Legend Concerng Approval/Disapproval of Offered Securities

Item l(a)(v) of Form N-IA and Rule 481(b)(1) under the Securities Act require a
legend on the front cover page of the prospectus. That legend, explaing that the securities
offered by the prospectus have not been approved or disapproved by the Commssion, must
appear in bold face and capital

letters. You propose tht the legend appear on the front

cover page of the Prototye Prospectus in bold face, but not in all capita

letters; the wording

of the legend wil remain the same. You suggest that the use of all upper case letters is
difficult to read and, intead of emphasizing the importce of the legend, has made the
legend more diffcult to read. Furer, you state that the use of bold-face type, together with
the relatively uncluttred design of the Prototype Prospectus' cover page, makes the legend
as promient as ~t would be in an all capitals format.

We do not object to your proposal to use a combintion of upper and lower case
lettrs in bold-face tye together with an uncluttred cover page design because your

proposal would provide the same inormation in an equally promient maner.
B. Sequence Requirements of Form N-IA

The General Intrctions for Par A in Form N-IA state tht the inormation in the
prospectus nee not be in any order, except tht disclosue responding to Items 1 (cover

page), 2 (synopsis, including the fee table), and 3 (fmacial highlights table) must be in
numerica order in the prospectus and may not be preced or separte by any other item.
You state tht the Prototy Prospectus wil not present the fee and fmacial highlights tables

for all Funds imediately prior to the disclosure required by Item 4 concerng the Funds'
investment objectives and policies. You also state tht on a fund-by-fud basis the Item 4

disclosue wil prece Items 2 and 3 for a paricular Fund. Under your proposal, the

Prototye Prospectus wil present Items 2, 3, and 4 together in a two page format that wil
permt examtion of all the inormation for a Fund in one location, on two adjoing pages
that can be viewed at the same time.

4

You assert that the current Form N-1A requirements hamper the readabilty of a
consolidated prospectus by requirg that all Funds' expense and fmacial inormation
precede any disclosure about the Funds' investment objectives and policies. In support of

your assertion, you state tht ths mean that investors have to wade though 14 pages of

statistical tables and footnotes to find the discussion of the Funds' investment objectives and
policies. You state tht ths format may discourage many investors, especially those who are

less comfortble with figues and fmacial inormation, from continuing to read the
prospectus. In a consolidate prospectus, ths format results in a separation of each Fund's
expense and fmacial data from the other disclosure perting specifically to tht Fund.

You believe tht your proposed two page format måkes a valuable connection between

a Fund's disclosure about investment goals and permssible investments and the Fund's

historical record in achieving those goals. You also argue that the two page format combines
text and figures in a way tht is less impenetrable to the investor.

We recognie that the sequence requirements of Fol1 N-1A may in some intances
have the unitended effect of complicating disclosure presentation in consolidated
prospectuses. When the form was adopted, prospectuses generally contained disclosure

concerng one fud, and the form does not address many issues raised by the use of
consolidated prospectuses.3 However, the use of one prospectus for multiple fuds has
become a common practice in recent years. The sequence requirements generally have been
interpreted to require a consolidated prospectus to contain all the fee and the fmacial
highlights tables for all the fuds together at the beging of the prospectus before the
discussion of the funds' objectives and policies. Ths format may, in certin cases, unduly
complicate the disclosure and could discourage some shareholders from reading the
prospectus.

The purose of the sequencing requirements is to put certin importt inormation
about a fud in a stadardizd format at the beging of the prospetus, and to ine tht

the inormation about the fud's expenses and fmacial highlights is not made less clear by
putting cha, graphs and other disclosue prior to those tables. 4 You propose to

place the

fee and fmacial highlights tables for each Fund together with the disclosue concerng tht

Fund's iivestment objectives and policies in a two page format. We believe your proposal
is consistent with the purose of the sequencing requirements of the form. Ou decision not
to object to your proposal is based in paricular upon your representation tht the inormtion
for each Fund wil be presented together on two adjoing pages.

3 See generally, Investment Company Act Release Nos. 12927 (Dec. 21, 1982)

(proposing Form N-1A) and 13436 (Aug. 12, 1983) (adopting Form N-1A).
4 See Investment Company Act Release No. 16244 (Feb. I, 1988) (adopting

amendments to Form N-1A that require a fee table in the prospectus).

5
C. Relocating Prospectus Information to the Statement of Additional Information

1. Advertisement of Performance Data

Item 3(c) of Form N-1A requires disclosure in the prospectus of how performance is
calculated whenever a registrant advertises any performance data. You believe that it is not
necessar to disclose in the prospectus the tehncal method by which a Fund calculates

performance because it is not a material factor to an investor's decision to purchase Fund
shaes. You propose to move ths inormation to the SA! and incorporate it into the
prospectus by reference.

The purpose of Item 3(c) is to remid registrants intending to advertise performance'
that they must describe in the prospectus their method of calculating performance in order to
. comply with Rule 482 under the Secunties Act. Rule 482 provides tht advertisements may
only include inormation the' "substace of which" is included in the fund's statutory
prospectus. For performance quotations. ths requirement is met if the methodology for

calculating performance is set fort in the prospectus.5 We would not object if the Funds
move the description of the method for calculating the Funds' performance to the SA! and
rely on Rule 482 to use advertisements that include performance data, if ths inormation is
incorporated into tle prospectus by reference.

6

2. Relocation of Other Information to the Statement of Additional Information

You propose to move to the SA! responses to two items that Form N -1A currently

requires to be included in the prospectus.- -These items and your supporting anlysis are
sumarized below.

5 The Commssion recently proposed an amendment to Item 3(c) tht would permt a
money market fud tht advertses to move the description of the method for
calculating performance to the SA! and incorporate ths inormation into the­
prospetus by reference. In proposing ths chage, the Commssion acknowledged

tht investors are unikely to consider the method of calculatig the performance of
tht ty of fud when evaluatig the fud's advertsements. Investment Company

Act Release No. 21216 (July 19, 1995).

6 Ths response is limted to the incorporation by reference of the performance

calculation that wil be in the SA!. General Instrction E to Form N-1A does not
permt registrants to incorporate by reference into the prospetus any statements from
the SA! for puroses of responding to a specific item requirement of the prospectus.
If recently proposed amendments to Form N-1A for money market fuds are adopted,
the response to Item 3(c) would be the only response to a prospectus item that could
be incorporated by reference from the SA!. See Investment Company Act Release
No. 21216 at note 26.

6

Item 4(a) of Form N-1A requires disclosure in the prospectus of the date, form and
jurisdiction of organtion of the registrant. You state that the seven Funds covered by the

Prototype Prospectus are series of several different registered companes that are trsts or

corporations with different organtion dates and jurisdictions. You believe that ths type of

inormation, which is techncal in nature and requires a significant amount of space, is not
interesting or meangful to most investors. 7
Item 7(c) of Form N-1A and Rule 22d-1 under the Investment Company Act of 1940
require disclosure, if applicable, of the waiver of sales charges in connection with a merger,

acquisition, or other reorgantion. You state that ths inormation is techncal and legal in
nature, and is not material to most investors in the Funds.
Without necessary agreeing with your legal anlysis as to materiality of the

inormation at issue, we do not object to your proposal to move the disclosure required by
those items to the SAI, which wil be available to any investor that wants ths inormation.
D. Exemptive Order Disclosure Requirement

The Funds received an exemptive order under the Investment Company Act that
permts an arangement under which the Funds' non-interested directors or trstees may

defer the receipt of all or par of their fees ("Prior Order").8 Under the arangement, the
deferred fees are maintained in an account established by the Fund tht accrues value by
reference to an actual or hypothetical investment in shares of the Funds or other investment

companes as selected by the paricular director or trstee. Such a practice may involve
investment in other investment companies. The Prior Order allows the Funds to deviate

from their fudamenta investment policy that restricts investments in other investment
companes without a shareholder vote.
In the application requesting the exemption, the Funds represented tht their
prospectuses would contain disclosue about the exception to the fudaental policy . You
state tht disclosue of the deferred compensation arangements is tehnca in natue, and
would be more easily understood if combined with a more complete discussion of the
restrctions on investments and the deferred compensation argements curently contained
in the - SAI. You fuer state tht the inclusion of ths disclosure in the prospetu is not an
express condition of the Prior Order.

7 Because the organtional details wil not be in the, prospectu, the Prototye
Prospectus wil state the nae of each investment company registrant of which any

Fund is a series.
8 Investment Company Act Release Nos. 20794 (Dec. 23, 1994) (notice) and 20843
(Jan. 18, 1995) (order).

7

We would not object if the disclosure concerng the exception to the Funds'
fundamental investment policy is moved to the SA!. Prospectus disclosure of the exception
is not a condition of the order, and the notice of the application states that the value of these

investment company shares wil be de minis. Furter, the exemption granted by the Prior
Order pertin to a negative investment policy that prohibits the Funds from investing in

other investment companes. Such a policy is not required by Form N-1A to be included in
the prospectus.

9

* * * * * *
For the reasons discussed above, we would not recommend enforcement action to the

Commssion under the Securties Act and the Investment Company Act if the Prototye
Prospectus for the Funds satisfies the requirements of Form N-1A and the Prior Order in the
maner described above. Our response does not address the adequacy or accuracy of the
disclosures contained in any of the registration statements fied by the Funds with the
Commssion. Because ths position is based on the particular facts and circumstances set
fort above, different facts or circumstaces may result in a different conclusion.
response to your request is issued under our authority to provide inormal advice
as codified in the Commssion's Rules of Practice.10 As you know, inormal advice
rendered by the staff does not represent the views of the Commission. In the event that there
Our

are Commssion developments tht we believe affect the positions taen in ths letter, we

may determe to revise or withdraw ths lettr.

Bar . Miler
Assistat Director

9 Item 4(b)(i) of Form N-1A.
10 17 C.F.R. 202.1(d) and 202.2.

JOHN HANCOCK

Growth
Funds
~)'i,O
,..v......
".~ ......' ... ...

.:".:,..;,::. '"-:':','"
::~'::,:~':Y '-;;.~~ ::

Prospectus
July 1, 1996

Disciplined Growth Fund
Discovery Fund

This prospectus gives vital
information about these funds.
For your own benefit and
protection, please read it before
you invest, and keep it on hand

Emerging Growth Fund
Growth Fund

for future reference.

Please note that these funds:
· are not bank deposits
· are not federally insured
· are not endorsed by any bank
or government agency
· are not guaranteed to achieve
their goal (s)

Regional Bank Fund
Special Equities

Fund

Special Opportunities Fund

Like all mutual fund shares, these
securities have not been approved
or disapproved by the Securities
and Exchange Commission or any
state securities commission, nor
has the Securities and Exchange

Commission or any state securities
commission passed' upon the accu­

racy or adequacy of this prospectus.
Any representation to the contrary
is a criminal offense.

.. A Global
Investment
ManagementFus
Firm '
!j
JOHN
HANCOCK

101 Huntington Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02199-7603

Overview
GOAL OF THE GROWTH FUNDS
John Hancock growth funds seek long~term growth by investing

primarily in common stocks. Each fund employs its own
strategy and has its own risk/reward profie. Because you could
lose money by investing in these funds, be sure to read all risk
disclosure carefully before investing.
WHO MAY WANT TO INVEST

These funds may be appropriate for investors who:
· have longer time horizons
· are wiling to accept higher short~term risk along with

FUND INFORMATION KEY
Concise fund-by-fund descriptions begin
on the next page. Each description pro­

vides the following information:
,.;

~.Goal and strategy The fund's
~ particular investment goals' and the

strategies it intends to use in pursuing
those goals,

~ Portfolio securities The primary
_ types of securities in which the '
fund invests, Secondary investments are
described in "More about risk" at the
end of the prospectus,

.m

II
.. Risk
factors
factors
associated
The major
with the
risk
fund.

higher potentiallong~term returns
· want to diversify their portfolios

· are seeking funds for the growth portion of an asset
allocation portfolio

· are investing for retirement or other goals that are many
years in the future

Growth funds may NOT be appropriate if you:

· are investing with a shorter time horizon in mind
· are uncomfortable with an investment that wil go up and

down in value

. Portfolio management The
. individual or group (including sub-

advisers, if any) designated by the

THE MANAGEMENT FIRM

investment adviser to handle the fund's
day-to-day management.

All John Hancock growth funds are managed by John Hancock

~ Expenses The overall costs borne
7'0 by an investor in the fund, including
sales charges and annual expenses.

Advisers, Inc. Founded in 1968, John Hancock Advisers is a
wholly owned subsidiary of John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance

Company and manages more than $19 bilion in assets.
$ Financial
highlights
A table
showing the
fund's financial
perfor­

mance for up to ten years, by share class.
A bar chart showing total return allows
you to compare the fund's historical risk
evel to those of other funds.

Disciplined Growth Fund
TICKER SYMBOL CLASS A: SVAAX CLASS B: FEQVX

REGISTRANT NAME: FREEDOM INVESTMENT TRUST

,)AL AND STRATEGY
capital apprecíation. To
this goal,
the fund
(gL The pursue
fund seeks
long-term

preferred stocks and investmentgrade convertible debt securities.
The fund expects any foreign
investments to
remain below 10%

invests in established, growing

of assets.

companies that have demonstrated
superior earnings growth and stability. Under normal círcumstances,
the fund wil invest at least 65% of
assets in these companies, without
concentration in anyone industry.

The fund also looks for the following characteristics:
· predictability of earnings
· a low level of debt

· seasoned management

PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT
. John F. Snyder II and
. J ere E. Estes are the leaders
of the fund's portfolio

management team. Mr. Snyder is

For liquidity and flexibility, the
fund may place up to 15% of net
assets in cash or in investmentgrade short-term securities. In
abnormal market conditions, it may
invest up to 80% in these securities
as a defensive tactic. The fund also
may invest in certain higher-risk
securities, and may engage in other
investment practices.

· a strong market position

RISK FACTORS

Many of the fund's investments are
in medium or large capitalization
companies. The fund invests for
income as a secondary goal.

II As with
mentany
wil growth
fluctuatefund,
in

an executive vice president of the
adviser and has been a team member

since July 1992. He has been an
investment manager since 1971.
Mr. Estes has been a part of the
fund's management team since

joining John Hancock in July 1992.

He has been in the investment
business since i 967.

..ni
If the value of your invest-

response to stock market movements.
To the extent that the fund invests

PORTFOLIO SECURITIES

in higher-risk securities, it takes on

additional risks that could adversely
in the common stocks
II The fund
of U.S.
invests
companies.
primarily
It

may also invest in warrants,

affect its penormance. Before you

invest, please read "More about
risk" starting on page 28.

INVESTOR EXPENSES

% Fund investors pay various expenses, either
directly or indirectly. The figures below show

D the expenses for the past year, adjusted to reflect
any changes. Future expenses may be greater or less.

Example The table below shows what you would pay

if you invested $1,000 over the various time frames
indicated. The example assumes you reinvested all
dividends and that

the average annual return was 5%.

Shareholder transaction expenses Class A Class B

Share class Year 1 Year 3 Year S Year 10

Maximum sales charge imposed on purchases

Class A shares

(as a percentage of offering price) 5.00% none
:"~"".
H~¡¡

1~~;mp~gg~~~-mt!~~~~~~;~:Ir~t~~~l;~êrt~G~:~!irr!2~"
none

none

Annual fund operating expenses (as a % of average net assets)
Management fee

$94

$125

S215

~1à~~1!2i~~~~~~~~r~i~;~~~..t:~~1:~~~~i~7;;~:~~~.
Assuming redemption

t~L~",-"
Maximum deferred sales charge none!l) 5.00%
Exchange fee

$64

0.75%

at end of

period $72 $97 $135 $231

~E~qm1E.~~g?B§2fcß~i¡¡~~¥i(Sjls~'i&?$~~f;..~; .
This example is for comparison purposes only and is not a representation of

the fund's actual expenses and returns, either past or future.

0,75%
(1) Except for investments of $1 milion or more; see 'How sales charges

Other expenses 0.40% 0.40%
.'::f()JåIß~n-aR¡;~i:a~ì!g:~:XêrI~;;1¡t;.;;~;;iv'~t~0~t~;m1rl~I~~ltfs~l~..

are calculated, .
(2) Does not include wire redemption fee (currently $4.00),
(3) Because of the 12b-l fee, long-term shareholders may indirectly pay

more than the equivalent of the maximum permitted front.end sales
charge.

4 DISCIPLINED GROWTH FUND

.NCIAL HIGHLIGHTS
by the fuiid's independent auditors,
:$ The Price
figures
Waterhouse
below have
LLP. been audited
12.34

Volatilty, as indicated by Class B

11.51

Investment return (%)

year-by.year total

(16,44)(4)

(16.46)

Class A - year ended October 31, 1992(1) 1993 1994 1995
Per share operating performance

rt'it:aŠS ;Milri!t~i!lrtr~~f ~jì8~lS~:O¡!i~-;~~i~::;..
=Ne~~i;::"íncome'
(loss) 0.06(2 0.08(2
0.10 0.08(2)
fN".e.1iJ1ll.ïe~.!an
,~Ûî-¡re.â.lÌè'.nãlimíl~ve~~~~Q~....
...,~~~~Ól07~t~1Jï~\,
..-"-.....,...,T'=~;;~¥~~~.~:i~~a. ~~~~~~""IoØ-...~~~,..._~,~-".""-". .,'
lb~;I~f~~~ i~vest~ent oper~tions ' . . 0.00 1.42 0.17 1,37
~ê'W~I~1l~..~_~~_~~;;r~t;~i11;;~r~5i;;i"':
,'c'Divid;;dS f;;;;'~~t~i~~~t inc~me (0,07) (0.02) (0.10) (0.10)
:;:'j,i~¡iil$Èim~fæm1B£~l;!ê!g:.__~~~jl~~~~it~~_~E1~~-r&G.l~~i~,(9J:.wl~;;¡I((i¡.~~):.

Distributions from capital paid-in (0.01)

Net asset value, end of period . .._. . _,._.. ... ..... .. ...., ,~ ~10,~?_ $!~.39 $12.02

$12,77

~í~~iIn-~~S:im!~!!NInt!ì!~;îlri;ì!~;~~'1t~~li~ìl~~lj;~~~~¿~§,_~~~~t%ii,\~¡:;~trT~~~~t:1~?;i~1t;.0:;j~~~1~~£lf~~~~äj,~~~~'1~~91...:.;..,;2~~35"

_12.21

':~:~~~~~1.iQ~~*tW~m~t~i~~i~fi~~æl~~~¡~~;~l~~.j5;~;~;ti~r¡;¡,;':~'0:J~J~2~~~,~~;~¿~~~ïiJ;:~;~~,3I~.,",;,2l,292

-' ~;~ of expe~ses to average net assets (%) 1.73(5) 1,60 1.53

27.692

. .folio turnover rate (%) 246 71 60
'~t~n~tlml~~fi;tlQè,9~~lI~~iltI~~~~~¥#í~itt~~~~~i~~~~j1t~~~t1£~idi\t~l~1&~§~~1£i~o.§4d,'.:.:dO.83

0:69
65

.'N1A

N1A

­

1,46

Class B - year ended October 31, 1987(1) 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995
Per share operating performance
. Net;~ss~i~~Q~r~~~~g')~!I,~i;,~~lig~l;~.1i~li;E~:JiJ:~~ÇRji'~~a~1~:~iìR:j~~t¿i~)~~~I-~~~lfi~!tgiij5:ÚE:;siO';~.I$),~;S-.1' $,1.1.,95
Net

investment

income

(loss) 0.06 0.13 0.19 0,18 0.07 0.01(2 0,02(2 0.03 0.01l2

.Net're~fiz~~!~H~:a#f~~f¡~~lQS~lig~ii.ê!i~lñ~'¡_~tlIl(~9.Üi¡¡~~g~~~~~~r~m.~i!i~~1i~t~~l.ii9s~?;~il~;i,:~i~';'i,:,g:9?~.:i.1;2_8,

Total from investment operations (1.64) 2.18 1.44 (1.82) 2.74 1.06 1.5 0.10 1.29
Dividends from netinvestment income (0.02) (0.09) (0.12) (0.20) (0.20) (0.03) (0.01) (0.02)

Distributions from capital paid-in (0.01)

.jl)i.~d~ûtCíiW;jr~mji~~lt~~lgafK¡gñt!~Sl~a~~ijiiK~~:¡'~;il-:'t~_~2::77(~9:0~Jii-Jti:(Ò1l~~~~a)E::~7.,(~P:Sl-~t()GÜ~tF~~~;~:'~~~_:(Q~~). ':'~

(0.03)
(0;52) ,

, ':,~,:TótaIj~1~§.~cis~:i;Y~~~~~~~~§~~feff;2r£l!~~~,~LifJ9.~i~í~JBtgâIÜf::~~3rjt§~~~ì~~:#11;~~g~!;~IO~ö,~f',:"'5~,~6): , (O~S.5)
Net asset value, end of period $8.34 $10.29 $11.52 $9.22 $11.71 $10.97 $12.31 $11.95 $12.69

" .~ .~.i..=t.-~;t~::--:~",~,~==~?',,i~~--~~~""='-'~~-r=¡r.",,,,,~~.i~~..~--_,*~..___..,_.......~~.___,.~____

TotaU!tV!l.~!!.!.nl~r1!~~.!;~~\..,~~~~¿;:;,,~m~)~. :,~~~";,14;27~k(W46) ";.~iO~1ii,';~t7;Y;;..1.H~;";.k_a;Zl-.;:".;:1;H.1
Ratios and supplemental data
Neraš~tS~~d~T~rl~~!!gQ9.i~è~).~lllt':~ùß~Jjf;:ç~~f.WJ¡r(~:yg.,..iF!oJi ,..'),~;~~??fTh~¡a~~;Wæ.ï:glirÇj~I2fi~i~;s~~::-,~~:.a~3";,.:"94,.i3i;.:,:,
Ratio

of expenses

to average

86;1fR

netassets(%) 2.56(5.7) 2.61(7) 2.30 2,13 2.24 2.27 2,09 2.10 2.11

Ra,tipgti!1eti,n,yestni:¡iQtInt~~~:(¡9~~H9;~,Y.~Xa,g~.p~i:a,s,s,~~:l%ri~,,"',.,::;;'.d:iJ)~~3(S.7),,=:~..4§~/-:aJii~,;:"~~;J~~â;~~'i9~~~~¿:t.:9;.iR;~~~Rj1?:::.,..LO.:2-Š. .;,O,O~"

Portfolio turnover rate (%) 40(51 54 94 165 217 246 71 ' 60 65
~p'vêragl!br()kêrage_ c:gn'rn.iSSJarira,t~.i~(~lSJ~.£~.:~ii~~:;~,.~~~¡;'ÏÄ:~¡,i..j\?:,,:,.. '. -N1,A. '...' '.'Nl~:L,;t-A:~J¡~:;:£&~BI~FN(A"g':Ü,;'.,Nll.i:Ú;; ¿.NlA , _;;,~ N1A " N1A

(1' Class A and Class 8 shares commenced operations on January 3, 1992 and
'pril 22, 1987, respectively.

ased on ,the average of the shares outstanding at the end of each month.

(6) Per portfolio share traded. Required for fiscal years that began September 1,

1995 or later. '
(7) Net of advisory expense reimbursements per share of $0.01 for the fiscal

1"1 Assumes dividend reinvestment and does not reflect the effect of sales charges,

year ended October 31, 1988 and less than $0,01 for the fiscal year ended

(4) Not annualized.

October 31, 1987,

(5) Annualized.

DISCIPLINED GROWTH FUND 5

Discovery Fund
REGISTRANT NAME: FREEDOM INVESTMENT TRUST III

'OAL AND STRATEGY

TICKER SYMBOL CLASS A: FRDAX CLASS B: FRDIX

PORTFOLIO SECURITIES

capital appreciation. To

RISK FACTORS

U.S.

in common stocks of

. 'I .

.ni the value of your invest­

this goal,
the fund
(!L The pursue
fund seeks
long-term

lI The fund
invests
companies
andprimarily
may also

II As with
mentany
wil fluctuate
growth fund,
in

invests in companies that appear to
offer superior growth prospects.
Under normal circumstances, the
fund wil invest at least 65% of
assets in these companies. The fund
looks for companies, including small-

invest in warrants, preferred stocks
and investment-grade convertible

response to stock market movements.

and medium-sized companies, that

have broad market opportunities
and .consistent or accelerating earnings growth. These companies may:

· occupy a profitable market niche
· have products or technologies that

are new, unique or proprietary
· are in an industry that has a favor­

able long-term growth outlook
· have a capable management team
with a significant equity stake

debt securities.

To the extent that the fund invests

in small- and medium-sized company

For liquidity and flexibility, the
fund may place up to 15% of net
assets in cash or in investmentgrade short-term securities. In

abnormal market conditions, it
may invest up to 80% in these
securities as a defensive tactic. The
fund may invest up to 25% of assets
in foreign securities, which carry
additional risks. The fund also may
inv~st in certain higher-risk
securities, and may engage in other
investment practices.

stocks, foreign securities and other
higher-risk securities, it takes on
additional risks that could adversely

affect its performance. The fund

may experience higher volatility
than many other types of growth

funds. Before you invest, please
read "More about risk" starting on
page 28.

PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT
. Bernice S. Behar, leader of

. the fund's portfolio manage­

ment team since March

1994, is a senior vice president of

These companies may be in a
relatively early stage of development,
lIt wil usually have established a
.ecord of profitability and a strong
financial position. The fund does not
invest for income.

the adviser. She joined the adviser

in 1991 and has been in the invest­
ment business since 1986.

I NVESTOR EXPENSES

% Fund investors pay various expenses, either
W' directly or indirectly. The figures below show
" the expenses for the past year, adjusted to reflect

Example The table below shows what you would pay

if you invested $1,000 over the various time frames
indicated. The example assumes you reinvested all

any changes. Future expenses may be greater or less.

dividends and that the average annual return was 5%.

Shareholder transaction expenses Class A Class B

Share class Year 1 Year 3 Year S Year 10

Maximum sales charge imposed on purchases

(as a percentage of offering price)

Class A shares

5.00%

none

$68

$105

$145

$256

r§1~1,;!!i!!!!liI~~~~~~~~~~¥~~~.~~~~:t~ii£~i~::'.~ ~:~:~::':-~." .
Assuming redemption

Maximum deferred sales charge none!') 5.00%

tl~_¡2E!!I~~~~~~¡ëf"§§le;;%C
Exchan.ge fee none none
Annual fund operating expenses (as a % of average net assets)
Management fee

0,75%

at end of period ,$76 $ 1 09 $ 155 $271
~~-r~Jtjf.!ö~)t4.~,~~Jt~!?,j#~J.id'$~Ù5::l:?Š~1)..'
This example is for comparison purposes only and is not a representation of

the fund's actual expenses and returns, either past or future.

0.75%
(1) Except for investments of $1 milion or more; see 'How sales charges

Other expenses 0.80% 0.80%
~ì~t~lrf9ndope~a~rÌ¡¡;~X¡n~i~~~d£.iflltJ:s.s~~~1~~~~_ss~'d .

are calculated. '
(2) Does not include wire redemption fee (currently $4.00).
(3) Because of the 12b-l fee, long-term shareholders may indirectly pay-

more than the equivalent of the maximum permitted front-end sales
charge,

6 DISCOVERY FUND

\NCIAL HIGHLIGHTS
Juiy 31, 1992, were audited by the
:$ The fund's
figures
former
below
independent
for the period
auditors,
ended

Price Waterhouse LLP. Figures for subsequent

years have been audited by the fund's current
independent auditors, Ernst & Young LLP.

21.63

Volatilty, as Indicated by Class B
year.by.year total

. .
54.97

10.88(5)

Investment return ("I)

3,15(5

(7.18)

Class A - year ended July 31, 1992(1) 1993 1994 1995 1996(2)

~ft~t~~~lt~~QIf~'f£À!ji~3,.
Per share operating performance

Net investment income (loss) (0.05) (0.16) (0.16)(3) (0.17)(3) (0.10)(3)

Total from investment operations (0.45) 1.99 (0.59) 4,66 0.45

~~~;I~íf*1Jfl!CS-~~~Wl~Sll!;4iY~~~~~~~3i1~=r~;Xd~~t~~1~~~.:.:.~....,~.
Distributions from net realized gain on investments sold (0.13) (1.66) (0.27) (0.13)
tN~r;~~~~lml~t~i-.l~~~~:litil~f~l;l~_nT~1,QTS:1T;¿~$¡$Gj="~lf~':i~Sl~.~~7.
Investment return at net asset value(4) (%) (4.79)(5) 22.33 (6.45) 55.80 3.52(5)
"~t assets, end of period (OOOs omitted) (S) 3,866 4,692 3,226 5,075 6,583
Total

'm~~n~~Ka9;~m~j:ml\ì~)~~",~~~~~ti~Æ~~~1lr-t1~1%Ii~Jii7.1~Ý'~i;1;7;1~¥~lõ!~;.?J:~:2;l'd.'.

,.0 of net investment income (loss) to average net assets (%) (1,20)(6) (1.61) (1.64) (1.73)

,1:74(6)
(1:51)(6)

:;t~ni~f&t.t~1Ii~1E~~Æ'~~l1-mli'i~~~!~~i~~~~liitli~~~lfj~~1~wÆt¡l¡t~of2:~J~~ri11.!ESG'"§8,1~",:118

73

Average brokerage commission rate(7) (S) N/A N/A N/A N/A
Class B - year ended July 31, ' , , . 1992(1) 1993 1994 1995 1996(2)
N/A

Per share operating performance
;N~i:~~~~~~~i~llB¡.ñ~~êigG.i~~~l~~~~-i;ig~lfÊ1J~;~~;g~;~D;~:L2~:iQi§¿g¿f.~¿~D~G~;1~~;~~~8;q~~J~¿~iö.6l-.;~.~,~s:.~~..

S12.54

-~ --_.~..."-~.,~.......~.+

Net investment income (loss) (0,11) (0.23) (0.22)(3) (0.22)(3)

;:¡'~t;re_
".~.1'?-è' , (.¡:,:?r;'::~"7":C,C..
i.a...ll...d.lfo._.. ;,£,.;,;2;; 4,,,;:;;(0.43) ",:'. . 4.69 . ,. - 0.53

(0.14)(3)

Total from investment operations 0.87 1,91 (0.65) 4.47 0.39
Distributions from net realized gain on investments sold (0,13) (1.66) (0,27) (0.13)

~irl¡1mN7~'ãT~~~~~~~~..~~r,'!f,?š;;.;t".'\~h~';~~'i~":~t~J,~-l;;mg~~~š:ä~ll~i1r~~..~g'~4'''.,~li.S4:-'';s'1iäo~
E..;:-;J~:c.~~~~~..~;~i.~b;..~~.$~~~~N~i~~:;;-;~:w;t.c;i:~.Jff5~~~.~r~:itr;;.:;'i:~.~."¡;.::r,;:::l..~~~::,~J,~~_rt~~::~~~~~4fA~A~_,._..~~~~":,-i..,..~......;~,~~~~ .__~.~, ~"7:~: .", ~_..:

Total investment return at net asset value(4) (%) 10.88(5) 21.63 (7.18) 54.97 3.15(5)

~!;tiiiir~S;i;pll~~'t~~~~~~~~~~~~r!if¿~~ff~~~~~~t~l~~;~~r~"PTÆJ~~l:t"~iti:l:~~&~~:;~:.~.~.
Net assets, end of period (OOO's omitted) (S) 34,636 38,672 26,537 31,645 34,452
Ratio of net investment income (loss) to average net assets (%) (1.56)(6) (2.26) (2.24) (2.34) (2.20)(6)

Average brokerage commission rate(7 (S) N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A

::l2fit!~¡ê~~I~~a~~l?i~~ITrf:lfii~~i3i:~~:~:..~~~tî~~~Æf¿1~~;~\'1¿!it,r!;I~~;~f;~f.~¿,~~~&;;f~7fXitJ1i~Ytilfi~.?7tf~:If~;::"!r~".1.Q8 .....;:~18.. 73

-:Iass A and Class B shares commenced operations on January 3, 1992 and
,ugust 30, 1991, respectively.
\_, Six months ended January 31, 1996. (Unaudited.)
(3) Based on the average of the shares outstanding at the end of each month.

(5) Not annualized.

(6) Annualized.

(7) Per portfolio share traded. Required for fiscal years that began September 1,
1995 or later.

(4) Assumes dividend reinvestment and does not reflect the effect of sales charges,
DISCOVERY FUND 7

Emerging Growth Fund
TICKER SYMBOL CLASS A: TAEMX CLASS B: TSEGX

REGISTRANT NAME: JOHN HANCOCK SERIES, INC.

ìOAL AND STRATEGY

€jL The fund seeks long-term
capital appreciation. To

pursue this goal, the fund
invests in emerging companies
(market capitalization of less than
$1 billion). Under normal circum­
stances, the fund will invest at least
80% of assets in a diversified
portfolio of these companies. The
fund looks for companies that show
rapid growth but are not yet widely

recognized. The fund also may
invest in established companies
that, because of new management,
products or opportunities, offer the
possibility of accelerating earnings.
The fund does not invest for income.
PORTFOLIO SECURITIE,S,

in the common stocks of
li The fund
primarily
U.S. invests
and foreign
emerging

growth companies, although it may
'nvest up to 20% of assets in other
types of companies. The fund may
also invest in warrants, preferred

stocks and investment-grade
convertible debt securities.
For liquidity and flexibility, the
fund may place up to 20% of assets
in cash or in investment-grade
short-term securities. In abnormal
market conditions, it may invest
more assets in these securities as a
defensive tactic. The fund also may
invest in certain higher-risk securi­

ties, and may engage in other
investment practices.

· may lack substantial capital
reserves

· do not have proven track records
In addition, stocks of emerging
companies are often traded in low
volumes, which can increase market
and liquidity risks. Before you
invest, please read "More about
risk" starting on page 28.
PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT
. Bernice S. Behar, leader of

. the fund's portfolio manage­

ment team since April
1996, is a senior vice president of

RISK FACTORS
.n1 the value of your invest­
. 'i'

the adviser. She joined the adviser

II As with
mentany
will growth
fluctuatefund,
in

in 1991 and has been in the invest­

response to stock market movements.
Stocks of emerging growth companies
carry higher risks than stocks of
larger companies. This is because

ment business since 1986.

emerging growth companies:

· may be in the early stages of
development
· may be dependent on a small

number of products or services

INVESTOR EXPENSES

% Fund investors pay various e:Kpenses, either
directly or indirectly. The figures below show

Example The table below shows what you would pay

. . Ð the expenses for the past year, adjusted to reflect

if you invested $1,000 over the v~rious time frames
indicated. The example assumes you reinvested all

any changes. Future expenses may be greater or less.

dividends and that the average annual return was 5%.

Shareholder transaction expenses Class A Class B

Share class Year 1 Year 3 Year 5 Year 10

Maximum sales charge imposed on purchases

Class A shares

~. m

(as a percentage of offering price) 5.00% none
Maximum deferred sales charge nonel') 5.00%

S64

S92

S123

S210

~£!~rt~~~:~~rJ~:f~i~C~ltl~~;~rrg~~2)~'~8'~:~~.:;~~::~:'.
Assuming redemption

at end of period S72 S97 S 135 S229

t~~~Q1'$!;i1ffjf9Pii~2iti¥i;5lï§?£:21.:::'~).~~,~~1\~.2.~?"..

~~Ka~~t¡a~rf~~§~r.I!'..":2:1tÊ~~:'!f~;:_::~~~~~l~it~q~21Il1F!jBn~:.~"

Exchange fee none none

This example is for comparison purposes only and is not a representation of

the fund's actual expenses and returns, either past or future.

Annual fund operating expenses (as a % of average net assets)

Management fee 0.75% 0.75%
;~!~~m~~i;;:';;:r~j.~Kf:~:...,~ië7C;~:E;;;';;~'gt~~I~~~%ji~:i?~~)~,'

Other expenses 0.40% 0.40%

STöt~i¡furìd.opërätT¡¡~ :êxpbSès"E)¿;;;::r~;-7s*¡~~nI~9~7t~~1~%,.:t..

(1) Except for investments of $1 million or more; see "How sales charges

are calculated. "

(2) Does not include wire redemption fee (currently $4.00).
(3) Because of the 12b-l fee, long-term shareholders may indirectly pay

more, than the equivalent of the maximum permitted front-end sales
charge.

8 EMERGING GROWTH FUND

NCIAL HIGHLIGHTS
. by the fund's independent auditors,
:$ The Ernst
figures
& Young
belowLLP.
have been audited

Volatility, as indicated by Class B
yea..by.year total

Investment return (%)

.
33.59

0.00

.
73.78

27,40

(11.82)

6,19

24.53

-­

33.60

2,80

Class A - year ended October 31, 1991(') 1992 1993 1994 1995(2)
Per share operating performance
l",~,d_¡tlr,Ss_'~.'~~_,u~.,i5.:'-""ii.lnn.n nllnffn.~~øã~~ _ -. .~"'.. ~ ... ", ,...~.~~::. ... ...0 .",41ê~~iP.lìxm~iõ~li~få'g!f¥s26;8i

_ . "'..~=-~~__ll~ . _. - ~~~~~-. ;;~~S-~~"''i:'!3'!~':~o'~",::.J_,.",_~':c"",,,.:-""'.':

Net investment income (loss)(3) (0.03) (0.20) (0.16) (0,18) . (0.25)

~!i~~íl~~iße,i¡~~A~~~__¥.~m-~li~¿~~~~.
Total from investment operations 1.14 1.40 5.29 0.93 9,27
C~itif~~1l~1~~_~~~~~f~~~~~~~\S,;:i!;~E"
Distributions from net realized gain on investments sold (0.06)

~l1~i~ihi2iimr2~'gd:~L~-- ~ .'-''"-~~:__.~ :~~~~_~~iiP~Yai~gWBi~jilii1l~$l~itl~ji§~99.;,'

Total investment return at net asset valuel.) (%) 6.29 7.32 25.68 3.59 34.56

i!.:y'K!¡l!~p.~Em~~!m!1.~~~~'7f;1~~i¥~~l~!17~1k1~~1'~~.~~E~~~$+Wllif0~~~~~gd:~:7:Xf":::./"'...".,

Net assets, end of period (OOOs omitted) (S) 38,859 46,137 81,263 131,053 179,481

(~ipt~1ilx.Flsf~tq~Jl!ií.;;.mm~~!~~~Jf~!lm~;t-~ts~¡fj&~4t;;:~~~~,~lli\~i¥lt~~liiiiWj~3~I~¡Ù~.ii~;;~~.iiqf,.. '., 1:44' 1.;38

Ratio of net investment income (loss) to net assets (%) (0.15) (1.03) (0.71) (0.83)
23

. "age brokerage commission rate(S) (S) N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
s B - year ended October 31, 1987(1) 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995(2)
Per share operating performance
...Net~IsetNal~~lj~~9i;¡1!~frîi~~j~~~~~ì~1€~.1i~~~0Jji;3E~7;8~';Z~;T~J:89;T~I19;54~t';;s"~~§~\~ll~jJi~~Lj~E~;~~.:;-:'$20:34'.. ..S25.33..

S26.04

Net investment income (loss)(3) (0.0021) 0.09 (0.08) (0,22) (0.30) (0.38) (0.36) (0.36)

(0.45)

dN'~tS~~~J.~~gí~iit1Q¿~~lrít~¡~~ii~l~~§-?~~~~i~irE59:g§,~J.,'.,;:;~:~.~::át~;:~~§,Ifi~j;cit~Gi~¡;i#~~~Ä';~;~lI5W;~.'::ç:S;~S:~::;.....:i:,07,

..,9.2Q

Total from investment operations 0.0000 2.65 2.75 '(1.48) 8.16 1,18 4.99, 0.71

8.75

Dividends from net investment income (0.04)
~!~DJ~1~~~'Es¡ii9gjta~~l~lirêS~sl~¡~Q1ij~"i~rl-m~l~;ii~'ft'".iil~~j.~¿¡-;rcq;:::,i2;~ß(§6s£T(iÉ2fr~:s,~:J~hfaf96)!i~~~.:.~T..~:'.':..."....~è;':c..",,-,~7:,

Total distributions (0.53) (0.22) (0.06)

;N~l\2.~ti'L~ìinP:9lTi~~~i~-;i~J;l&llfgt~~~rç,~i.~~~~:XT~!9::.¥l::.:~g':i~~!G~;tilq~i~ì~J.?)~b:r;Bê,rll4G~~*1l3j~~;.:li~~Q1~....1~~;1~.

Total investment return at netasset valuec.) (%) 0.00 33.59 27.40 (11.82) 73.78 6.19 24.53 2.80 33.60

,iÎn~f~:~í~~Itil~1f;~iLq¡!&~t~~~1'~.!V?iRY;'(a~jX~d::r~lhç,9ff!:E2%lt1~1;,;g¡~,;.~~tg~~il~1l~:~~2rS~~:cç3:~~2t~~.
Ratios and supplemental data

;N~t;~~i$~i!~19~RG:a%i¡§i~lti~9Xê~~~l~~~~Ìi:t-:Zd~~l~;':~~a~;fE;tÍisZi~l;~t!~s~f~s~0~~'t~:8.¥~~23~g~i~J4ll't!~l;~i?t,~,9,~;4?i..

Ratioofexpensestoaveragenetassets(%) 0.03 3.05 3.48 3,11 2.85 2.64 2.28 2.19 2.11
~ati?'~~~~~"'~~'~~!~;d~t~,~C?~~(I?SS~ ~~,~verage net assets (%)._.. . ..., (~Æ)... 0;81.. (0.67) . (1.64),(1.83) . (1.99) . 0.58) (1.46) (1.55)

Portfolio turnover rate (%) 0 252 90 82 66 48 29

~:~j¡à'2f¿â9iII~t~(~fl,n~kf11We"~lE~~~lìet~~~~j!~:'i.ê::(a.¥f'....:t~(1.:78t'.'.;s(g~tgr;.~-'r:-?;::ß:~.':.~.:.¿,.~~:i:~:.:,:,,:~,~.'-;..d;"

25

23

N/A

N/A

Fi!e:rê,ciûctj§ri:¡;ei;:;~re'(~));:;t~3~J~:rèd':. ': 'dO:29':~dd'O.O~'.0~F'\:2'~b~'.:.~;:' '.:'-::""': '. ...,---_ '

Average brokerage commission ratel) ($) N/A N/A N/A N1A N/A N/A N/A
(1 \ Class A and Class B shares commenced operations on August 22, 1991 and
'ctober 26, 1987, respectively. (Not annualized.)

m December 22. 1994, John Hancock Advisers, Inc. became the investment
adviser of the fund.

(3) Based on the average of the shares outstanding at the end of each month.

(5) Per portfolio share traded. Required for fiscal years that began September I,
1995 or later.

(6) An estimated total return calculation, which does not take into consideration
fee reductions by the adviser 'during the periods shown,

(7) Unreimbursed, without fee. reduction.

(4) Assumes dividend reinvestment and does not reflect the effect of sales charges,
EMERGING GROWTH FUND 9

Growth Fund
REGISTRANT NAME: FREEDOM INVESTMENT TRUST II

iOAL AND STRATEGY
capital appreciation. To

this goal,
the fund
(!L The pursue
fund seeks
long-term
invests in stocks that are diversified

with regard to industries and
issuers. The fund favors stocks of
companies whose operating earn­
ings and revenues have grown more
than twice as fast as the gross
domestic product (OOP) over the
past five years, although not all
stocks in the fund's portfolio wil
meet this criterion.
PORTFOLIO SECURITIES

_The portfolio invests
primarily in the common
U.S. companies.
stocks of
It may also invest in warrants,
preferred stocks and convertible
debt securities.

TICKER SYMBOL CLASS A: JHNGX CLASS B: JHGBX

For liquidity and flexibility, the
fund may invest up to 35% of net
assets in investment-grade shortterm securities. In abnormal
market conditions, it may invest
more than 35% in these securities
as a defensive tactic. The fund
may also invest in certain higherrisk securities, and may engage in
other investment practices.

PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT
. Bernice S. Behar, leader of

. the fund's portfolio manage­

ment team since August

1995, is a senior vice president of
the adviser. She joined the adviser
in 1991 and has been in the invest­
ment business since 1986.

RISK FACTORS
.ni the value of your invest. 'I

II As with
mentany
wil growth
fluctuatefund,
in

response to stock market movements.
To the extent that the fund invests

in higher-risk securities, it takes on
additional risks that could adversely
affect its performance. Before you

invest, please read "More about
risk" starting on page 28.

INVESTOR EXPENSES

% Fund investors pay various expenses, either
directly or indirectly. The figures below show

D the expenses for the past year, adjusted to reflect

Example The table below shows what you would pay

if you invested $1,000 over the various time frames
indicated. The example assumes you reinvested all

any changes. Future expenses may be greater or less.

dividends and that the average annual return was 5%.

Shareholder transaction expenses Class A Class B

Share class Year 1 Year 3 Year 5 Year 10

Maxim'um sales charge imposed on purchases

(as a percentage of offering price) 5.00% none
f-Mi.

Èm\.

Maximum deferred sales charge none(l) 5.00%

~~~~~~§ïìJJ~~~~~~~if1fsl;~:'i8~igfr;¡t:;~Ifuii~llgiE~~i1B;;.

Exchange fee none none

Class A shares 565 595 5128 $220
rEJâšI~~~~~35~t~t~':dL:.:d=~::::¡:d',"'
Assuming redemption
at end of period 572. 599 $ 138 $236
~~g£~-l1.~~~p.~r~mP1g-ìf~T~~.~t't~ll'':;j~tU.IC~1;:l;S236.
This example is for comparison purposes only and is not a representation of

the fund's actual expenses and returns, either past or future.

Annual fund operating expenses (as a % of average net assets)

Management fee 0,80% 0.80%
'12b-1ífuoj-ec ....d:;:.~5!jiIdd..:;~:;:;j:;~'t~~rf~!.!IT;~~~~~%I2

Other expenses 0.40% 0.40%
Total.fúnd, 0'p~råtirig-expense~:::?:~lf~;~ii;~1;~F;.,;~?'¥1:5Ql;f~;7~::i:2Õ~r

(1) Except for investments of $1 milion or more; see "How sales charges

are calculated, "

(2) Does not include wire redemption fee (currently $4.00).
(3) Because of the 12b-1 fee, long-term shareholders may indirectly pay

more than the equivalent of the maximum permitted front-end sales
charge.

10 GROWTH FUND

NCIAL HIGHLIGHTS
:¡ The figures below have been audited

by the fund's independent auditors,
Ernst & Young LLP.

.
41.68

Volatilty, as indicated by Class A
year-by-year total

13,83

Investment return (%)

(8.34)

27.17

6.06

IL

13.03

(7.50)

Class A - year ended December 31, 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995
Per share operating performance

~H~lIá~~Jgl~trílgiql~;~L&~._~iq_l~1I-i_1limmm~~l;¡l~!~8~i.
Net Investment income (loss) 0.11 0.22 0.23. 0.28 0.16 0.04 (0.06) (0.11) (0.10) (0,09)(')

i~flÇim~_n~~fl~~~~~_~~1ìl!~il~lÜLGXBi~:~g'
Total from investment operations 1.90 0.86 1.39 4.09 (1.31) 5.40 1.04 2.22 (1.31) 4.31

~~l~#~a~l~iD~lf~~~.~ _~æ!~.š~¡~p~~~~i~~1.~1~r;rtit~~:~;~~~~::~::.:~~;
Dividends from net investment income (0.17) (0.28) (0.23) (0.29) (0.16) (0.04)

~¡~Qi~øB~1l.gltti'&1IBlt__._.?iÎ9i~.._Q1š~J9ait~~~iqSi~lgl;j~g\ì:q)....::.d.fo.~~)

Total distributions (2.37) (2.55) (0.40) (2.24) (0.94) (0.85) (1.20) (2.14) (0.20) (0.69)

'N,et:ås~liX!r~~€m.1E¡lTh~atl"i:a1!.~tlgmi!lalilliê-l~~lt1sBl¥~!1?r~'!liz-rf~~~JÌ;1§;i.'Sjs~~~. ..... S;9.51
Total investment return at net asset value(2) (%) 13.83 6.03 11.23 30.96 (8.34) 41.68 6.06 13.03 (7.50) 27.17
Net assets. end of period (ODDs omitted) (S) 87,468 86,426 101,497 105,014 102,416 145,287 153,057 162,937 146,466 241,700
...Ratio of.~~êê~~~~ft$'~y~i;.9~l~~t'~~I~~t(~l?~:ti~?,E"~'¡~llØ!~Q~~~f3Ai9¡i~:li;;~Eil~~l¥Q;,~6~t1t~ì:;1§1i0J:~f~~;~ltiE~Q,~1~t~m:5~..:",',l :65.

1;48

- '."1 of net investment income (loss) to average net assets (%) 0.77 1.41 1.76 1.73 1.12 0.27 (0,36) (0.67) (0.64)

(0,46)

liô.:i~Ìñ9ie!i¡:~t~1tC!ølTJf~~e~~lB'1is~~~~~;itij.;k~"N1it~L~il§tfFi2'5~ë9~lti.E:~lS~:~~:;Zi:iE~;,:~i:.,~:,~8 .... S2

..dge brokerage commission rate(') ($) N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A

..68(3)

N/A

Class B - year ended December 31, 1994(5) 1995
Per share operating performance

..Net.ass¥i.i~~I¡¡ê,~~~~j~2îT~~~JiPß~!9il~~~5kidifit~~~1È;~ftjt£;itÆJ:~i':,;- .'.

S17:16 $15,83

Net investment income (loss)

(0.20)(1) (0.26)(11

. Net. rea¡i~~~darId~~ìl(~~j~~lgaTnÍm;~~)~aå;¡RV~~P~~~L~i21~:~ t,;"~'....,

"(0~93) -4.37

Total from investment operations

(1,13) 4,11

.

less

Distributions from net realized gain on investments sold (0.20)

(0.69)

Total investment return at net asset value(2) (%) (6.56)(6)

26.01

NetâsSe.:,l,7.\l,.~,ì~è:.;tri1i,~.I.o.",J".dí),è...l¡P,.'..d_.',.'!.,;.:t~..~_.~,l',.,d.r:.i.d~.~-,¡.,.;.r...0&iF_.::.,'.~_i..r=_C,ii~,d,:.r'.:,t,;;.~,.Pm""~~._;:.'.;)L,\f~.:-£,"..~,'.....;.'..'
,.,' ,. '. ";.:ô;~,,,".:."J'::'7":7.'':~i': C:~.:-.":~d:'.'c~":;'.::
... .__:.$.,.1,.5_:..8,.,',3.,..,."
S19,25
~. - .- ~"-~ - - '"~* _.. ...~~__.~-¡::,....~~..-~. .. ,. _._:..~,:~-,;~J~.;¿r.~:~;.¡~-:o/,\i.t~5~~;::::-:~':::~~~~;~_"
;.:'-.::~::~:"~':.........'.~:~.;.~;.;:
_
. .~: . .

a-~t~ei~~~~:~~pl~m!~~~~~~.æ:æl~~li~~~:~~~.~~~7 ,\-, :.,.:~~~~~:£;~.~0~~L:l~:j~:2:;~i~¿:li;i:~i~~;~~i_:,¡i,&~:.t..~-..:~f~;~~~~..¡.~:~~:~.:;.~:~~~i~:;~~Ä;~....~

N~t.~~:!~,~~~~~f"peric:d(Oo~=-o.i:it~~~(~) ~___",. .... .". . ... ..... .... .,.... .. '. . 3,807 .15,913

"Ra!!9;~fl~~ii~;!~f~1!~~~f~f$1,~.ilWt~~f,Æ~~~j~.¡~£:~~DÚ:t.~:l~;;t,;;.~:~?E~~¡~i;~:~~~¡f~liffrtii¿~k~i.~~~~ç,':~~~i.li~~fi~gi!'ii~'~~.~~.~:~;

Ratio of net investment income (loss) to average net assets (%) (1,25)(7 (1,39)

,68(3)

Average brokerage commission rate(') ($)

~ 'sed on the average of the shares outstanding at the end of each month.

sumes dividend reinvestment and does not reflect the effect of sales charges,
\'" Excludes merger activity.

N/A

N/A

(5) Class B shares commenced operations on January 3, 1994,
(6) Not annualized.

(7) Annualized,

(4) Per portfolio share traded. Required for fiscal years that began September 1.
1995 or later.

GROWTH FUND 11

Regional Bank Fund
TICKER SYMBOL CLASS A: FRBAX CLASS B: FRBFX

REGISTRANT NAME: FREEDOM INVESTMENT TRUST

OAL AND STRATEGY

PORTFOLIO SECURITIES
in the common stocks of

capital appreciation. To

pursueseeks
this goal,
the fund
eL The fund
long-term

tI The fund
primarily
U.S. invests
companies.
It may

invests in regional banks and lending
institutions, including:
· commercial and industrial banks
· savings and loan associations
· bank holding companies

also invest in warrants, preferred
stocks and investment-grade
convertible debt securities, as well
as foreign stocks.

These financial institutions provide
full-service banking, have primarily
domestic assets and are typically
New York City and
based outside of
Chicago. They mayor may not be
members of the Federal Reserve,
and their deposits mayor may not
be FDIC-insured. Under normal
circumstances, the fund wil invest

at least 65% of assets in these com­
panies; it may invest up to 35%

of assets in other financial services
companies, including lending
companies and money center banks.
1ecause regional banks typically pay
.egular dividends, moderate income
is an investment goal.

performance, which may differ in
direction and degree from that of

For liquidity and flexibility, the fund
may place up to 15%
of net assets
in cash or in investment-grade
short-term securities. In abnormal
market conditions, it may invest up
to 80% in these securities as a
defensive tactic. The fund may also

the overall stock market. Falling

interest rates or deteriorating
economic conditions can adversely
affect the performance of bank
stocks, while rising interest rates
will cause a decline in the value of
any debt securities the fund holds.

Before you invest, please read "More
about risk" starting on page 28.

PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT
e James K. Schmidt joined

. John Hancock in 1985 and
has served as the fund's

invest in certain higher-risk securi­

portfolio manager since its inception

ties, and may engage in other
investment practices.

that year. A senior vice president

RISK FACTORS

investment business since 1974.

of the adviser, he has been in the

,ni the value of your invest. 'I

II As with
growth fund,
mentany
wil fluctuate
in

response to stock market movements.
Because the fund concentrates in a

single industry, its performance is
largely dependent on the industry's

INVESTOR EXPENSES
~ Fund investors pay various expenses, either

directly or indirectly. The figures below show

D the expenses for the past year, adjusted to reflect

Example The table below shows what you would pay

if you invested $1,000 over the various time frames
indicated. The example assumes you reinvested all

any changes. Future expenses may be greater or less.

dividends and that the average annual return was 5%.

Shareholder transaction expenses Class A Class B

Share class Year 1 Year 3 Year 5 Year 10

Maximum sales charge imposed on purchases

Class A shares 563 592 5122

(as a percentage of offering price) 5.00% none
~1l~l~taì~L. 1f~'''~Sia;~
Maximum deferred sales charge none(') 5.00%
;ll~~~~a~;,tè~~7t~'t;l0'::'~:t-~1ifJ;~~E?~T,~2t~~~~r':;~;s~t(~nfT"7.'

Exchange fee none none

5209

~Titii6.~ri,ti?Æ~¥;tE~:;£~~åi'~i~.Y::~'¡:::i'ió:..:d'.:.':E;~-'.:d..
Assuming redemption

at end of period 571 595 5132

5224

~;'~~~~~!ijij:Jik,1~a~~P~Rti~f/j2iil::'~g;-65,; "-':51:1 2,

5224

This example is for comparison purposes only and is not a representation of

the fund's actual expenses and returns, either past or future,

Annual fund operating expenses (as a % of average net assets)

Management fee 0.78% 0.78%
. -,",",,,;:.~".,.",,~~,,.t;¡illJ?~1.2;l~~Î~tlllé.9~? .

Other expenses 0.31 % 0,31 %

~ltot~!~Nnd'ppèråti~g "êXjiïsê"iidE;:-d.d,'?,~;; j~~;i2~t.¥.~îTi~!i;1ÍË£~iQ'~.%!s='

(1) Except for investments of $1 million or more; see "How sales charges

are calculated, "

(2) Does not include wire redemption fee (currently $4.00).
(3) Because of the 12b-l fee, long-term shareholders may indirectly pay

more than the equivalent of the maximum permitted front-end sales
charge,

12 REGIONAL BANK FUND

NCIAL HIGHLIGHTS
:, The figures below have been audited

by the fund's independent auditors,
Price Waterhouse LLP.

Volatilty, as indicated by Class B

37.20

36.89

36.71

year.by-year total investment return ("/)
(32.29)

Class A - year ended October 31, 1992(1) 1993 1994 1995

~S:
~£~$ìl~s?~
~i;F~íf~øijl.!g~(¡~nD"I~_i9~~~jSi~jL.
Per share operating performance

Net investment income (loss) 0.21 0.26(2) 0.39(2 0.52(2)

Total

'from investment operations 4.19 6.10 1.30, 6,44

;~~Eïi~ri&~~~1L~~JIr.im~~~~~~t~~~it~~\TI3~f~id~t:~.~,~
Dividends from net investment income (0.19) (0.26) (0,34) (0.48)
~~ttf~r~~~llqñ~ft£;n~~l!~~il;~lfi~!!l\lnfxt~n~~~~'lf~tI=r~~~!!!f~:~Ji_~~llirl~~~~!:Jr\;;;(§~3,4)è'~.'

Total distributions (0.19) (1.95) (1.40) (0.82)
Total investment return at net asset value(l) (%) 31.26(4) 37.45 6.44 31.00

'N:~tr~~~!!Hl~rr~rÖJprmV~~~_IRï:f;g~'1i~~1~~I~~¡ti~l.íí'i¡'S~iflij~~~~il!lli~~Îtt~~$~~J~i~~~~t~~íïd:s~.~:::.#i;'1~4 .

Net assets, end of period (OOOs omitted)($) 31,306 94,158 216.978 486.631
~-.;l) of net investment income to average net assets (%) 1.64(5) 1.29 1.78 2,23
'\j$l~r6~léflr~t~liL,~~I:~t~if4t~i-ili'~~r~l1T;~d~1~ji~I~;;ftìl~1~iÉ~l~iøllfl~§~~~~r3.~sIfsl;;;~i3.' . .14.

..ge brokerage commission rate(6) ($) N/A N/A N/A N/A
Class B - year ended October 31, 1987(7) 1987(8) 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995
Per share operating performance
'.tJ~f;~~~rt~I~~~g~hibg1~m~ÎiéfiIt~~~~~lt~-':f~¿~lt~l#.~!;r~t~~!TtIfa'~~j's;1§to-~~-n~11~.1fgi.1~i§§~~~~j,~t~rflIEi~)~.~~!ïZ~~':~';~~~:(56'

521:43

Net investment income (loss) 0.20 0.05 0.16 0,20 0.30 0.29 0.18 0.15(2 0.23(21

0,36(2)

N~fr~~li~l~¡:~ii~:~nr~'~lfz~rg'â\niQ8~i:ir.n:aQ~SiIni~~lltCf.~~t:;i-..ilI;t;.l?~tl),: .', ~:;.:3;:?~~:L-;i¡,§~.~i;iJ~I19I;JÀ¡~:~§'ttâ~Z£r~G:;:::~5:83':,:," ''''0.91.

5,89

Total from investment operations 1.94 (2.12) 3.28 2.22 (3.89) 5.97 4.74 5.98 1.14

6.25

Dividends from net investment income (0.26) (0.04) (0.15) (0.16) (0,19) (0.34) (0.28) (0.17) (0.21)

(0.32)

.:i;j?JSi,~lm1iiíff~ffó~:nët~~lí~~~;gi¡m~~:¡~~.ttn~;~f~~li~§jI~5i~l§~~9L:,:;~~ì1â~:~~~&i~1JJf~~W~):~1TI;t:;)£iiit:(Q:zs);2~IE~~'~';';;(1.Ó6.l,,, .,' (0;34).,

Distributions from capital paid.in . (0.03)

..,.~.~.To~I~1~ìt¡~ry~:0L~i;~;~:;:;,~1Jf*)~f~~1~Nii§i-;g~&11m~il~-l~X¿j:,mJ;11i~1L~2i~Q;9j)~Jo~~illl7a~%i~&:(1:I~~l..:~3.i,~~1).:; .i_(~:~6)"
Net

asset

value. end of

period $12.68 $10.02 $11.89 $13.00 $8.13 513.76 517.44 521.56 521,43 $27.02

,;ti.i~~~~~i~tjmii~:~r~~~~$y~~i:rri'j~,çl!r~~~l~Jg(t?I~I~~~dl4l!9~~~,9!~~~~))~~s~a~g~Æ~::'9It~71I~9;#/
Ratios and

supplemental data

':N~t~iiè:~~~;af,'P1!~~(òõ:ômift~r:(Š~~~I5;~i.f,~I:i~I~1~¡¡S4!6ìfWi~:a-å;721'...,..:.50;96S~~8'l~1¡igl.J3il~z!!i¡íff~560f(#;)~ôã;tS2ì;ì07..:1¡236;447.

,R~!i~~fe~£:Fs~~-t~"~~;ra~g"e~!tas~~~(%l--'-~--A8~-~2Ä7~5) ..2.17' ...1.99... 1.99... '..2:04 .. ,...1.96, 1.88 ..... . 2.06'''-i~Ò9''
'Rati~9t;,i~jijri~~tÖentJisPfu~;(ï£i~Yit~~v~rng~bit.~~~1~I;Il.;§~I*;;~i9;7~(~L~i'\.;~:;~~i0i¥'Úi~?4J:~~~!?,i.fi~"2~¡~:~~SS;t7Ù~~,,:i;al6=.,'d:~~',1.;07 " ,,1 ;53

Portfolio turnover rate (%) 89 58(5) 87 85 56 75 53 35 13 14

'A~~(áQ~'~;~ke£agVsV~irl~~òiir~t~~B~rr:~2~~~07~~lI;:S~WA:':~:;:JBl~=L~;j:w~~t2:fl&12;:;;~Nl~~J.g:N?A~?;~~~":ÑiA .i..:-"'~-N¡,,:" N1A

"ass A shares commenced operations on January 3. 7992,

Jsed on the average of the shares outstanding at the end of each month.

(6) Per portfolio share traded. Required for fiscal years that began September I,
1995 or later.

\_. Assumes dividend, reinvestment and does not reflect the effect of sales charges,

(7) Year ended March 31, 1987.

(4) Not annualized,

(8) For the period April

1 , 1987 to October 31, 1987,

(5) Annualized,

REGIONAL BANK FUND 13

Special Equities Fund
REGISTRANT NAME: JOHN HANCOCK SPECIAL EQUITIES FUND

TICKER SYMBOL CLASS A: JHNSX CLASS B: SPQBX

OAL AND STRATEGY

" For liquidity and flexibility, the
fund may place up to 35% of assets
capital appreciation. To
in cash or in investment-grade
this goal,
the fund
81. The pursue
fund seeks
long-term
short-term securities. In abnormal
invests in small-capitalization commarket conditions, it may invest
panies and companies in situations
more than 35% in these securities
offering unusual or non-recurring
as a defensive tactic. The fund also
opportunities. Under normal
may invest in certain higher-risk
circumstances, the fund wil invest
securities, and may engage in other
at least65% of assets in a diversified
investment practices.
portfolio of these companies. The
RISK FACTORS
fund looks for companies that

response to stock market movements.

larger companies. This is because

This fund will be closed to new investors at the

these companies:

end of the day its total assets reach $2.5 billon,

· may lack proven track records

Further investments will be limited to existing

· may be dependent on a small

tlanies. It may also invest in

warrants,

preferred stocks and investmentgrade convertible debt securities.

day-to-day investment

subadviser to the fund.

demonstrated annual earnings and
revenue growth of at least 25%,
self-financing capabilities and strong
management. The fund does not
invest for income.

in the common stocks

. Michael P. DiCarlo is
. responsible for the fund's

carry higher risks than stocks of

fragmented industry, and that have

lI The fund
of U.S.
invests
and foreign
primarily
com­

MAN AG EME NTIS U BADVIS E R

Stocks of small-capitalization
and special-situation companies

.ini
If the value of your invest-

II As with
growth fund,
mentany
wil fluctuate
in

PORTFOLIO SECURITIES

which can increase market and
liquidity risks. Before you invest,
please read "More about risk"
starting on page 28.

management. He has served as the
fund's portfolio manager since
January 1988, and has been in the
investment business since 1984.
He is currently one of three princi­
pals in DFS Advisors, LLC, which
was founded in 1996 and serves as

dominate an emerging industry or

hold a growing market share in a

In addition, stocks of these compa­
nies are often traded in low volumes,

accounts,

number of products or services
· may be undercapitalized
· may have highly priced stocks that

are sensitive to adverse news

I NVESTOR EXPENSES

% Fund investors pay various expenses, either
directly or indirectly. The figures below show

D the expenses for the past year, adjusted to reflect

Example The table below shows what you would pay

if you invested $1,000 over the va~ious time frames
indicated. The example assumes you reinvested all

any changes. Future expenses may be greater or less.

dividends and that the average annual return was 5%.

Shareholder transaction expenses Class A Class B

Share class Year 1 Year 3 Year S Year 10

Maximum sales charge imposed on purchases

Class A shares $65 $95 $ 128 $220

(as a percentage of offering price) 5.00% none

~~~Wi;~~f~~r""~~~~iir;i1~~ll\lKr~~l~r~¡~~;. .
Maximum deferred sales charge none(') 5.00%

ft'í~~~ifŠ-R~~!:5~r'6¿'¡~:fgr~~g.~!2iìE~1;li¡~~ff~~:~!::.':: ..
Assuming redemption

at end of period $73 $99 $ 139 S237
:'..'~ÁSš~!nìng::ií'~~'r~~miWAA~l~îi;':~H;:;h~$~9,~t~~~~~lt9d:d~;;,?;S~37 ....

:R~~è;i¡:pi'9~)t~~~:~;~2;:0~;'?iE:;;r!:~;t;.i;::5~B~.æ~êië:~~!i.~ò1i~;~~:_.

Exchange fee none none

This example is for comparison purposes only and is not a representation of

the fund's actual expenses and returns, either past or future.

Annual fund operating expenses (as a % of average net assets)
Management fee(3)

0.82%

0.82%
(1) Except for investments of $1 mil/ion or more; see "How sales charges

Other expenses 0.38% 0.40%
:fajåljf!ìcr:oPërãtiriif~x¡iì~iR:;';'.::;':'Ä~~'~'~:'~ttt~lj~Æ~;t~,J~~~~%i'

are calculated. "

(2) Does not include wire redemption fee (currently $4,00).
(3) Includes a subadviser fee equal to 0.25% of the fund's net assets,
(4) Because of the 12b-1 fee, long-term shareholders may indirectly pay

more than the equivalent of the maximum permitted front-end sales
charge.

14 SPECIAL EQUITIES FUND

\ICIAL HIGHLIGHTS

~4 The figures below have been audited
by the fund's independent auditors,
Ernst & Young LLP.

. .
95.37

31.82

Volatility, as indicated by Class A
year-by-year total Investment return (%)
(28.68)

47.83

37,49

20,25

(0,12)

Class A - year ended October 31, 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995
Per share operating perfrmance

~~'U~~~~~
~ ~_.___ ----...~~~r..,..._....~_.~_._
Net investment income (loss) (0.03) (0.03) 0.04 0.01 (0.12) (0.10) (0.19)1') (0.20)11) (0.21 )~1) (0.18)11)

~gf~~'1f~ilg~f~~~_.~,;, . .'~ø "8~'~~~rl_ipj:$ill$1ßã~~$'i6~j~f:'
;,f4..'et5ièal.i~~a;!Iõ¡l.fifn~~. aJžI.8:\9ãih1(ì~¡a~1!-l.~.'k ~~. .'. 'il !9~~6\:~)'1~;¡~H'fl!::J~)""~~~'"I4_~Y,~1i~fr~~i-2I'_
~,o"'~~""lii"_:i""'£,~¡-"~_",=--v'~'L_,-_~m;..~~...~.""~..,,~~~~_
_~ ~_~~Hri¡;""",~"~,,,,,,_.,,;,,,,,_.,
Total from investment operations 0.90 (1.29) 0.59 1.54 (1.39) 4.74 1.95 5,23 (0.02) 6,04

Dividends from net investment income (0.02) (0.05) (0.02)

,jii~J~lI~lmi:IDm~~~~sQlliii.-iq~~i~='5::;.~~~_!:1f:æQlsill~~R~;:g9,i"r;~~i~;c::i~'.... -",
Distributions from capital paid-in (0.04)
m~it9lI!lIwlÌ1fM~lta_.¿~I;~-''._olq3fi;ta¡~r§:;~~glg~~~t;~~I§~§V~:;'~lBg;q~I:~2~~;f;'.~.'~,'..
Net asset value, end of period $6.08 $4.30 $4.89 $6,38 $4.97 $9.71 $10,99 $16.13 $16,11 $22.15
i.Ï~iiEi~,~ßíjMiÍ~l~ffm!l!lii~¡lllimibjt.~1i!fi~12mi1j1¡¡!(a1.~!!lfi~~,~~líf~i~~a;i~\I;:":t~!;8~;;;to.ji):..:. ......37;49
Total adjusted investmentreturn at net asset value(2,3) 15.41 (29.41) 12,28 30.75 (22,21) 95,33

N".'~sets,endofperiod(OOOsomitted)($) 13,780 10,637 11,714 12,285 8,166 19,713 44,665 296,793 310,625 555,655

;;~~~~s~líg!~~!lQ1J1ta~!~ij~~~:~~;iJ~1r¡~~~~gI~~~;~T~QJ;,~;~~~tr~q~1~~(~f~i§g1~I:i-~§rtr~;~Iis.~b0~;~:~(~::'i:'J.:¥

',.. J:~i~. U8

A adjusted expenses to average net assetsl') (%) 3.47 2.23 2,94 2.57 2,95 2,79

.Rãif?~r~!1~~~~t~,~£§~i~'W~~:~~g!~~~:6lt~$iiq!lì2¿i~~:~q~~zj:~;ttr§§'i~i~lt;~~§;1t;~~J~~ùs~i;1~sß:I*J;;';i;(~.~9)i:;.~:~'(1_.49l~.'~.'(lA,O)..:...

(0.97)

Ratio of adjusted net investment income (loss) to average

net assets(') (%) (2,54) (1.30) (0,62) (0.60) (1.90) (2.16)
pcirl-G!~:~grn?~~EY~lfit~r:ti~~i~¡lì%1f~~t~~¥1~tJ1I~1~~1~~~J¡i:~;;~l&~Æi2¡::~s1:ti1¡~L;f;i~:~rf;'i-¡~'EJ~:~'~&Elif~F: c:-;~li4 ;,.:'.' ',33.,. .- .. .66 .

82

:.AYIi~~~€~2.~~t~~~f~~~ph~D:il~~~Ntl~~Aî~\~if¥~filr;!c~Af~?i:~iWA~t~~rNlM¡:~~BÆ~~~;;Ì:¡¡,~:i¥A~~~*¿ 'N1Aò.'

NfA

Fee reduction per share ($) 0.09 0.04 0.07 0.03 0.02 0,002

Class B - year ended October 31, 1993(6) 1994 1995
Per share operating performance

~~~~~~mM~~lä~~"!~~j~~~~~Æ#~~~~il~~ifl~;;~¡lk~r.t~l%~ff~;¡~t~Æ;ig~m:'j-~2~;~~;~o:1:~~6:;~~~'~~äš:~f
.Neti.~~estm!n~!ncome~loss-i .__.. .. _ ... .,.. .... .. . . . (0,18)(1) (0.30)(1) (0.31)(1)
'N~;;(~~lépl;à~~HrriIDi~~Å\ffig~jì~i:~1W~~G?~~~.i~~i4t,~t;t~:,l¿.~~~~~%~j~~1~~~~~f'~fá;f:f2;o,~t,i:;;J;t,t¡h~~lf~,~WE~iQ~!~~i~;~'t:,t5,...

!~!~I~~~~~.:~me~i-~.:atio~._ . . .,., _ 3.78 (0.11) 5.84

:~,ltt;~i~~1ì~~~1M~§!æ~~~~~~f.j¡ti~Éi~0I~;:~:tifi~$l~R~~?tR&~;k::;~j:~~'.;::S:;~~!'~E4~¿i,1ilrfì£~f~ir~~Íšrr~'lS~1f2::s~;t~i6:0~3¥11I9ir\;,:$i1;š'(~'
Total

investment

return

at

net

asset

value(2)(%) . ... .. .. .. . . . .30,73(7j'(Ö:68) ... '36:57­

;,R~~!.;rt-~~ajap'_¡r~m'tntira!æ~~~,~t;:~~t~~:~¡?a:!j;~~S.Ëf~~é:-':ió,:~::;Íf~Jf¡;f1i.;~m:riJl~f~~~2~S~~;S:~~it;;~;:~~;;t,;çE~~fD¡;::'~

.~et,a~s:ts,. en~. o!J?eriod (OOOs omitted) ($) . . . 158,281 191,979 454,934
'~~22R!Ii~i~lí~~~tt~t~;a~a~¥$'~~Æ~;t'.:~W:,~:l~~:;';.'.~~.:~~~f;:B(:~';;¿,~:-'~;::~¿:x?g'~;~:~rn;~~:=:~.:'::'=F:::::.;;::-;:'!ìj4(ei~;c:~:2:iS':,~;C')ï:i.öd'..

Ratio of net inv~~t~~~me'(i~;i';;;;; n~t a;;ets (%) -~'_._-,",._-~.,_."-,,;--,,,-,,,,--,,,,..~-"~,,,..,.,,.,_..~._"~"~-"'.'''M''li:o3~âl-'-(2:Õ:ž)'-'''(l:69)''

Average brokerage commission rate(5) ($) N/A N/A NIP. .
oed on the average of the shares outstanding at the end of each month.
urnes dividend reinvestment and does not reflect the effect of sales charges.
G:i¡ An estimated total return calculation which does not take into consideration fee

reductions by the adviser during the periods shown.
(4) Unreimbursed, without fee reduction.

(5) Per portfolio share traded. Required for fiscal years that began September 1,
1995 or later,

(6) Class 8 shares commenced operations on March 1, 1993,
(7) Not annualized,

(8) Annualized.

SPECIAL EQUITES FUND 15

Special Opportunities Fund
TICKER SYMBOL CLASS A: SPOAX CLASS B: SPOBX

REGISTRANT NAME: FREEDOM INVESTMENT TRUST II

1AL AND STRATEGY

PORTFOLIO SECURITIES

number of sectors or issuers, the

_The fund invests primarily

fund runs the risk that any factor

invests in those economic sectors
that appear to have a higher than

in common stocks of U.S.
and foreign companies of
any size. It may also invest in war­
rants, preferred stocks, convertible

average earning potentiaL.

debt securities, U.S. Government

influencing those sectors or issuers
wil have a major effect on perfor­
mance. The fund may invest in
companies with smaller market capi­
talizations, which represent higher

securities and corporate bonds rated

near-term risks than larger capitaliza­

at least BBB/Baa, or equivalent.

tion companies. These factors make
the fund likely to experience higher
volatility than most other types of
growth funds. Before you invest,
please read "More about risk" start­
ing on page 28.

capital appreciation. To

goal,
the fund
€I&., Thepursue
fund this
seeks
long-term

Under normal circumstances, at
least 90% of the fund's equity

securities wil be invested within
five or fewer sectors (e.g., financial
services, energy, technology). At
times, the fund may focus on a single
sector. The fund first determines the
inclusion and weighting of sectors,
using macroeconomic as well as
other factors, then selects portfolio

securities by seeking the most attrac­

tive companies. The fund may add
or drop sectors. Becausethe fund

may invest more than 5% of assets
in a single issuer, it is classified as a

The fund also may invest in certain
higher-risk securities, and may
engage in other investment practices.
For liquidity and flexibility, the
fund may place up to 10% of net
assets in cash or investment-grade
short-term securities. In abnormal
market conditions, it may invest
more than 10% in these securities
as a defensive tactic.
RISK FACTORS
."1 the value o. f your invest-

non-diversified fund.

BAs with
any
ment
willgrowth
fluctuatefund,
in
. 'I

PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT
e Kevin R. Baker is leader of

. the portfolio management

team for the fund. A second
vice president of the adviser, he has
been a member of the management
team since joining the adviser in
January 1994. He has been in the
investment business since 1986.

response to stock market movements.
By focusing on a relatively small .

I NVESTOR EXPENSES

% Fund investors pay various expenses, either
directly or indirectly. The figures below show

Example The table below shows what you would pay

any changes. Future experies may be greater or less.

if you invested $1,000 over the various time frames
indicated. The
example assumes you reinvested all
dividends and that the average annual return was 5%.

Shareholder transaction expenses Class A Class B

Share class Year 1 Year 3 Year 5 Year 10

Maximum sales charge imposed on purChases

Class A shares

D the expenses for the past year, adjusted to reflect

, (as a percentage of offering price) 5.00% none
tM~mu'šã""
J~in~w!~tgl~'
Maximum deferred sales charge nonel') 5,00%

~~~~;mR~~n¡t~~~1~iij~~~Z~~i~~rr~i~;r~9!1~.;~.

Exchange fee none none

Annual fund operating expenses (as a % of average net assets)
Management fee

0.80%

565

598

51~2 '

.5229

ri£Î~1.~~r.~si~~t~~~tJl1l1tJÊj~~!~ils~~~~~T¿.~~~~.~:: .
Assuming redemption
at

end

of

period 573 5102 5143

$245

~r(~SLrYl~~1fêd~llt§&ilf~~;f£:~R~~i~;Jl~lli~~:.~ $245,
This example is for comparison purposes only and is not a representation of

the fund's actual expenses and returns, either past or future.

0.80%
(1) Except for investments of $1 millon or more; see "How sales charges

Other expenses

, Tòtal:fun~.op;r~tiíig:e~nses;,:'..:'

0.49% 0.49%
. ";,~Rc~~~;S~1:59'%:~r~%~ï:ï9%,Z.'.

are calculated. "

(2) Does not include wire redemption fee (currently $4.00).
(3) Because of the 12b-l fee, long-term shareholders may indirectly pay

more than the equivalent of the maximum permitted front-end safes
charge,

16 SPEC IAL OPPORTUNITIES FUND

l\NCIAL HIGHLIGHTS
~ The figures below have been audited

by the fund's independent auditors,
Price Waterhouse LLP.
17.53

--

Volatility, as indicated by Class A
year-by-year total

Investment return (%)

(6.71)

Class A - year ended October 31, 1994(1) 1995
Per share operating performance

rNßttlimxãW§:;r~'lñlfm__p~_~~2~~~~~ti1.Q!Æfii,:ri¡~~.'
Net investment income (loss) (0.03)(2) (0,07)(2)

~lltI~lI~~~$:~if~1~llø~.~~&'~~~_~~~~~~'i.l~18!,š;JI~~i;fi€
6~~
Total from investment operations (0.57) 1.39

~E~l:r~l~aKi¡~~~.E~'%~~: . ~H"'.;~"'i¡'"~"'~~~~.Æii-€~I~~~g~~l!~~;E'.;~~~~~

Total investment return at net asset value(3) (%) (6.71) 17.53

;Æc?¥i1Rß!lt~rtBlii.~~~'i!~~=--m~W1!!!~~11;~~t;f~~L(~~:~~ll(6Imli,:~,7dS;dP.
Ratios and supplemental data

Ratio of expenses to average net assets (%) 1.50 1.59
;~ä.~~¡9lga¡H~f~~t~~i~!9~~~ñ~liltt¡1rt%Î~~~~i~~~~t~i.~i~i;#\tilf~i;tl,l~~i?)¡¡:t;~a~\1;!"ii~~':~~Jj~;'tp£:~::tf,r~~~,:\;~i~;',::.'C';"!~~~;,.:.,_"~,,,:- _

Ratio of net investment income (loss) to average net assets (%) (0.41) (0.87)

Portfolio turnover rate (%) 57 155

r¡¡itici9f:,â~jus,t~~:n-~Ei¡V~st~~:n.tW~~l.¡!2~V;~~~L~I£~~§~~ir~~~l~lfl~J!E'i¥~~I~;s7J.g~d:~'t~~';;f:0r .. ","". .',;; ;..".. ,~.." , ,(O~S3)

dge brokerage commission rate(6) ($) N/A N/A
Class B - year ended October 31, 1994(1) 1995
~0.01 (2)'

Per share operating performance

"S~:5q.
Net investment income (loss)
'.'Net.r~¡¡¡¡~~~~;nd'~o.~~iz.ed~å'n:;QoISl'9~!fY~~.iJg~~~1~T~~~ifg~~.:,~B:'::::::'.(

_ ~n_._... ~~..~.
- .--' ".' . ''',' ".",... ~~

Total from investment operations

-.
- .. .....
. "_.
".--...,.....

S7~87

(0.09)(2;

(0,13)(2

.(0.54) .

.,1.45

(0.63)

1,32

-7J7;~7::. ~. ~S9~.1 ,9

Total investment return at net asset (%)

(7.41 )(4)

16.77

:tö-t~~~l~šf~ÇTìwe~t.m~RtT~~~~~I~îi~~1l~J~iill~~:;$lt~TI~fJ;;'.~';Ci':'­

Ratios and supplemental dáta

Ratio of. expenses to average net assets (%) 2,22 2,30

;,~~t~s~~.!~Qgi~K&!il¥f2Q91r~;¡nfqi;iji~~~~~f~gg:E~;~if;:-;L;;;.;::,:~-,,; "" ,., i'~;.::t3l,9'8.~; ,137,363
!R~ti~i?E~4j~~~§~~n-~i~ifug~If\~1¥'~i~~~~r~r~;lF~fi1:tjj;;;~H~~-,.:c:;;~'?;Ú¡~fl~r.;.;;fl,,~~g¡~~~~~,¡~ii.~;S;It&;::,!",S~t~~;~~'~¿t~2¿:~ß,~;-~:;..~....; ..'

R~~? ofn:~.~~.::.~~ent income (Io~s) to averagenetassets (%). ....... .. . (1.13) (1.55)

Portf?~?~~r_n?ve! r~te, (%) 57

'R~ti~pfa~jiJS!~d'n~t~in';tferif(iô~2!ò:~§r~~lEil~l~~~~~Ujil;~1$L:;::.:~,:-d:-:.-,dd: · .'~1..25)

Feered~ctìòiii)er share:(S) . 0.01(2)

Average brokerage commission rate(6) ($) N/A
-lass A and B shares commenced operations on November 1. 1993,
ased on the average of the shares outstanding at the end of each month.
Assumes dividend rem
vestment and does not reflect the effect of sales charges.
(4) An estimated total return calculation which does not take into consideration
fee reductions by the adviser during the periodS shown.

155
N/A

(5) Unreimbursed, without fee reduction.
(6) Per portfolio share traded, Required for fiscal years that began September 1,
1995 or later.

SPECIAL OPPORTUNITES FUND 17

ALES CHARGE REDUCTIONS AND WAIVERS
Reducing your Class A sales charges There are several
ways you can combine multiple purchases of Class A

shares in John Hancock funds to take advantage of the
breakpoints in the sales charge schedule. The first three
ways can be combined in any manner.
. Accumulation Privilege - lets you add the value of
any Class A shares you already own to the amount
of your next Class A investment for purposes of
calculating the sales charge.
· Letter of Intention - lets you purchase Class A

shares of a fund over a 13-month period and
receive the same sales charge as if all shares had been
purchased at once.
· Combination Privilege - lets you combine Class A

shares of multiple funds for purposes of calculating
the sales charge.
To utilize: complete the appropriate section on your application, or contact
your financial representative or Investor Services to add these options to an
existmg account.

Group Investment Program Allows established groups
')f four or more investors to invest as a group. Each has
n individual account, but for sales charge purposes,
their investments are lumped together, making the
investors potentially eligible for reduced sales charges.
There is no charge, no obligation to invest (although
initial aggregate investments must be at least $250) and
you may terminate the program at any time.
To utilize: contact your financial representative or Investor Services to find
out how to qualify.

CDSC waivers In general, the CDSC for either share

class may be waived on shares y.ou sell for the following
reasons:
· to make payments through certain systematic
withdrawal plans
· to make certain distributions from a retirement plan

Waivers for certain investors Class A shares may be

offered withoudront-end sales charges or CDSCs to
and institutions, tncluding:
. government entities that are prohibited from paying
mutual fund sales charges

various individuals

· financial institutions or common trust funds investing
$ i milion or more for non-discretionary accounts
· selling brokers and their employees and sales
representatives
· financial representatives utilizing fund shares in fee-,
based investment products under agreement with
John Hancock Funds

· fund trustees and other individuals who are affiliated
with these or other John Hancock funds
· individuals transferring assets to a John Hancock
growth fund from an employee benefit pl.an that has
John Hancock funds

· members of an approved affinity group financial
services program
· certain insurance company contract.

holders (one­

year CDSC applies)
· participants in certain plans with at least 100 members
(one-year CDSC applies)
To utilize: if you think you may be eligible for a sales charge waiver. contact
Investor Services or consult the SAI.

OPENING AN ACCOUNT
1 Read this prospectus carefully.

2 Determine how much you want to invest. The
minimum initial investments for the John Hancock
growth funds are as follows:
· non-retirement account: $ i ,000

· retirement account: $250
· gi:oup investments: $250

· Monthly Automatic Accumulation Plan (MAAP):
$25 to open; you must invest at least $25 a month
3 Complete the appropriate parts of the account applica­

To utilize: contact your financial representative or Investor Services, or con­

tion, carefully following the instructions. If you have
questions, please contact your financial representative

sult the SAI (see the back cover of this prospectus).

or call

· because of shareholder death

or disability

Reinstatement privilege If you sell shares of a John

Investor Services at 1-800-225-529L.

4 Complete the appropriate parts of the account privileges

Hancock fund, you may invest some or all of the proceeds
in the same share class of any John Hancock fund
within 120 days without a sales charge. If you paid a
CDSC when you sold your shares, you wil be credited

section of the application. By applying for privileges
now, you can avoid the delay and inconvenience of
having to fie an additional application if you want to

with the amount of the CDSC. All accounts involved
must have the Same registration.

5 Make your initial investment using the table on the
next page. You can initiate any purchase, exchange or
sale of shares through your financial representative.

To utilize: contact your financial representative or Investor Services.

add privileges later.

YOUR ACCOUNT 19

uying shares

Opening an account

Adding to an account
. Make out a check for the investment amount payable

to "John Hancock Investor Services Corporation."
~.J to "John Hancock Investor Services Corporation."
8f · Make out
a check
for the
investment
payable
· Deliver
the check
and your
completedamount,
application
to

· Fill out the detachable investment slip from an account

your financial representative, or mail them to Investor

statement. If no slip is available, include a note specifying

Services (address on next page).

the fund name, your share class, your account number,
and the name(s) in which the account is registered.

· Deliver the check and your investment slip or note to
your financial representative, or mail them to Investor

Services (address on next page).

~.
..

Call your financial, representative or Investor Services to
request an exchange.

· Call Investor Services to request an exchange.

~.. Deliver your completed application to your financial repre­

· Instruct your bank to wire the amount of your
investment to: ,

~ sentative, or mail it to Investor Services.
· Obtain your account number by calling your financial
representative or Investor Services.

· Instruct your bank to wire the amount of your
investment to:
First Signature Bank & Trust

Account # 900000260
Routing # 211475000
Specify the fund name, your choice of share class, the new
account number and the name(s) in which the account is

First Signature Bank & Trust

Account # 900000260
Routing # 211475000

Specify the fund name, your share class, your account
number and the name(s) in which the account is regis­
tered. Your bank may charge a fee to wire funds.

registered. Your bank may charge a fee to wire funds,

See "By wire" and "By exchange,"

· Verify that your bank or credit union is a member of
the Automated Clearing House (ACH) system.

· Complete the "Invest-By-Phone" and "Bank Information"
sections on your account application.

· Call Investor Services to verify that these features are in
place on your account.
· Tell the Investor Services representative the fund name,
your share class, your account number, the name(s) in

which the account is registered and the amount of
your investment.

To open or add to an account using the Monthly Automatic Accumulation Program, see "Additional investor services,"

20 YOUR ACCOUNT

ellng shares

Designed for
~. . Accounts of any type,

~ · Sales of any amount.

To sell some or all of your shares
. Write a letter of instruction or complete a stock power

indicating the fund name, your share class, your account
number, the name(s) in which the account is registered
and the dollar value or number of shares you wish to selL.

· Include all signatures and any additional documents
that may be required (see next page),
· Mail the materials to Investor Services.

· A check wil be mailed to the name(s) and address in
which the account is registered, or otherwise according
to your letter of instruction.

· For automated service 24 hours a day USing your

· Sales of up to $100,000.

touch-tone phone, call the John Hancock Funds
EASI-Line at 1-800-338-8080,

· To place your order with a representative at John Han­
Investor Services between 8 A,M, and
4 P.M. on most business days.
cock Funds, call

;n~;.¡ir;!ir~;I~Ç£~~nT~;,tgK~,!1!f~njI~ltif¥:~!;i~i,t;',~~JcJ~;!~,~~lY~J~)~~~(d'j;t.i~~';T:;jc:O&;;~;,;E,;1=,;,i~0,.....; ..-'
.~ · Requests by letter to sell any amount (accounts of · Fill out the "Telephone Redemption" section of your

~ any type). new account application,

· Requests by phone to sell up to $100,000 (accounts · To verify that the telephone redemption privilege is in

with telephone redemption privileges). place on an account, or to request the forms to add it
to an existing account, call

Investor Services,

· Amounts of $1,000 or more will be wired on the next
business day, A $4 fee will be deducted from your
account. .

$1,000 may be sent by EFT or by
check. Funds from EFT transactions are generally avail­
able by the second business day. Your bank may charge

· Amounts of less than

a fee for this service.

~

· Accounts of any type.

· Sales of any amount,

· Obtain a current prospectus for the fund into which
you are exchanging by callng your financial representa­
tive or Investor Services.
· Call

Investor Services to request an exchange.

To sell shares through a systematic withdrawal plan, see' Additional investor services. .

YOUR ACCOUNT 21

ailng shares in writing In certain Órcumstances, you

will need to make your request to sell shares in writing.
You may need to include additional items with your
request, as shown in the table below. You may also need

to include a signature guarantee, which protects you
against fraudulent orders. You wil need a signature
guarantee if:

· your address of record has changed within the past

You can generally obtain a signature guarantee from the

following sources:
· a broker or securities dealer
. a federal savings, cooperative or other type of bank
· a savings and loan or other thrift institution

· a credit union
· a securities exchange or clearing agency
A notary public CANNOT provide a signature guarantee.

30 days

· you are selling more than $100,000 worth of shares
· you are requesting payment other than by a check

mailed to the address of record and payable to the
registered owner(s)

Seller Requirements for written requests
Owners of individual, joint, sole proprietorship, UGMAIUTMA
(custodial accounts for minors) or general partner accounts.

· Letter of instruction,
. On the letter, the signatures and titles of all persons authorized
to sign for the account, exactly as the account is registered.
· Signature guarantee if applicable (see above).

Owners or trustees of trust accounts.

· Letter of instruction.

· On the letter, the signature(s) of the trustee(s).

· If the names of all trustees are not registered on the account.
please also provide a copy of the trust document certified
within the past 60 days.

· Signature guarantee if applicable (see above).

Executors of shareholder estates,

· Letter of instruction signed by executor.

· Copy of order appointing executor.
· Signature guarantee if applicable (see above).

f.:.:,.:.:.",.~.~,rm,.;.i~l,'..~.'.~~ty~pi~.~.d~~.~,~,~....~,.:,.;..-,...~,a,;,se.št,-..,;',.,'.:~_'~.~,'.~.~_~,..~,:.-,~.b.',.~.,.~..~.ò.'.;.~,.,'.:;,~.','.'.'.'.-.~., ,;.~..-..,'...~.',:~".,'.; .:L,_...'....'..~~_~-,.~,.";n~=~)~=:.." ':,~i¡l~lr~l~~~~¡¡Jit~J¡~~~;i~t~AS:::,.::',.:,:.'
. "___.. ._ .". .... .." . _=~.."-,. ... . ;:::""-~~;';:h,;-,:;..:~~-_-:;:--.:,:.-....~,:-..'.:h;-'.¡:.::;.,._-.:.;,:..:...:_.,.;..;~--~.-..--,,;-..i..~~;-.'~~.::.. U:-"r .

;;¡'"c L'Ä; :"''i:..:.~'Ù''" _'~,=.~:;.:. '':~e.;;~~'''-'' ;".~~~¡r#~~6-;:~=:'.~~,;,,=~~:,::;=::-::';:;-:..~.';~~::';'~:~i:;;~~~7'i.-~~~;;:~;;r:;.-~:'~':~ ._...._,. "0".-. 7'

22 YOUR ACCOUNT

To protect the interests of other investors in the fund, a

iRANSACTION PC)L1CIES

any parties

fund may cancel the exchange privileges of

Valuation of shares The net asset value per share (NAY)

for each fund and class is determined each business day
at the close of regular trading on the New York Stock
Exchange (typically 4 P.M. Eastern TIme) by dividing a
class's net assets by the number of its shares outstanding.

that, in the opinion of the fund, are using market timing
strategies or making more than seven exchanges per
owner or controlling party per calendar year. A fund
may change or cancel its exchange privilege at any
time, upon 60 days' notice to its shareholders. A fund
may also refuse any exchange order.

Buy and sell prices When you buy shares, you pay

the NAY plus any applicable sales charges, as described
earlier. When you sell shares, you receive the NAY
minus any applicable deferred sales charges.
Execution of requests Each fund is open on those days

when the New York Stock Exchange is open, typically
Monday - Friday. Buy and sell requests are executed at
the next NAY to be calculated after your request is
accepted by Investor Services.

At times of peak activity, it may be difficult to place
requests by phone. During these times, consider using
EASI-Line or sending your request in writing.
In unusual circumstances, any fund may temporarily
suspend the processing of sell requests, or may postpone
payment of proceeds for up to three business days or

Certificated shares Most shares are electronically
recorded. If you wish to have certificates for your

shares, please write to Investor Services. Certificated
shares can only be sold by returning the certificates to
Investor Services, along with a letter of instruction or a
stock power and a signature guarantee.
Sales in advance of purchase payments When you

place a request to sell shares for which the purchase
money has not yet been collected, the request will be

executed in a timely fashion, but the fund will not release
the proceeds to you until your purchase payment clears.
This may take up to ten calendar days after the purchase.
Eligibilty by state You may only invest in, or exchange

into, fund shares legally available in your state.

longer, as allowed by federal securities laws.

Telephone transactions For your protection, telephone
requests may be recorded in order to verify their accuracy.

In addition, Investor Services will take measures to
verify the identity of the caller, such as asking for name,
account number, Social Security or taxpayer ID number
and other relevant information. If these measures are

not taken, Investor Services is responsible for any losses
that may occur to any account due to an unauthorized
telephone calL. Also for your protection, telephone
transactions are not permitted

on accounts whose

names or addresses have changed within the past 30

DIVIDENDS AND ACCOUNT POLICIES
Account statements In general, you wil receive
account statements as follows:

· After every transaction (except a dividend reinvest­
ment) that affects your account balance.
· After any changes of name or address of the regis­
tered owner(s).

· In all other circumstances, every quarter.
Every year you should also receive, if applicable, a Form
1099 tax information statement, m'ailed by January 31.

days. Proceeds from telephone transactions can only

be mailed to the address of record.

Dividends The funds generally

distribute most or all of

their net earnings in the form of dividends. Any capital
Exchanges You may exchange shares of one John

gains are distributed annually. Most of the funds do not

Hancock fund for shares of the same class of any other,
generally without paying any additional sales charges.
Class B shares will continue to age from the original
date and wil retain the same CDSC rate as they had
before the exchange, except that the rate wil change to
that of the new fund if the new fund's rate is higher.
A CDSC rate that has increased will drop again with a
future exchange into a fund with a lower rate.

typically pay income dividends, with the exception of

Disciplined Growth Fund and Regional Bank Fund,
which typically pay ir:come dividends semi-annually
and quarterly, respectively.

YOUR ACCOUNT 23

ividend reinvestments Most investòrs have their div­
idends reinvested in' additional shares of the same fund

and class. If you choose this option, or if you do not
indicate any choice, your dividends wil be reinvested
on the dividend record date. Alternatively, you can
choose to have a check for your dividends mailed to you.
However, if the check is not deliverable, your dividends
wil be reinvested.

Taxabilty of dividends As long as a fund meets the
requirements for being a tax-qualified regulated invest­
ment company, which each fund has in the past and
intends to in the future, it pays no federal income tax
on the earnings it distributes to shareholders.

ADDITIONAL INVESTOR SERVICES
Monthly Automatic Accumulation Program (MAAP)

MAAP lets you set up regular investments from your
paycheck or bank account to the John Hancock fund(s)
of your choice. You determine the frequency and amount
of your investments, and you can terminate your program

at any time. To establish:
. Complete the appropriate parts of your Account
Application.
· If you are using MAAP to open an account, make
out a check ($25 minimum) for your first investment

amount payable to "John Hancock Investor Services
Corporation." Deliver your check and application to
your financial representative or Investor Services.

Consequently, dividends you receive from a fund,

whether reinvested or taken as cash, are generally
considered taxable. Dividends from a fund's long-term
capital gains are taxable as capital gains; dividends from
other sources are generally taxable as ordinary income.
Some dividends paid in January may be taxable as if they
had been paid the previous December. Corporations may
be entitled to take a dividends-received deduction for a
Dortion of certåin dividends they receive.

The Form 1099 that is mailed to you every January
details your dividends and their federal tax category,
although you should verify your tax liability with your
tax professionaL.

Systematic withdrawal plan This plan may be used for
routine bil payment or periodic withdrawals from your

account. To establish:

· Make sure you have at least $5,000 worth of shares in
your account.

· Make sure you are not planning to invest more
money in this account (buying shares during a period
when you are also selling shares of the same fund is

not advantageous to you, because of sales charges).
· Specify the payee(s). The payee may be yourself or
any other party, and there is no limit to the number
of payees you may have, as long as they are all on the
same payment schedule.
· Determine the schedule: monthly, quarterly, semi­

Taxability of transactions Any time you sell or
exchange shares, it is considered a taxable event for you.
Depending on the purchase price and the sale price of
the shares you sell or exchange, you may have a gain or
a loss on the transaction. You are responsible for any tax
liabilities generated by your transactions.
Small accounts (non-retirement only) If you draw down

a non-retirement account so that its total value is less
than $1,000, you
may be asked to purchase more shares
within 30 days. If you do not take action, your fund may

close out your account and mail you. the proce~ds.

Alternatively, Investor Services may charge you $10 a
year to maintain your account~ You wil not be charged
a CDSC if your account is closed for this reason, and

your account wil not be closed if its drop in value is
due to fund performance or the effects of sales charges.

24 YOUR ACCOUNT

annually, annually or in certain selected months.
· Fill out the relevant part of the account application.
To add a systematic withdrawal plan to an existing
account, contact your financial representative or
Investor Services.

Retirement plans John Hancock Funds offers a range
of qualified retirement plans, including IRAs, SEPs,
SARSEPs, 401(k) plans, 403(b) plans (including TSAs)
anæ other pension and profit-sharing plans. Using these
plans, you can invest in any John Hancock fund with a
low minimum investment of $250 or, for some group
plans, no minimum investment at all. To find out more,
call Investor Services at 1-800-225-5291.

Fund details
At a mutual fund's inception, the initial shareholder
(typically the adviser) appoints the fund's board. There­
after, the board and the shareholders determine the

USINESS STRUCTURE

Each John Hancock
growth fund is an open-end management investment
company or a series of such a company.
How the funds are organized

board's membership. The boards of the John Hancock

growth funds may include individuals who are affiliated

Each fund is supervised by a board of trustees or a board
of directors, an independent body which has ultimate

with the investment adviser. However, the majority of

board members must be independent.

responsibility for the fund's activities. The board retains
various companies to carry out the fund's operations,

including the investment adviser, custodian, transfer
agent and others (see diagram). The board has the right,
and the obligation, to terminate the fund's relationship

wi

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/documents/agency%3Asec%3A78b58ddcf9a9ba94. Public record. Not legal advice.