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MASSACHUSETTS INVESTORS TRUST
Supplement dated January 1, 2000 to the Current Prospectus
This Supplement describes the fund's Class J Shares, and it supplements certain
information in the fund's Prospectus dated May 1, 1999. The caption headings
used in this Supplement correspond with the caption headings used in the
Prospectus.
Class J shares are available for purchase only by Japanese investors. Class J
shares may only be offered or sold outside the United States and this supplement
does not constitute an offer of class J shares to any person who resides within
the United States.
1. EXPENSE SUMMARY
Expense Table. The "Expense Table" describes the fees and expenses that you
may pay when you buy, redeem and hold shares of the fund. The table is
supplemented as follows:
Shareholder Fees (fees paid directly from your investment)
Class J
Maximum Sales Charge (Load) Imposed on Purchase
(as a percentage of offering price).......................... 2.00%
Maximum Deferred Sales Charge (Load) (as a percentage
of original purchase price or redemption proceeds,
whichever is less)........................................... None
Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses that are deducted from fund assets)
Management Fees.................................................. 0.33%
Distribution and Service (12b-1) Fees............................ 1.00%
Other Expenses(1)(2)............................................. 0.20%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses............................. 1.53%
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(1) The fund has an expense offset arrangement which reduces the fund's
custodian fee based upon the amount of cash maintained by the fund with its
custodian and dividend disbursing agent. The fund may enter into other
similar arrangements and directed brokerage arrangements, which would also
have the effect of reducing the fund's expenses. "Other Expenses" do not
take into account these expense reductions, and therefore do not represent
the actual expenses of the fund. Had these fee reductions been taken into
account, "Total Annual Operating Expenses" for Class J shares would be
lower, and would be estimated to be 1.52%.
(2) "Other Expenses" are estimated.
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Example of Expenses. The "Example of Expenses" table is intended to help
you compare the cost of investing in the fund with the cost of investing in
other mutual funds. Class J expenses are as follows:
The example assumes that:
o You invest $10,000 in the fund for the time periods indicated and
you redeem your shares at the end of the time periods;
o Your investment has a 5% return each year and dividends and other
distributions are reinvested; and
o The fund's operating expenses remain the same.
Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, under these
assumptions your costs would be:
Share Class Year 1 Year 3
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Class J shares $353 $674
2. DESCRIPTIONS OF SHARE CLASSES
Five classes of shares of the fund currently are offered for sale, class A
shares, class B shares, class C shares, class I shares and class J shares. Class
A shares, class B shares, class C shares are described in the fund's prospectus
and class I shares are described in a supplement to the fund's prospectus and
are available for purchase by the general public or by certain institutional
investors. Class J shares are described below.
Class J Shares. Class J shares are offered exclusively to Japanese
investors through financial institutions in Japan. Class J shares are offered at
net asset value plus an initial sales charge as follows:
Sales Charge as
Percentage of:
Amount of Purchase Offering Price Net Amount Invested
All amounts 2.00% 2.04%
Distribution and Service Fees. The fund has adopted a plan under Rule 12b-1
that permits it to pay marketing and other fees to support the sale and
distribution of class J shares and the services provided to you by your
financial adviser. The class J annual distribution and service fees are equal to
1.00% (0.25% service fee and 0.75% distribution fee), and are paid out of the
assets of class J shares. These fees are paid to MFD by the fund, and MFD in
turn pays a portion of these fees to dealers.
3. HOW TO PURCHASE AND REDEEM SHARES
The discussion of "How to Purchase, Exchange and Redeem Shares" is supplemented
as follows:
How to Purchase Shares. You can establish an account by having your
financial adviser process your purchase. The minimum initial investment is one
share and there is no minimum investment with respect to subsequent purchases.
How to Redeem Shares. You may withdraw all or any portion of the value of
your account on any date the fund is open for business by selling your shares to
the fund through a dealer, who may charge you a fee. If the dealer receives your
order prior to the close of regular trading on the New York Stock Exchange and
communicates it to MFS before the close of the business on the same day, you
will receive the net asset value calculated on that day, reduced by an amount of
any income tax required to be withheld.
4. INVESTOR SERVICES AND PROGRAMS
The shareholder services, as described in the Prospectus, do not apply to
class J shares, except that shareholders will receive confirmation statements
and tax information and will receive all dividend and capital gain distributions
in cash.
The date of this Supplement is January 1, 2000.
