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MASSACHUSETTS INVESTORS TRUST
Supplement dated March 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%(1)
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(2)(3)............................................. 0.20%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses............................. 1.53%
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(1) Class J shares are sold in Japan through financial institutions. The
sales charge (load) paid by an investor differs depending upon the
financial institutions through which the investment is made, but will not
exceed 2%. These sales charges (loads) are fully disclosed in the fund's
Japanese prospectus, which is provided to investors upon sale of the
fund's Class J shares.
(2) 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 and 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%.
(3) "Other Expenses" are estimated for the current fiscal year.
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.
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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.
The table is supplemented as follows:
Share Class Year 1 Year 3
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 a maximum 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 institution. 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, EXCHANGE 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 institution process your purchase. The minimum initial investment and
the minimum subsequent investment amounts differ depending upon the financial
institution through which the investment is made. These minimum are fully
disclosed in the fund's Japanese prospectus, which is provided to investors upon
sale of the fund's class J shares.
How to Exchange Shares. Exchanges of class J shares of the fund for
class J shares of other MFS funds is permitted only if the funds are sold in
Japan through the same distributor and the distributor permits exchanges.
Exchange privileges are fully disclosed in the fund's Japanese prospectus, which
is provided to investors upon sale of the fund's class J shares.
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 financial institution, who may charge you a fee. If the
financial institution 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.
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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.
The date of this Supplement is March 1, 2000.
