MERRILL LYNCH BALANCED FUND
for Investment and Retirement, Inc.
Supplement dated October 13, 1995
to Prospectus dated January 31, 1995
On October 13, 1995, the Board of Directors of the Fund approved an
Agreement and Plan of Reorganization between the Fund and Merrill Lynch
Global Allocation Fund, Inc. ("Global Allocation") pursuant to which the
Fund would transfer substantially all of its assets and substantially all
of its liabilities to Global Allocation in exchange for newly issued shares
of Global Allocation, and thereafter deregister as an investment company
under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, and dissolve in
accordance with the laws of the State of Maryland (the "Reorganization").
The Reorganization is conditioned upon: (i) approval by the Fund's
shareholders of the Reorganization, and (ii) the receipt of a favorable
ruling from the Internal Revenue Service concerning the tax consequences of
the Reorganization. A special meeting of shareholders of the Fund will be
called to consider and act upon a proposal to approve the Reorganization.
It is currently anticipated that a Notice of the Special Meeting and a
related Proxy Statement and Prospectus will be distributed to Fund
shareholders in November 1995 and that the special meeting will take place
on December 21, 1995. If all of the requisite approvals are obtained, it
is anticipated that the Reorganization will take place as early as possible
in calendar year 1996.
The Fund and Global Allocation are open-end management investment
companies with similar, though not identical, investment objectives. The
Fund seeks to provide shareholders with as high a level of total investment
return as is consistent with a reasonable and relatively low level of risk.
Global Allocation seeks to provide a high total investment return,
consistent with prudent risk. The Board of Directors of Global Allocation
approved the Reorganization on October 2, 1995.
Merrill Lynch Asset Management, L.P., investment adviser to both the
Fund and Global Allocation, believes that the Reorganization will benefit
the Fund's shareholders in several ways. First, Balanced Fund shareholders
will remain invested in an open-end fund that has an investment objective
similar to that of Balanced Fund, although not identical. Second, Balanced
Fund shareholders are likely to experience certain additional benefits,
including lower expenses per share, economies of scale and greater
flexibility in portfolio management.
If the Reorganization takes place, Fund shareholders will receive
shares of that class of shares of Global Allocation having the same letter
designation (i.e., Class A, Class B, Class C or Class D) and the same
distribution fees, account maintenence fees, and sales charges (including
contingent deferred sales charges), if any, as the shares of the Fund held
by them immediately prior to the Reorganization.
Code # 10331- 1095ALL
