PUTNAM TAX-FREE INSURED FUND
Prospectus Supplement dated September 27, 1996
to Prospectus dated December 1, 1995
The fourth paragraph under the heading "How the fund pursues its
objective - Basic investment strategy" on page 7 of the
Prospectus is replaced with the following:
Investments by the fund in tax-exempt securities will be limited
to securities rated at the time of purchase at least Baa by
Moody's Investors Service, Inc. ("Moody's") or at least BBB by
Standard & Poor's ("S&P"), or in unrated securities that Putnam
Management determines are of comparable quality at the time of
purchase. The rating services' descriptions of these grades of
debt securities are included in the SAI.
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On September 6, 1996, the Trustees of the fund approved a
reduction in the fees payable by the class B shares of the fund
under its Rule 12b-1 Distribution Plan from 0.85% to 0.60% of the
fund's average net assets attributable to class B shares,
effective immediately. The information under the heading
"Expenses summary" in the prospectus does not reflect this
decrease.
The last sentence of the first paragraph of the section entitled
"Distribution plans -- Class B and M distribution plans" is
replaced with the following: The Trustees have currently limit
payments under the class B and class M distribution plans to the
annual rates of 0.60% and 0.50%, respectively.
27884 9/96
