PUTNAM VISTA FUND
Prospectus Supplement dated August 1, 1996
to Class A, B and M shares Prospectus dated December 1, 1995
At a meeting on July 31, 1996, shareholders of the fund recently
approved a number of changes to the fundamental investment
restrictions of the fund. The fund may now:
o acquire more than 10% of the voting securities of any
issuer with respect to 25% of its total assets;
o invest more than 5% of its total assets in securities
of any one issuer (other than the U.S. government); and
o invest more than 5% of its assets in equity securities
for which market quotations are not readily available.
The first two policies set forth above are fundamental and may
not be changed without shareholder approval. See the Statement
of Additional Information of the fund for the full text of these
policies as well as the fund's other fundamental policies, some
of which were also changed by vote of shareholders.
To the extent the fund invests a significant portion of its
assets in the securities of a particular issuer, such fund will
be subject to an increased risk of loss if the market value of
such issuer's securities decline.
**************************
The second and third paragraph and the first sentence of the
fourth paragraph under the heading "How to buy shares--Class A
shares" is replaced with the following:
There is no initial sales charge on purchases of class A
shares of $1 million or more. However, a CDSC of 1.00% or
0.50%, respectively, will be imposed on redemptions (other
than redemptions by certain participant-directed qualified
retirement plans, which are subject to a two-year CDSC of
1.00%, as described below) within the first or second year
after purchase.
There are also no initial sales charges on class A shares
purchased by participant-directed qualified retirement plans
with at least 200 eligible employees. A CDSC of 1.00% will,
however, be imposed upon the redemption of shares purchased
after July 31, 1996 at net asset value by a participant-
directed qualified retirement plan (including a plan with at
least 200 eligible employees) that initially invested less
than $20 million in Putnam funds and other investments
managed by Putnam Management or its affiliates and that
sells 90% or more of the amount initially invested within
two years after its initial purchase.
Any CDSC will be based on the lower of the shares' cost and
current net asset value. Any shares acquired by
reinvestment of distributions will be redeemed without a
CDSC.
Shares purchased by certain investors (including
participant- directed qualified retirement plans with at
least 200 eligible employees) investing $1 million or more
who have made arrangements with Putnam Mutual Funds and
whose dealer of record waived the commission as described
below are not subject to the CDSC.
8/96 27067
