John Hancock Growth and Income Fund
John Hancock Sovereign Balanced Fund
John Hancock Special Value Fund
(together, the "funds")
Supplement to Class A and B Prospectus, effective August 30, 1996
(to be distributed to investors in the State of Maryland)
The funds' goal, strategy and primary investment policies are described on page
4, page 8 and page 12 of the prospectus. The funds may also use additional
investment practices which have specific risks associated with them.
Particularly, please note that the funds may engage in transactions in some or
all of the following derivative instruments: financial futures and related
options, securities and index options and currency contracts. The risks
associated with their use include: interest rate risk, currency risk, market
risk, hedged or speculative leverage risk, correlation risk, liquidity risk,
credit risk and opportunity risk. These instruments and other "higher-risk
securities and practices" (and their associated risks) are described on pages 26
and 27 of the prospectus.
For John Hancock Growth and Income Fund, the description of the fund's goal,
strategy and primary investment policies on page 4 is supplemented as follows:
In seeking the highest total return that is consistent with reasonable
safety of capital, the adviser will evaluate the level of risk inherent to
particular securities when considering the level of return offered by these
securities. The risks associated with these securities are defined under
the heading "More About Risk" on page 26 of the prospectus. There is no
assurance that the fund will achieve its goal.
August 30, 1996
