If there are any major changes in the prospectus the fund company must put the issue to a shareholder vote and if approved they will send the revised prospectus to all shareholders. Although a prospectus may look like an intimidating document it is actually broken up into logical sections. There is usually a table of contents to direct you to each area. Most prospectuses today come with a summary page which acts as a neat synopsis of material. By reading this summary description, you can determine if the fund meets your investment goals.
All prospectuses come with a table of fees and expenses.
To make shopping for a mutual fund easier, SEC rules require funds to identify all fees and charges such as sales loads or annual fund expenses in a standardized table displayed at the front of each prospectus. If the table of fees and expenses is a snapshot of the Fund's expenses, the financial highlights is a motion picture. This area details the historic net asset value, any distributions the fund has paid, the performance of the Fund, the history of the funds expenses and assets, and the turnover of the portfolio. The history is complete since the inception of the Fund on an annual basis. An important thing to note is if the expenses have declined as assets have grown and whether the portfolio turnover has been low.