A column of information stating if a fund has any of the following qualities: Qualified Access (A), Institutional (T), Closed to New Investments, (C) or Closed to All Investments (L). Because these qualities can all act as restrictions and/or requirements for investment, they are grouped together.
Benefits
These fund characteristics may appeal to some investors, while being prohibitive to others. For example, individual investors may be looking for qualified funds, while pension-fund planners may be looking for institutional funds. These restraints imply a significant barrier to entry.
Origin
This information is taken from the fund prospectus.
Example
Nuveen CA Insured Muni BD R fund shows A/C/L/T in the Purchase Constraints column. Therefore, this fund is Closed to All Investments (L), Closed to New Investments (C), Institutional (T), and has Qualified Access (A).
For the Pros
Even though some funds are open only to a specific group of people, like employees of General Electric, investors normally prefer the open-end format. Open-end mutual funds require daily pricing and daily disclosure through newspapers and better disclosure rules (than privately-managed monies).