T Shares

Individual mutual funds often come with multiple classes of stock. These relate to different fee structures.

It's kind of like how everyone on an airplane paid a slightly different amount to be there, even if they're sitting right next to each other. Some bought tickets way early, and got a cheap fare that way. Others saved the checked-luggage fee by carrying all their bags onto the plane (and then spent 10 minutes pounding on a too-large suitcase until it squeezed into the overhead bin). Still others might have gotten onboard using frequent flier miles...and didn't cough up any cash at all. Different fares, same flight.

For mutual funds, everyone in a single fund has the same underlying investments. The fund holds whatever assets it holds. The different classes of stock (A, B, C, etc.) denote different fee structures. Some clients paid a front-loaded fee...others chose to go with something back-loaded (a choice also popular on Brazilian beaches).

T shares are something a little different. They combine some of the aspects of other share classes to create a hybrid offering. They're meant to have low costs (so-called "low-loads"). The exact structure of the T share differs from fund to fund. But the share class provides a mix of fee types. It's like a "little from column A, little from column B" situation.