• When do the Funds pay distributions?
• How does The Weitz Funds keep shareholders informed?
• When and where is The Weitz Funds annual shareholder information meeting?
• Why does The Weitz Funds have two mailing addresses, one in Kansas City and one in Omaha?
• Why don’t I receive quarterly shareholder reports from The Weitz Funds?

Value, Partners Value, Hickory, Partners III Opportunity and Balanced Funds: Typically pay distributions in June and December.  Nebraska Tax-Free Income and Short-Intermediate Income Funds: Typically pay distributions in March, June, September, and December. Government Money Market Fund: Interest accrues daily and is paid monthly or upon redemption.

Why do the Funds pay distributions?

To avoid federal taxation, mutual funds must distribute all of their dividends and capital gains each year. All interest and dividends received from the securities in the portfolio, less expenses, are passed through to shareholders as income. Gains realized from selling securities that have been held less than a year are paid out as short term capital gains. Gains realized from securities held for more than a year are passed through to shareholders as long term capital gains, which are taxed at a lower rate.

Why do distributions cause the Funds' prices to go down?

Mutual fund distributions can be a bit confusing for shareholders. However, income tax laws require all mutual funds to distribute their income and gains to shareholders. To understand how mutual fund distributions work, there are several dates to note. The "record date" is the date on which we determine how much each shareholder is entitled to receive, i.e. this is the last day a shareholder can purchase shares and still receive the distribution. The "ex-dividend" date is the first date in which a shareholder purchasing shares will not be entitled to the distribution. Lastly, there is the "pay date" which is the date the dividend is actually paid to shareholders. This date is also known as the "reinvestment date" because most mutual fund shareholders reinvest their distribution in additional shares. In the case of The Weitz Funds, we set the "ex-date" and the "pay date" on the same day.

A mutual fund's NAV is comprised of capital paid-in by purchasing shareholders and accumulation of income and gains that have not yet been distributed to shareholders. When a Fund makes a distribution of accumulated income and gains, the Fund's NAV decreases by the amount of the distribution per share. In other words, since the distribution has been paid out to shareholders it can no longer be included in the Fund's NAV. For example, assume that a mutual fund, which has an NAV of $20.00 today (the record day), declares a distribution of $2.00 with an "ex-date" and "pay date" of tomorrow. Shareholders owning the Fund today will be entitled to the distribution and shareholders purchasing the Fund tomorrow (ex-dividend) will not receive the distribution.

Suppose that you held 1,500 shares of the Fund on the record date, with a market value of $30,000.00. You would receive $3,000.00 ($2.00 per share x 1,500 shares) in distributions on the pay date. Your 1,500 shares would now be worth $27,000.00. If you reinvested your distribution, your $3,000.00 would purchase an additional 166.667 ($3,000.00 / $18.00 per share) shares on the pay date. Your new share balance would be 1,666.667, still with a market value of $30,000.00. The shareholder purchasing shares of the Fund on the ex-date will buy shares at $18.00 (ignoring any fluctuation in NAV attributable to market activity).

Even when distributions are reinvested, shareholders pay taxes on the amounts they receive. Of course, if you own an IRA or other tax-advantaged account, you do not pay taxes on distributions reinvested in the tax-advantaged account.

We want to be responsive to client letters and emails—especially in times of market stress—because we would like to provide peace of mind as well as good financial returns to our clients. On the other hand, the portfolio managers need to focus their attention on investing and the client service people cannot have current, accurate answers to many of the specific investment questions they receive. At times when the market is so volatile, and the news changes so fast, a personalized answer might be out of date by the time it is researched, written, and you have a chance to read it.

Although we may not be able to provide a personalized written response to a specific question, here is what we can do to keep you as informed as possible:

1. forward your questions and concerns to the portfolio managers so they can try to incorporate answers into their quarterly letters;
2. provide an archive of the quarterly letters on our web site (many questions recur regularly and many of the discussions of investment philosophy, tactics in difficult markets, and dealing with investor psychology remain relevant over the years);
3. periodically supplement the quarterly letters with short notes posted in the “What’s New” and “Frequently Asked Questions” sections of our web site;
4. have informed client service representatives available to listen to and discuss your questions and concerns, and keep the portfolio managers informed about those concerns.

Each year in May, The Weitz Funds holds an informational meeting for shareholders. There is usually no formal business to conduct, so the entire meeting is devoted to a short presentation and answering your questions. You can ask the portfolio managers and investment staff questions during the meeting, or you can call-in or email your questions to us in advance.

The meeting is held at the Scott Conference Center in Omaha, Nebraska. The center is located at 6450 Pine Street on the Aksarben campus.

You should receive a note with your March 31 statement each year reminding you about the meeting. The note will include the meeting specifics, including the date, time and location, along with a map and driving directions to the Scott Conference Center. If you are not a direct client of The Weitz Funds but would like to attend the meeting, maps and driving directions are also available from our client service representatives.

In our Prospectus you may notice two different mailing addresses for The Weitz Funds; one in Omaha, Nebraska, and one in Kansas City, Missouri.

The Weitz Funds' business office is located in Omaha, Nebraska. All employees of Wallace R. Weitz & Company work at the Omaha office. All client service phone calls and emails are answered by client service staff in Omaha.

Boston Financial Data Services (“BFDS”), located in Kansas City, is the sub-transfer agent for the Funds. Generally all correspondence, including applications, address change requests, IRA Withdrawal forms, checks for purchases*, etc., should be mailed to BFDS in Kansas City. Once a piece of mail is received in Kansas City, it is scanned into our computer system to be processed in Omaha.

BFDS also mails trade confirmations and quarterly statements to all shareholders who invest directly with The Weitz Funds.

Occasionally you may receive a business reply envelope with the Omaha address on it, included with a form you requested. There may be certain situations where a client service representative deems it more beneficial for you to mail a particular piece of correspondence directly to their attention at the Omaha address, rather than to Kansas City.

*Please note that any checks received directly by the Funds at the business address in Omaha will be forwarded by overnight mail to BFDS, and will be processed when they are received by BFDS.

Shareholders who hold our Funds through a brokerage account may not be receiving our quarterly reports. Shareholder reports are posted to our website approximately three to four weeks after each calendar quarter. If you would like to receive a paper copy please contact a client service representative at 800-304-9745 or use our secure contact form.