The 2015 Annual Report gave an explanation for the deal as "a plan that aims to assist in [the funds'] continued growth and success, beyond [CEO Robert Killen's] retirement" - which will apparently be in 2018. Other than that paragraph in the report and subsequent proxy materials, communication with shareholders has been nearly nonexistent. The Berwyn Funds website made no reference to the acquisition; one day a Chartwell link showed up at the bottom of the page, and Chartwell showed up as the listed advisor. This month, I got transaction confirmations for the exchange of shares in the Berwyn Funds for shares in the (Chartwell) Berwyn Funds.
It's difficult to see what we get out of the deal other than a vague sense of a succession plan that had to go outside the fund advisor. Chartwell has agreed to waive fees above the ERs that Berwyn charged - until 2018. They have a different distributor and do not offer online access to our accounts. From what I can tell, what we gained was less service, the threat of higher expenses in a couple years, and new branding on our statements (which we can't get online).

https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/870156/000087015616000085/s497.htm
497 1 s497.htm
STRATUS FUND, INC.
Supplement dated May 11, 2016 to the Prospectuses, dated October 31, 2015,regarding the Retail Class A Shares and the Institutional Class Shares, respectively, of the Government Securities Portfolio and Growth Portfolio (the “Portfolios”) of Stratus Fund, Inc.
The Board of Directors (the “Board”) of Stratus Fund, Inc. (the “Fund”) has determined that it is in the best interests of the shareholders of the Fund to liquidate and terminate the Fund. The laws of the Fund’s state of incorporation require the approval of a majority of the shareholders of each Portfolio to effect such a liquidation and termination. As such, the Board intends to call for a Special Meeting of Shareholders to be held on or about June 7, 2016.
If the liquidation of the Fund is approved by a majority of the shareholders of each Portfolio, the Fund will cease accepting purchase orders from new or existing investors, except for the reinvestment of dividends, effective as of the close of the New York Stock Exchange on that date. The liquidation is expected to be effective on or about June 10, 2016, or at such other time as may be authorized by the Board (the “Liquidation Date”). Termination of the Funds is expected to occur as soon as practicable following liquidation.
The Fund anticipates making a distribution of any income and/or capital gains of the Portfolios in connection with its liquidation. The liquidation distribution may be taxable. The tax year for the Fund will end on the Liquidation Date.
Purchasers of Fund shares who purchase from the date of this notice and before the liquidation date may be subject to liquidation expenses that they would otherwise not bear, and also may incur short-term capital gains on losses on those shares upon liquidation.
Shareholders of the Fund may redeem their shares at any time prior to the Liquidation Date.
If a shareholder has not redeemed his or her shares as of the Liquidation Date, the shareholder’s account will be automatically redeemed and proceeds will be sent to the shareholder at his or her address of record. Liquidation proceeds will be paid in cash for the redeemed shares at their net asset value.
If a you are a retirement plan investor, you should consult your tax advisor regarding the consequences of a redemption of Fund shares, or the receipt of a liquidating distribution. If you receive a distribution from an Individual Retirement Account or a Simplified Employee Pension (SEP) IRA, you must roll the proceeds into another Individual Retirement Account within sixty (60) days of the date of the distribution in order to avoid having to include the distribution in your taxable income for the year. If you receive a distribution from a 403(b)(7) Custodian Account (Tax-Sheltered account) or a Keogh Account, you must roll the distribution into a similar type of retirement plan within sixty (60) days in order to avoid disqualification of your plan and the severe tax consequences that it can bring. If you are the trustee of a Qualified Retirement Plan, you may reinvest the money in any way permitted by the plan and trust agreement. If you have questions or need assistance, please contact your financial advisor.
If the liquidation is approved by shareholders, the Fund’s portfolio managers will likely increase the Fund’s assets held in cash and similar instruments in order to pay for Fund expenses and meet redemption requests. As a result, as of the date of shareholder approval of the liquidation, the Portfolios...
(more information on the link)

https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1018862/000072888916002536/commoditystrategysticker.htm
497 1 commoditystrategysticker.htm
Oppenheimer Commodity Strategy Total Return Fund
Supplement dated May 2, 2016 to the Supplements dated April 29, 2016 to the
Summary Prospectus, Prospectus and Statement of Additional Information
This supplement amends the supplements dated April 29, 2016 to the Summary Prospectus, Prospectus and Statement of Additional Information (the “April Supplements”) of the above referenced fund (the “Fund”), and is in addition to any other supplement(s).
1. The Liquidation Date, as defined in the April Supplements, is changed from on or about June 29, 2016 to on or about July 15, 2016.
2. The third sentence of the second paragraph of the April Supplements, regarding the date the Fund will no longer accept new investments, is deleted entirely and replaced with:
Effective as of the close of the New York Stock Exchange on April 29, 2016, the Fund no longer accepts new purchases, except that existing shareholders can continue to purchase in the following types of retirement plans: defined contribution plans including 401(k) (including “Single K”), 403(b) custodial plans, pension and profit sharing plans, defined benefit plans (including “Single DB Plus”), SIMPLE IRAs and SEP IRAs. The Fund reserves the right, in its discretion, to modify the extent to which sales of shares are limited prior to the Liquidation Date.
May 2, 2016 PS0735.047

FYI: Is that gift horse 401(k) plan you have a good deal? Have you examined its teeth?
Maybe it’s time.
The issue here is simple. This gift horse is one you may have to ride until you retire. When 401(k) plans got their start 30 years ago they were imagined as a supplement to pension plans. Today they are the main deal for retirement saving
Regards,
Ted
https://assetbuilder.com/knowledge-center/articles/how-good-is-your-401(k)-plan

http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1019946/000089418916009530/purisma_497e.htm
497 1 purisma_497e.htm SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIALS
THE PURISIMA FUNDS
Supplement dated May 6, 2016 to
Prospectus dated December 31, 2015
The Board of Trustees (the “Board”) of The Purisima Funds has determined that it is advisable to liquidate, dissolve and terminate the legal existence of the Trust, including both of its series, The Purisima Total Return Fund and The Purisima All-Purpose Fund (each, a “Fund” and together, the Funds”). In connection with this determination, the Board has adopted a plan of liquidation. Please note that the Trust will be liquidating its assets on or about June 30, 2016 (the “Distribution Date”).
In connection with the liquidation of the Trust, effective immediately, the Trust will CEASE SALES OF FUND SHARES. In addition, effective immediately, the Trust’s investment manager, Fisher Asset Management, LLC (the “Manager”), will begin an orderly transition of the Trust’s portfolio investments to cash and cash equivalents and each Fund will thereafter no longer be pursuing its investment objective.
At any time prior to the Distribution Date, investors may redeem shares of the Fund. On or about the Distribution Date, the Funds will liquidate their assets and distribute cash pro rata to all remaining shareholders who have not previously redeemed their shares. If you still hold shares of the Trust on the Distribution Date, we will automatically redeem your shares and remit the cash proceeds to you (via check or wire) based on the instructions listed on your account.
The redemption, sale, exchange, or liquidation of your shares may be a taxable event to the extent that your tax basis in the shares is lower than the liquidation proceeds per share that you receive. You should consult your personal tax advisor concerning your particular tax situation.
If you are a retirement plan investor, you should consult your tax adviser regarding the consequences of a redemption of Fund shares. If you hold your Fund shares through a tax-deferred retirement account, you should consult with your tax adviser or account custodian to determine how you may reinvest your redemption proceeds on a tax-deferred basis. For example, if you hold your shares in an IRA account directly with U.S. Bank N.A., you have 60 days from the date you receive your proceeds to reinvest your proceeds into another IRA account and maintain their tax-deferred status. You must notify the Fund or your financial advisor prior to June 15, 2016 of your intent to reinvest your IRA account to avoid withholding deductions from your proceeds.
Please contact the Trust at 1-800-550-1071 if you have questions or need assistance.
Please retain this Supplement with your Prospectus and SAI for future reference.

Sometimes you can do a distribution in kind from your IRA to your taxable account and bootstrap an institutional share account that way. (Occasionally the fund company will require you to pony up enough to meet the high minimum or it will convert the shares to retail shares.)
If you do a distribution this way, you can even avoid IRA tax consequences by replacing the shares removed with their cash value within 60 days (i.e. a 60 day IRA rollover).
I've posted before that I think the question of whether there's a 12b-1 fee is a red herring.
Retail funds are going to collect money from the fund one way or another to pay for servicing the account. A fund uses this money to pay a third party brokerage to do the selling and generate account statements, or to do these tasks itself if selling direct.
It may or may not break the cost out as a separate line item, but either way, that's a reason why the retail funds cost more. The TRP fund has no 12b-1 fee, but included in "other expenses" are "administrative fees" of up to 0.15%:

The funds may make payments to retirement plan recordkeepers, broker-dealers, and other financial intermediaries (at a rate of up to 0.15% of average daily net assets per year) for transfer agency, recordkeeping, and other administrative services that they provide on behalf of the funds. These administrative services may include services such as maintaining account records for each customer; transmitting net purchase and redemption orders; delivering shareholder confirmations, statements, and tax forms; and providing support to respond to customers’ questions regarding their accounts.

See Prospectus.

Just wanted to chime with regard to Roth 401K plans.
Roth 401k plans grow tax free and can be withdrawn tax free, but must follow RMD (required minimum distributions) rules after age 70.5.
Individual Roth IRA plans do not have RMD requirements.

If only things were that simple :-)
The IRS does not impose RMDs on Roth 401(k)s or regular 401(k)s so long as you are working where the money is held. (That is, if you are working at company B, you might not have an RMD at company B, though your money at your former company A would be subject to RMDs.) Same for 403(b)s, but SIMPLEs and SEPs follow IRA rules - RMDs even while you're working.
https://www.irs.gov/Retirement-Plans/RMD-Comparison-Chart-IRAs-vs.-Defined-Contribution-Plans
https://www.irahelp.com/slottreport/still-working-and-past-age-70-12-answers-7-frequently-asked-questions
That's the IRS rule. Still, the plan itself may require you to take RMDs after age 70.5, so you have to check the plan rules also.
Depending on the terms of the plan, you can often take an "in-service" distribution from a 401(k) or similar once you turn 59.5. That enables you to transfer the Roth contributions to a Roth IRA to avoid the RMD issue, assuming you're still working. (If you're not, you're free to take the money out at any age and transfer it to an IRA or use however you'd like.)
Finally, a couple of obscure exceptions to all of the above:
1) In a 403(b) (but not a 401(k)) pre-1987 contributions may not have to be taken out until age 75
2) Inherited Roth IRAs do have RMDs. (If a spouse rolls over an inherited IRA into his/her own IRA, then it is no longer inherited and no longer subject to RMDs.)

I believe Target (allocation) funds can be used quite effectively to not only get you to "work retirement", but also as a tool to get you through until your "earthly retirement" aka death. Something I have shared before and I am still refining are these investment thoughts:
bee's Target Date Strategy:
I've often thought there are really two target dates, one targeting retirement from "work" and one targeting retirement from "earth".
Fully funding a retirement dated (glide path allocation) fund makes perfect sense. As a retirement dated fund glides towards its maturity date it attempts to provide a smooth landing for your investment at that date.
Effectively, at "work" retirement, an investor would have most of their assets in low risk investments. This might be helpful if the markets happens to severely correct in the first 5 years of retirement, but this portfolio must also be re-allocated the prepare for longevity risk (your money needs to last as long as you do). So, during the first few years of retirement a portion of this retirement portfolio needs to reallocated into investments that attempt to achieve portfolio longevity in retirement.
In a sense, a retiree could reallocate a percentage of their retirement portfolio into target date funds that target the incremental need to reach "earthly" retirement. Much like laddering CDs, a retiree could ladder target date funds in 5 year increments that will be used for spending if the retiree is lucky enough to reach that target date.
I could envision a retiree owning 6 separate retirement dated funds, each maturing 5 years further into the future (funding years 65-95 or 70-100) and each needing differing amounts of initial funding based on financial needs during that 5 year period in the future. The last fund matures on your date of death and pays your funeral expenses.
Sorry if some of this sounds a bit morbid to the reader.

I think these funds are the best option for a majority of 401k working investors. I would like to see them standardized across brokerages though. Maybe if they called them by their target stock/bond allocation instead of retirement date. The Vanguard's, Fidelity's and T.Rowe Price's of the world can then add "recommended for retirement date such and such". Seems like a much better way to understand what you're invested in.

FYI: What's in your 401(k)? For more of us, the answer is just a single fund.
Target-date retirement funds aim to make investing simple, and that's why their popularity is exploding. Just pick one pegged to the year you plan to retire, put money in steadily, and it will take care of loading up on high-growth, riskier stocks when you're young and moving into more conservative investments as you age.
Regards,
Ted
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/7a02eac1ec15481ab7abc85153e8ca65/flying-autopilot-target-date-funds-points-consider

One thing I really like about a couple of Skeet's funds is that they are load funds from load families. Not just ordinary load families, they're run by insurance companies. And they merit consideration.
Principal offers some pretty solid funds through retirement plans, but they're also available at the retail level, NTF, at some brokerages.
Here's the Fidelity NTF listing for PMDAX (it's a Fidelity fund pick).
Don't get thrown off by its 3* rating; that's because M* ratings incorporate the impact of loads, and M* overweights that impact for funds with shorter lifetimes (this fund is rated on its three year record only). Instead, see it as a 4* noload fund:
http://www.morningstar.com/funds/XNAS/PMDAX.lw/quote.html
I'm less familiar with SunAmerica - I tend to associate it with VAs, and apparently it's now (since 1998) a subsidiary of AIG. Talk about queasy feelings. Yet the fund seems solid. You can purchase it NTF through TDAmeritrade.
American Century funds, like funds from PIMCO and a variety of other families are sold both load and noload. The noload version of TWEAX is TWEIX. (When one drops the load, whether on TWEAX or TWEIX, the fund gets bumped to a 5 star fund; TWEIX is less expensive as it doesn't have a 12b-1 fee.) One downside is that it's not particularly tax efficient, even allowing for its emphasis on dividends.
LCEIX (now LCEAX) has been on my short list for years, in part because it is more tax-efficient than some of the other funds that pop out in the LCV space.
FWIW, Fidelity added several families (including Invesco) to its load waiver list about three years ago. Here's my post on the Fidelity waivers:
http://www.mutualfundobserver.com/discuss/discussion/6048/fidelity-waives-loads

I return to employer Roth because this thread is entitled salary deduction/reduction (retirement plan contributions). Of course that doesn't preclude raising the question (as you did) of whether one wants to do either, or instead (or in addition) contribute to an IRA, Roth or otherwise.

Did not mean employer Roth; sorry for lack of clarity.
Good high-level synopsis, much of which others have covered in part:
http://fairmark.com/retirement/roth-accounts/to-roth-or-not-to-roth/roth-ira-rules-of-thumb/

Matching shouldn't have much to do in deciding whether to contribute to an employer plan (e.g. 403(b)) as a salary reduction (pre-tax) or a salary deduction (Roth option). You get the match either way. (See this IRS FAQ on Roth contributions to employer plans.)
The argument you may have in mind is that one should contribute to an employer plan as opposed to an IRA until the match limit is reached. But that's a different question from whether contributions to the plan should be pre- or post-tax.
I don't believe you get the match on the older (non-Roth) type of after-tax contributions. No proof, just some inferences. That's one case in which matching (might) affect the choice of contributions to the employer plan.
Employer contributions, whether profit sharing, matching, or anything else, are always pre-tax. That's a small argument for making all contributions (from the first dollar) to the 403(b) as Roth contributions (if available). You may want to have a mix of pre- and post-tax dollars. (FWIW, opinions differ on the merits of "tax diversification".)
The most common argument for making deductible contributions is that your tax rate may be higher now when you're working than after you retire. This argument applies equally to 403(b) pre-tax vs. Roth and to IRA pre-tax vs. Roth.
Another argument for making contributions to the employer plan pre-tax as opposed to post tax (Roth option) is that if you're close to the income limit for Roth IRA contributions, pre-tax contributions can keep you under the limit. But you may be able to get around the limit anyway with a backdoor IRA Roth conversion (if you've got no money in a traditional IRA).
Bottom line: matching is likely not a concern when deciding whether to contribute to an employer plan pre-tax or post-tax; the considerations for the employer plan are largely the same as they are for deciding between traditional and Roth IRA contributions.

Yikes - Just when I thought these retirement options couldn't get any more complicated ... :)
Nice summary msf.
There seem to be (from my cursory reading) about an equal number of proponents of the Roth vrs. Traditional IRA. With the traditional you put a lot more money to work right away (since it's pre-tax money). With the Roth you make out like a bandit during the withdrawal years (unless the rules change).
Both good ways to invest. Whatever plan is selected, through diligent online research, one can uncover the fine points. I'd encourage Hawk's daughter to do this, regardless of plan. It took me 6-7 years after I did the first (of 3) Roth conversions to fully understand all the restrictions and "ins & outs." Really complex rules - and even the experts sometimes offer seemingly contradictory answers.
Ah-em ... if I may say ... We 403B people paved the road for the later 401K. Originally the deferred compensation concept was designed for public employees. The private sector plans came after. An interesting (not widely known) quirk in the early 403B rules allowed us to transfer money out to other custodians while we were still employed. Uncle Sam later plugged that loophole - I believe sometime after 2000. Nice while it lasted.

As Hank wrote, salary reduction is a pre-tax contribution to an employer-sponsored retirement plan (401(k), 403(b), SIMPLE IRA, etc.) that allows you to defer income. In contrast, salary deduction does not reduce your current income.
A salary deduction is a contribution to the retirement plan made by having the employer "deduct" the money from your paycheck. What isn't clear from the question is whether the employer is treating this as a "classic" (pre-Roth-era) after-tax contribution to the plan or a contribution to a "Roth Option" within the plan. See IRS's "Types of Employee Contributions" here.
The old-style after-tax contributions come out tax free (like Roth contributions), but their earnings are taxable (like traditional contributions). The good news is that a fairly new (2014) IRS rule makes it easier to roll over those pre-tax contributions (still not the earnings, though) into a Roth IRA. So once you leave the company, you can move the pre-tax money into a Roth making future earnings tax-free.
The Roth Option that's attached to an employer plan (401k, etc.) is still part of that plan and still has the same withdrawal restrictions as the pre-tax (salary reduction) money. It's not the same as a Roth IRA. As the IRS writes: "the same restrictions on withdrawals that apply to pre-tax elective contributions also apply to designated Roth contributions."
It is important to keep the vehicles straight: there are employer plans (401k, etc.) and IRAs. Roth is a modifier meaning "after tax, and earnings may be tax-free". There are Roth 401(k)s (and 403(b)s, etc.), and there are Roth IRAs. In employer plans, in addition to Roth option contributions there are "classic" after-tax contributions.
The total contributions you make to an employer plan via pre-tax and Roth Option moneys is limited to $18K (plus possible catch-up). This is independent of whatever you contribute to an IRA, which has its own limit.
The "classic" after-tax contributions are not restricted by this limit. They are subject to a total defined contribution limit (employer plus employee contributions) of $53,000.
In case I've been as clear as mud, here's M*'s writeup of pre-tax vs. Roth vs. after-tax:
Should You Make Aftertax Contributions to Your 401(k)?

FYI: I must say I didn’t see it coming. But yesterday brought a highly significant development in the campaign for greater transparency in asset management. Speaking at Prime Minister’s Question Time, David Cameron expressed concern that lack of understanding of the true costs of investing is “sapping people’s enthusiasm” for saving for retirement.
He was responding to a question by the Conservative MP Tom Tugendhat, who recently discovered that the total charges on his own investment portfolio were “more than 5% a year” as a proportion of his assets, or “about triple what I had originally calculated”.
Regards,
Ted
http://www.evidenceinvestor.co.uk/first-it-was-obama-now-cameron-speaks-out-on-fund-fees/

Is Schwab going to stop selling load funds from Franklin Templeton (e.g. TPINX) or Oppenheimer (e.g. OIGAX)? Of course not, even though these are not only load funds, but load classes - if you go to E*Trade, they'll gladly sell you the Templeton fund or the Oppenheimer fund with a load.
Schwab is only going to stop selling a share class if it can't negotiate a load waiver. This is hardly generosity on Schwab's part. It typically get 40 basis points per year for NTF shares sold, and (admittedly I haven't checked) less for load shares. If you're working with an adviser, the adviser gets the lion's share of the front load, so Schwab comes out on the short end of the stick by selling the funds with a load (as opposed to load-waived).
Schwab (unlike Fidelity) used to include TF funds as well as NTF funds in its select lists. It stopped that years ago - now it tries to drive investors to its most profitable share classes. I don't see a difference between this and the supposed conflict of interest that advisors have in selling load funds. Except that soon (at least for retirement accounts) advisors will be held to a fiduciary standard that Schwab can avoid.
Let's look at those load-waived classes. Why would I go to Schwab and buy a 12b-1 laden (dare I say loaded) share class when TGBAX can be purchased elsewhere, albeit with a TF? That higher ER is just skimming money from the fund to pay Schwab for shelf space.
On general principle, I for one don't see anything positive about being offered less choice. But it makes for great PR, and evokes the predictable hurrahs.

I'm a little late to this discussion, but here goes:
1. For domestic stocks, use a low-cost index fund/ETF as a core hold. Then, if you want to "explore", search for talented management (team) that runs a fairly concentrated portfolio for a reasonable cost. Another option would be to add a sector fund/ETF or something that does not mimic the index (maybe something like SPHD or something that emphasizes volatility or dividends, for example).
2. For international stocks, there is a lot more disparity, and indexing is not a clear winner, unless you don't want to take the time to research active funds. Fees may be a bit higher for actively-managed funds here, so pay attention to out-performance net of fees.
3. For bonds, understand that the past 10 years will not be repeated over the next 10 years. That being the case, fund expenses are even more critical.
4. If returns, in general, will be lower over the next few years (which some smart people believe), costs take on a bigger part of the screening process.
5. If you are buying actively-managed funds, remember the most important consideration is who runs the strategy and what their record is. You are not buying an index; you are hiring a manager. Do your homework, and do not skimp on this step.
6. In taxable accounts, remember the importance of tax efficiency. That means taxable distributions can sometimes be deadly. Use funds that tend to have these in your retirement accounts, where taxation is deferred.

http://fpafunds.com/docs/fund-announcements/2015-11-16-sor_press-release-final.pdf?sfvrsn=4
@BenWP Yup, graph out 1-yr returns and it kinda slaps ya in the face, doesn't it? Shades of FPA Perennial. Just a month respite, after butchering their shareholders on that one, Eric Ende said he'd had enough and was heading for the retirement hills, looks like they rolled up their sleeves and got to work on SOR. (see p.2 of above doc for what was intended by the Board of Directors when they authorized the share buyback; your hunch is correct)