Consider a mutual fund with $680 million in assets at the start of the year and 10 million shares outstanding. The fund invests in a portfolio of stocks that provides dividend income at the end of the year of $3.5 million. The stocks included in the fund's portfolio increase in price by 7%, but no securities are sold and there are no capital gains distributions. The fund charges 12b-1 fees of .75%, which are deducted from portfolio assets at year-end.
a. What is the fund's net asset value at the start and end of the year? (Round "End of the year" to 3 decimal places.)
b. What is the rate of return for an investor in the fund? (Round your intermediate calculations to 3 decimal places and final answer to 2 decimal places.)