497 1 remo485.htm FINALIZED PROSPECTUS remo485
PROSPECTUS October 1, 2007 
As Revised, October 10, 2007 

Contents

The Fund     
Goal/Approach    1 
Main Risks    2 
Past Performance    5 
Expenses    6 
Management    7 
Financial Highlights    11 
 
Your Investment     
Shareholder Guide    12 
Distributions and Taxes    21 
Services for Fund Investors    22 
Instructions for Regular Accounts    23 
Instructions for IRAs    25 
 
For More Information     

See back cover.

The Fund

Emerging Markets Opportunity Fund 
Ticker Symbols    Class A: SEOAX 
    Class C: SEOCX 
    Class I:    SEORX 
    Class T:    SEOTX 

GOAL/APPROACH

The fund seeks long-term capital appreciation. To pursue this goal, the fund normally invests at least 80% of its assets in the stocks of companies organized, or with a majority of assets or operations, in emerging market countries. Normally, the fund will invest in at least ten emerging market countries. The fund may invest in the stocks of companies of any size. The fund’s stock investments may include common stocks, preferred stocks, convertible securities and warrants, including those purchased in initial public offerings or shortly thereafter.

The portfolio managers begin the investment process by emphasizing a top-down investment approach to allocate the fund’s assets among emerging market countries.The portfolio managers use a quantitative model that incorporates valuation, currency, momentum, growth, interest rate and risk factors to rank emerging market countries and suggest country allocation weights versus the MSCI Emerging Markets Index, the fund’s performance benchmark. The portfolio managers then evaluate the model’s rankings and suggested country allocations by assessing certain qualitative factors, such as political and economic developments, and market factors, such as liquidity. The portfolio managers typically will overweight the fund’s investment in emerging market countries identified by the model as attractive, and underweight those countries identified as unattractive, with any adjustments resulting from the qualitative assessment being primarily in the magnitude of the position with limitations on the direction (i.e., from overweight to neutral, not all the way to underweight).

To select individual stocks within emerging market countries, the portfolio managers use a bottom-up investment approach, focusing on fundamental analysis and assessments of company management, product line and competitive position to rank individual stocks. The portfolio managers typically overweight the stocks of companies considered to be attractive, and underweight those stocks considered to be unattractive, from an investment perspective.

The portfolio managers also assess and manage the overall risk profile of the fund’s portfolio.The currency exposure of the fund’s portfolio typically is unhedged to the U.S. dollar, since currency is an implicit part of the country allocation and stock selection process.

The fund typically sells a stock when its ranking is downgraded, when it significantly underperforms the local country index or falls short of the portfolio managers’ expectations, or to underweight exposure to a particular market.

The fund may, but is not required to, use derivatives, such as futures, options, forward contracts and swaps, as a substitute for investing directly in an underlying asset, to increase returns, to manage market and/or interest rate risk, or as part of a hedging strategy. The fund also may engage in short-selling, typically for hedging purposes, such as to limit exposure to a possible market decline in the value of its portfolio securities.

Concepts to understand

Emerging market countries: generally all countries represented by the Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) Emerging Markets Index, or any other country that the portfolio managers believe has an emerging economy or market.

MSCI Emerging Markets Index: a market-capitalization-weighted index designed to measure the equity performance of 26 emerging market countries in Europe, Latin America and the Pacific Basin.

The Fund 1

MAIN RISKS

The fund’s principal risks are discussed below. The value of your investment in the fund will fluctuate, sometimes dramatically, which means you could lose money.

  • Foreign investment risk. The fund’s performance will be influenced by political, social and eco- nomic factors affecting investments in foreign companies. Special risks associated with invest- ments in foreign companies include exposure to currency fluctuations, less liquidity, less developed or less efficient trading markets, lack of compre- hensive company information, political instability and differing auditing and legal standards.To the extent the fund’s investments are concentrated in a limited number of foreign countries, the fund’s performance could be more volatile than that of more geographically diversified funds.
  • Emerging market risk. Emerging markets tend to be more volatile than the markets of more mature economies, and generally have less diverse and less mature economic structures and less stable political systems than those of developed coun- tries. The securities of companies located or doing substantial business in emerging markets are often subject to rapid and large changes in price. In particular, countries with emerging mar- kets may have relatively unstable governments, present the risk of sudden adverse government or regulatory action and even nationalization of businesses, restrictions on foreign ownership, or prohibitions of repatriation of assets, and may have less protection of property rights than more developed countries.The economies of countries with emerging markets may be based predomi- nantly on only a few industries, may be highly vulnerable to changes in local or global trade conditions, and may suffer from extreme debt burdens or volatile inflation rates. Local securities markets may trade a small number of securities and may be unable to respond effectively to increases in trading volume, potentially making prompt liquidation of substantial holdings diffi- cult. Transaction settlement and dividend collec- tion procedures also may be less reliable in emerging markets than in developed markets.
  • Foreign currency risk. Investments in foreign cur- rencies are subject to the risk that those curren- cies will decline in value relative to the U.S. dol- lar. Currency rates in foreign countries may fluc- tuate significantly over short periods of time. A decline in the value of foreign currencies relative to the U.S. dollar will reduce the value of secu- rities held by the fund and denominated in those currencies. Foreign currencies are also subject to risks caused by inflation, interest rates, budget deficits and low savings rates, political factors and government controls.
  • Market risk. The stock markets of emerging mar- ket countries can be extremely volatile.The mar- ket value of a security may decline due to gen- eral market conditions that are not specifically related to a particular company, such as real or perceived adverse economic conditions, changes in the general outlook for corporate earnings, changes in interest or currency rates or adverse investor sentiment generally. A security’s market value also may decline because of factors that affect a particular industry or industries, such as labor shortages or increased production costs and competitive conditions within an industry.
  • Issuer risk. The value of a security may decline for a number of reasons which directly relate to the issuer, such as management performance, finan- cial leverage and reduced demand for the issuer’s products or services.
  • Smaller company risk. To the extent the fund invests in small and midsize companies it will be subject to additional risks because the earnings and revenues of these companies tend to be less predictable (and some companies may be expe- riencing significant losses), and their share prices more volatile than those of larger, more estab- lished companies. The shares of smaller compa- nies tend to trade less frequently than those of larger, more established companies, which can adversely affect the pricing of these securities and the fund’s ability to sell these securities.

2

  • Market sector risk. The fund may significantly over- weight or underweight certain companies, indus- tries or market sectors, which may cause the fund’s performance to be more or less sensitive to developments affecting those companies, industries or sectors.
  • Liquidity risk. When there is little or no active trading market for specific types of securities, it can become more difficult to sell the securities at or near their perceived value. In such a market, the value of such securities and the fund’s share price may fall dramatically. Investments in foreign securities tend to have greater exposure to liquidity risk than domestic securities.
  • Derivatives risk. The fund may use derivative instruments, such as options, futures and options on futures (including those relating to securities, indexes, foreign currencies and interest rates), swaps and forward contracts. A small investment in derivatives could have a potentially large impact on the fund’s performance. The use of derivatives involves risks different from, or possibly greater than, the risks associated with investing directly in the underlying assets. Derivatives can be highly volatile, illiquid and difficult to value, and there is the risk that changes in the value of a derivative held by the fund will not correlate with the underlying instruments or the fund’s other investments. Derivative instruments also involve the risk that a loss may be sustained as a result of the failure of the counterparty to the derivative instruments to make required payments or otherwise comply with the derivative instruments’ terms.
  • Additionally, some derivatives the fund may use involve leverage (e.g., an instrument linked to the value of a securities index may return income calculated as a multiple of the price movement of the underlying index). This economic leverage will increase the volatility of these instruments as they may increase or decrease in value more quickly than the underlying security, index, futures contract, or other economic variable.The fund may be required to segregate permissible liquid assets to cover its obligations relating to its purchase of derivative instruments.
  • Leveraging risk. The use of leverage, such as engaging in reverse repurchase agreements, lending portfolio securities, entering into forward currency contracts and engaging in forward commitment transactions, may magnify the fund’s gains or losses. Because many derivatives have a leverage component, adverse changes in the value or level of the underlying asset, reference rate or index can result in a loss substantially greater than the amount invested in the derivative itself.
  • Short sale risk. The fund may make short sales, which involves selling a security it does not own in anticipation that the security’s price will decline. Short sales may involve substantial risk and “leverage.” Short sales expose the fund to the risk that it will be required to buy the security sold short (also known as “covering” the short position) at a time when the security has appreciated in value, thus resulting in a loss to the fund.

The Fund 3

MAIN RISKS (continued)

  • Non-diversification risk. The fund is non-diversi- fied, which means that a relatively high percent- age of the fund’s assets may be invested in a lim- ited number of issuers.Therefore, the fund’s per- formance may be more vulnerable to changes in the market value of a single issuer and more sus- ceptible to risks associated with a single eco- nomic, political or regulatory occurrence than a diversified fund.

What this fund is — and isn’t

This fund is a mutual fund: a pooled investment that is professionally managed and gives you the opportunity to participate in financial markets. It strives to reach its stated goal, although as with all mutual funds, it cannot offer guaranteed results.

An investment in this fund is not a bank deposit. It is not insured or guaranteed by the FDIC or any other government agency. It is not a complete investment program. You could lose money in this fund, but you also have the potential to make money.

Other potential risks

Under adverse market conditions, the fund could invest some or all of its assets in the securities of U.S. issuers, U.S. Treasury securities and money market securities, or hold cash. Although the fund would do this for temporary defensive purposes, it could reduce the benefit from any upswing in the market. During such periods, the fund may not achieve its investment objective.

At times, the fund may engage in short-term trading, which could produce higher transaction costs and taxable distributions and lower the fund’s after-tax performance.

The fund may purchase securities of companies in initial public offerings (IPOs). The prices of securities purchased in IPOs can be very volatile. The effect of IPOs on the fund’s performance depends on a variety of factors, including the number of IPOs the fund invests in relative to the size of the fund and whether and to what extent a security purchased in an IPO appreciates or depreciates in value. As a fund’s asset base increases, IPOs often have a diminished effect on such fund’s performance.

The fund may lend its portfolio securities to brokers, dealers and other financial institutions. In connection with such loans, the fund will receive collateral from the borrower equal to at least 100% of the value of the loaned securities. If the borrower of the securities fails financially, there could be delays in recovering the loaned securities or exercising rights to the collateral.

4

PAST PERFORMANCE

Since the fund has less than one calendar year of performance, past performance information is not included in this section of the prospectus.

The Fund 5

EXPENSES

As an investor, you pay certain fees and expenses in connection with the fund, which are described in the table below.

Fee table                 
 
    Class A    Class C    Class I    Class T 
Shareholder transaction fees (fees paid from your account)                 
Maximum front-end sales charge on purchases                 
% of offering price    5.75    none    none    4.50 
Maximum contingent deferred sales charge (CDSC)                 
% of purchase or sale price, whichever is less    none*    1.00    none    none* 
Maximum redemption fee                 
% of transaction amount                 
(charged only when selling shares you have owned for less than 30 days)    none    none    none    none 
 
Annual fund operating expenses (expenses paid from fund assets)                 
% of average daily net assets                 
Management fees    1.25    1.25    1.25    1.25 
Rule 12b-1 fee    none    .75    none    .25 
Shareholder services fee    .25    .25    none    .25 
Other expenses    2.41    2.46    2.63    2.68 
Total annual fund operating expenses    3.91    4.71    3.88    4.43 
Fee waiver and/or expense reimbursement    (1.91)    (1.96)    (2.13)    (2.18) 
Net operating expenses**    2.00    2.75    1.75    2.25 

* Shares bought without an initial sales charge as part of an investment of $1 million or more may be charged a CDSC of 1.00% if redeemed within one year. 
** Dreyfus has contractually agreed to waive receipt of its fees and/or assume certain expenses of the fund, until September 30, 2008, so that annual fund operating 
expenses (excluding Rule 12b-1 fees, shareholder services fees, commitment fees on borrowings, taxes, interest, brokerage commissions and extraordinary expenses) do 
not exceed 1.75%. 

Expense example             
    1 Year    3 Years    5 Years    10 Years 
Class A    $766    $1,534    $2,318    $4,355 
Class C                 
with redemption    $378    $1,244    $2,216    $4,669 
without redemption    $278    $1,244    $2,216    $4,669 
Class I    $178    $988    $1,817    $3,970 
Class T    $668    $1,542    $2,427    $4,682 

This example shows what you could pay in expenses over time. It uses the same hypothetical conditions other funds use in their prospectuses: $10,000 initial investment, 5% total return each year and no changes in expenses. The one-year example and the first year of the three-years, five-years, and ten-years examples are based on net operating expenses, which reflects the expense waiver/reimbursement by Dreyfus. Because actual returns and expenses will be different, the example is for comparison only.

Concepts to understand

Management fee: the fee paid to Dreyfus for managing the fund’s portfolio and assisting in all aspects of the fund’s operations.

Rule 12b-1 fee: the fee paid to the fund’s distributor for financing the sale and distribution of Class C and Class T shares. Because this fee is paid out of the fund’s assets on an ongoing basis, over time it will increase the cost of your investment and may cost you more than paying other types of sales charges.

Shareholder services fee: the fee paid to the fund’s distributor for providing shareholder services.

Other expenses: fees paid by the fund for miscellaneous items such as transfer agency, custody, professional and registration fees. The fund also makes payments to certain financial intermediaries, including affiliates, who provide sub-administration, recordkeeping and/or sub-transfer agency services to beneficial owners of the fund.

6

MANAGEMENT

Investment advisers

The investment adviser for the fund is The Dreyfus Corporation (Dreyfus), 200 Park Avenue, New York, New York 10166. Founded in 1947, Dreyfus manages approximately $223 billion in approximately 180 mutual fund portfolios. The fund has agreed to pay Dreyfus a management fee at the annual rate of 1.25% of the fund’s average daily net assets. For the past fiscal year, the fund did not pay a management fee due to an undertaking by Dreyfus. A discussion regarding the basis for the board’s approving the fund’s management agreement with Dreyfus is available in the fund’s annual report for the fiscal year ended May 31, 2007. Dreyfus is the primary mutual fund business of The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation (BNY Mellon), a global financial services company focused on helping clients move and manage their financial assets, operating in 37 countries and serving more than 100 markets. BNY Mellon is a leading provider of financial services for institutions, corporations and high-net-worth individuals, providing asset and wealth management, asset servicing, issuer services, and treasury services through a worldwide client-focused team. BNY Mellon has more than $18 trillion in assets under custody and administration and $1 trillion in assets under management, and it services more than $11 trillion in outstanding debt. Additional information is available at www.bnymellon.com.

The Dreyfus asset management philosophy is based on the belief that discipline and consistency are important to investment success. For each fund, Dreyfus seeks to establish clear guidelines for portfolio management and to be systematic in making decisions.This approach is designed to provide each fund with a distinct, stable identity.

Dreyfus has engaged WestLB Mellon Asset Management (USA) LLC (WMAM US), located at 1185 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York

10036, to serve as the fund’s sub-investment adviser. WMAM US is a wholly-owned subsidiary of WestLB Mellon Asset Management Holdings Limited (WestLB Mellon Holdings), which in turn is owned 50% by WestLB AG and 50% by Mellon Financial. WestLB AG is a European commercial bank and one of Germany’s leading financial services providers.As of June 30, 2007,WestLB Mellon Holdings, through its asset management subsidiaries, had approximately $51.4 billion in assets under management, of which, $750 million was under the management of WMAM US. WMAM US, subject to Dreyfus’ supervision and approval, provides investment advisory assistance and research and the day-to-day management of the fund’s investments.

Investment decisions for the fund are made by a committee of portfolio managers, which has managed the fund since the fund’s inception.The committee members are Hugh Hunter, Tony Hann, Richard Fairgrieve and Bill Rudman. Mr. Hunter joined WMAM, the marketing name for the asset management activities of WestLB Mellon Holdings and its predecessor, in 1998 as a global emerging markets asset manager and is currently head of global emerging markets at WMAM. Mr. Hann joined WMAM in 1998 as head of its Asia desk and is currently a global emerging markets manager at WMAM. Mr. Fairgrieve joined WMAM in 2002 as a global emerging markets asset manager; prior thereto, he was an Asian equity strategist with Barclays Private Client Services. Mr. Rudman joined WMAM in 1999 as head of its Latin America desk and currently is a global emerging markets asset manager at WMAM.There are no limitations on the role of a committee member with respect to making investment decisions for the fund.

The fund’s Statement of Additional Information (SAI) provides additional information about the portfolio managers’ compensation, other accounts managed by the portfolio managers, and the portfolio managers’ ownership of fund shares.

The Fund 7

MANAGEMENT (continued)

Distributor

The fund’s distributor is MBSC Securities Corporation (MBSC), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Dreyfus. Dreyfus or MBSC may provide cash payments out of its own resources to financial intermediaries that sell shares of the fund or provide other services. Such payments are separate from any sales charges, 12b-1 fees and/or shareholder services fees or other expenses paid by the fund to those intermediaries. Because those payments are not made by you or the fund, the fund’s total expense ratio will not be affected by any such payments. These additional payments may be made to intermediaries, including affiliates, that provide shareholder servicing, sub-administration, recordkeeping and/or sub-transfer agency services, marketing support and/or access to sales meetings, sales representatives and management representatives of the financial intermediary. Cash compensation also may be paid from Dreyfus’ or MBSC’s own resources to intermediaries for inclusion of the fund on a sales list, including a preferred or select sales list or in other sales programs.These payments sometimes are referred to as “revenue sharing.” From time to time, Dreyfus or MBSC also may provide cash or non-cash compensation to financial intermediaries or their representatives in the form of occasional gifts; occasional meals, tickets or other entertainment; support for due diligence trips; educational conference sponsorship; support for recognition programs; and other forms of cash or non-cash compensation permissible under broker-dealer regulations. In some cases, these payments or compensation may create an incentive for a financial intermediary or its employees to recommend or sell shares of the fund to you. Please contact your financial representative for details about any payments they or their firm may receive in connection with the sale of fund shares or the provision of services to the fund.

Code of ethics

The fund, Dreyfus, WMAM US and MBSC have each adopted a code of ethics that permits its personnel, subject to such code, to invest in securities, including securities that may be purchased or held by the fund. Each of the Dreyfus and WMAM US code of ethics restricts the personal securities transactions of its employees, and requires portfolio managers and other investment personnel to comply with the relevant code’s preclearance and disclosure procedures. The primary purpose of each code is to ensure that personal trading by Dreyfus or WMAM US employees does not disadvantage any fund managed by Dreyfus or WMAM US, as the case may be.

Performance Information for Related Accounts

Although the fund is newly organized and has less than a full calendar year performance record, the fund’s portfolio managers follow substantially the same investment policies and strategies managing the fund’s assets as they do managing certain discretionary investment management accounts managed by WMAM (collectively, the “Related Accounts”). The tables below show the annual returns and average annual total returns for the Related Accounts and for the MSCI Emerging Markets Index. The Index information is provided to represent the investment environment existing at the time periods shown.The Index is unmanaged and an investor may not invest directly in the Index. No performance information is shown for the fund, which has not completed a full calendar year of performance. Investors should not consider this performance data as an indication of the future performance of the fund or the Related Accounts.

8

The performance figures for the Related Accounts reflect the deduction of the historical fees and expenses paid by the Related Accounts, and not those to be paid by the fund. The performance of the Related Accounts could have been adversely affected by the imposition of certain regulatory requirements, restrictions and limitations, if such accounts had been regulated as investment companies under the U.S. federal securities and tax laws. Additionally, although it is anticipated that the fund and the Related Accounts may hold similar securities, their investment results are expected to differ. In particular, differences in asset size and in cash flow resulting from purchases and redemptions of fund shares may result in different security selections, differences in the relative weightings of securities or differences in the price paid for particular fund holdings. The performance information does not reflect the deduction of any applicable sales loads which, if reflected, would reduce the performance quoted. Please remember that past performance is not indicative of future returns, and that the investment return and principal value of an investment will fluctuate so that an investor’s shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original cost.

WMAM is the marketing name for the asset management activities of WestLB Mellon Holdings and its predecessor and includes WestLB Mellon Asset Management (UK) Limited, WestLB Asset Management Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH, Ltd., WestLB Asset Management S.A. (Luxembourg), WestLB Mellon Asset Management (Australia) Pty. Limited, WMAM US, and JAIC WestLB Asset Management Co. Ltd.WestLB Mellon Holdings has a 50% stake in JAIC WestLB Asset Management Co. Ltd. pursuant to a separate joint venture. WestLB Mellon Holdings also is associated with Banque d’Orsay S.A. in France.

The Fund 9

MANAGEMENT (continued)

Historical performance information for the Related Accounts and the MSCI Emerging Markets Index is shown below. WMAM claims compliance with the Global Investment Performance Standards (GIPS®). All returns are calculated in U.S. dollars and reflect the reinvestment of dividends and other distributions.

Additional information regarding WMAM’s policies and procedures for calculating and reporting performance returns, and a listing and description of all of its composites and/or a presentation that adheres to the GIPS standards, is available upon request for financial advisors by calling 1-800-334-6899 and for individual shareholders by calling 1-800-554-4611. WMAM’s performance data has been verified by an independent verifier on an annual basis from January 1, 1999 through December 31, 2006.

WMAM Global Emerging Markets                 
Equity Composite                     
Annual total returns for the year ended December 31,                 
        MSCI                 
    Related    Emerging            Total     
    Accounts    Markets        Composite    composite    Percentage 
    total return    Index    Number of    dispersion    assets    of Firm 
Period    (%)    return (%)*    portfolios    (range)    (millions)    assets (%) 
2006    29.77%    32.17%    20    0.80    1,430.00    31.55% 
2005    34.54%    34.00%    8    0.85    965.40    23.83% 
2004    22.60%    25.55%    7    1.06    792.05    22.67% 
2003    58.24%    55.82%    6    0.15    451.33    18.15% 
2002    -4.95%    -6.17%    5    0.98    141.24    6.35% 
2001    4.28%    -2.62%    4    1.01    127.46    7.33% 
2000    -29.00%    -30.83%    3    2.14    95.57    4.64% 
1999    70.67%    66.49%    2    n/a    90.80    3.63% 

The year-to-date total return of the Related Accounts as of 6/30/07 was 18.3% .

WMAM Global Emerging Markets     
Equity Composite         
Average annual total returns as of 6/30/07 
 
            Since 
            inception 
    1 Year    5 Years    (1/1/99) 
Related Accounts    42.38%    29.23%    20.24% 
MSCI Emerging             
Markets Index*    44.99%    30.32%    19.48% 

* Sources of foreign exchange rates may be different between the 
composite and the Index. 

10

FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS

The following table described the performance for each share class for the period from July 13, 2006 (commencement of operations) to May 31, 2007. All information (except portfolio turnover rate) reflects financial results for a single fund share.Total return shows how much your investment in the fund would have increased (or decreased) during the period, assuming you had reinvested all dividends and distributions. These figures have been audited by Ernst & Young LLP, an independent registered public accounting firm, whose report, along with the fund’s financial statements, is included in the annual report, which is available upon request.

    Class A    Class C    Class I*    Class T 
    Shares    Shares    Shares    Shares 
Per-Share Data ($):                 
Net asset value, beginning of period    12.50    12.50    12.50    12.50 
Investment operations: Investment income (loss) — net 1    .02    (.07)    .05    (.01) 
Net realized and unrealized gain (loss) on investments    4.36    4.34    4.37    4.36 
Total from investment operations    4.38    4.27    4.42    4.35 
Distributions: Dividends from net realized                 
gain on investments    (.07)    (.07)    (.07)    (.07) 
Net asset value, end of period    16.81    16.70    16.85    16.78 
Total Return (%) 2    35.12 3    34.32 3    35.44    34.88 3 
Ratios/Supplemental Data (%):                 
Ratio of total expenses to average net assets 2    3.46    4.17    3.43    3.92 
Ratio of net expenses to average net assets 2    1.73    2.38    1.51    1.96 
Ratio of net investment income (loss) to average net assets 2    .17    (.46)    .36    (.10) 
Portfolio turnover rate 2    140.52    140.52    140.52    140.52 
Net assets, end of period ($ x 1,000)    15,694    986    440    354 
 
1 Based on average shares outstanding at each month end.                 
2 Not annualized.                 
3 Exclusive of sales charge.                 
* Effective June 1, 2007, Class R shares were redesignated as Class I shares.             

The Fund 11

Your Investment

SHAREHOLDER GUIDE

The Dreyfus Premier Funds are designed primarily for people who are investing through a third party, such as a bank, broker-dealer or financial adviser, or in a 401(k) or other retirement plan. Third parties with whom you open a fund account may impose policies, limitations and fees which are different from those described in this prospectus. Consult a representative of your plan or financial institution for further information.

Your financial representative may receive different compensation for selling one class of shares than for selling another class. It is important to remember that the CDSCs and Rule 12b-1 fees have the same purpose as the front-end sales charge: to compensate the distributor for concessions and expenses it pays to dealers and financial institutions in connection with the sale of fund shares. A CDSC is not charged on fund shares acquired through the investment of fund dividends.

Deciding which class of shares to buy

This prospectus offers Class A, C,T and I shares of the fund. The different classes represent investments in the same portfolio of securities, but the classes are subject to different expenses and will likely have different share prices.When choosing a class, you should consider your investment amount, anticipated holding period, the potential costs over your holding period and whether you qualify for any reduction or waiver of the sales charge.

When you invest in Class A or Class T shares you generally pay an initial sales charge. Class A shares have no ongoing Rule 12b-1 fees and Class T shares have lower ongoing Rule 12b-1 fees than Class C shares. Each class, except Class I shares, is subject to a shareholder service fee. Class I shares are available only to limited types of investors. Please see below for more information regarding the eligibility requirements.

A more complete description of each class follows. You should review these arrangements with your financial representative before determining which class to invest in.

    Class A    Class C    Class T    Class I 
 
Initial sales charge    up to 5.75%    none    up to 4.50%    none 
 
Ongoing distribution fee                 
(Rule 12b-1 fee)    none    0.75%    0.25%    none 
 
Ongoing shareholder service fee    0.25%    0.25%    0.25%    none 
 
Contingent deferred sales charge    1% on sale of    1% on sale of    1% on sale of    none 
    shares bought    shares held for    shares bought     
    within one year    one year or less    within one year     
    without an initial        without an initial 
    sales charge as        sales charge as     
    part of an        part of an     
    investment of        investment of     
    $1 million        $1 million     
    or more        or more     
 
Conversion feature    no    no    no    no 
 
Recommended purchase maximum    none    $1 million    $1 million    none 

12

Class A share considerations

When you invest in Class A shares, you pay the public offering price, which is the share price, or net asset value (NAV), plus the initial sales charge that may apply to your purchase.The amount of the initial sales charge is based on the size of your investment, as the following table shows. We also describe below how you may reduce or eliminate the initial sales charge. (See “Sales charge reductions and waivers.”)

Since some of your investment goes to pay an up-front sales charge when you purchase Class A shares, you purchase fewer shares than you would with the same investment in Class C shares. Nevertheless, you are usually better off purchasing Class A shares, rather than Class C shares, and paying an up-front sales charge if you:

  • plan to own the shares for an extended period of time, since the ongoing Rule 12b-1 fees on Class C shares may eventually exceed the cost of the up-front sales charge
  • qualify for a reduced or waived sales charge

If you invest $1 million or more (and are not eligible to purchase Class I shares), Class A shares will always be the most advantageous choice.

Class A sales charges     
 
    Sales charge    Sales charge 
    as a % of    as a % of 
Purchase amount    offering price    NAV 
Less than $50,000    5.75%    6.10% 
$50,000 to $99,999    4.50%    4.70% 
$100,000 to $249,999    3.50%    3.60% 
$250,000 to $499,999    2.50%    2.60% 
$500,000 to $999,999    2.00%    2.00% 
$1 million or more *    none    none 

* No sales charge applies on investments of $1 million or more, but a 
contingent deferred sales charge of 1% may be imposed on certain 
redemptions of such shares within one year of the date of purchase. 

Class T share considerations

When you invest in Class T shares, you pay the public offering price, which is the share price, or NAV, plus the initial sales charge that may apply to your purchase. The amount of the initial sales charge is based on the size of your investment.We also describe below how you may reduce or eliminate the initial sales charge. (See “Sales charge reductions and waivers.”)

The initial sales charge on Class A is higher than that of Class T. Nevertheless, you are usually better off purchasing Class A shares rather than Class T shares if you:

  • plan to own the shares for an extended period of time, since the ongoing Rule 12b-1 fees on Class T shares may eventually exceed the initial sales charge differential
  • invest at least $1 million, regardless of your investment horizon, because there is no initial sales charge at that level and Class A has no ongoing Rule 12b-1 fees

Since some of your investment goes to pay an up-front sales charge when you purchase Class T shares, you purchase fewer shares than you would with the same investment in Class C shares. Nevertheless, you should consider purchasing Class T shares, rather than Class C shares, and paying an up-front sales charge if you:

  • qualify for a reduced or waived sales charge
  • are unsure of your expected holding period
Class T sales charges     
 
    Sales charge    Sales charge 
    as a % of    as a % of 
Purchase amount    offering price    NAV 
Less than $50,000    4.50%    4.70% 
$50,000 to $99,999    4.00%    4.20% 
$100,000 to $249,999    3.00%    3.10% 
$250,000 to $499,999    2.00%    2.00% 
$500,000 to $999,999    1.50%    1.50% 
$1 million or more *    none    none 

* No sales charge applies on investments of $1 million or more, but a 
contingent deferred sales charge of 1% may be imposed on certain 
redemptions of such shares within one year of the date of purchase. 

Your Investment 13

SHAREHOLDER GUIDE (continued)

Sales charge reductions and waivers

To receive a reduction or waiver of your initial sales charge, you must let your financial intermediary or the fund know at the time you purchase shares that you qualify for such a reduction or waiver. If you do not let your financial intermediary or the fund know that you are eligible for a reduction or waiver, you may not receive the reduction or waiver to which you are otherwise entitled. In order to receive a reduction or waiver, you may be required to provide your financial intermediary or the fund with evidence of your qualification for the reduction or waiver, such as records regarding shares of Dreyfus Premier Funds or Dreyfus Founders Funds held in accounts with that financial intermediary and other financial intermediaries. Additional information regarding reductions and waivers of sales loads is available, free of charge, at www.drey-fus.com and in the SAI.

You can reduce your initial sales charge in the following ways:

  • Rights of accumulation. You can count toward the amount of your investment your total account value in all share classes of the fund and certain other Dreyfus Premier Funds or Dreyfus Founders Funds that are subject to a sales charge.
    For example, if you have $1 million invested in shares of certain other Dreyfus Premier Funds or Dreyfus Founders Funds, you can invest in Class A shares of any fund without an initial sales charge. We may terminate or change this privi- lege at any time on written notice.
  • Letter of intent. You can sign a letter of intent, in which you agree to invest a certain amount (your goal) in the fund and certain other Dreyfus Premier Funds or Dreyfus Founders Funds over a 13-month period, and your initial sales charge will be based on your goal. A 90-day back-dated period can also be used to count previous purchases toward your goal.Your goal must be at least $50,000, and your initial investment must be at least $5,000. The sales charge will be adjusted if you do not meet your goal.
  • Combine with family members. You can also count toward the amount of your investment all investments in certain Dreyfus Premier Funds or Dreyfus Founders Funds, in any class of shares, by your spouse and your children under age 21 (family members), including their rights of accumulation and goals under a letter of intent.
    Certain other groups may also be permitted to combine purchases for purposes of reducing or eliminating sales charges. (See “How to Buy Shares” in the SAI.)

Class A shares may be purchased at NAV without payment of a sales charge by the following individuals and entities:

  • full-time or part-time employees, and their family members, of Dreyfus or any of its affiliates
  • board members of Dreyfus and board members of the Dreyfus Family of Funds
  • full-time employees, and their family members, of financial institutions that have entered into selling agreements with the fund’s distributor
  • “wrap” accounts for the benefit of clients of financial institutions, provided they have entered into an agreement with the fund’s distributor specifying operating policies and standards
  • qualified separate accounts maintained by an insurance company; any state, county or city or instrumentality thereof; charitable organizations investing $50,000 or more in fund shares; and charitable remainder trusts
  • qualified investors who (i) purchase Class A shares directly through the fund’s distributor, and (ii) have, or whose spouse or minor children have, beneficially owned shares and continuously maintained an open account directly through the distributor in a Dreyfus-managed fund, including the fund, or a Founders-managed fund since on or before February 28, 2006
  • investors with cash proceeds from the investor’s exercise of employment-related stock options, whether invested in the fund directly or indirectly through an exchange from a Dreyfus-managed money market fund, provided that the proceeds are processed through an entity that has entered into an agreement with the fund’s distributor specifically relating to processing stock options.

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  • Upon establishing the account in the fund or the Dreyfus-managed money market fund, the investor and the investor’s spouse or minor children become eligible to purchase Class A shares of the fund at NAV, whether or not using the proceeds of the employment-related stock options
  • members of qualified affinity groups who purchase Class A shares directly through the fund’s distributor, provided that the qualified affinity group has entered into an affinity agreement with the distributor

Class A and Class T shares may be purchased at NAV without payment of a sales charge by the following individuals and entities:

  • employees participating in qualified or non-qualified employee benefit plans
  • shareholders in Dreyfus-sponsored IRA rollover accounts funded with the distribution proceeds from qualified and non-qualified retirement plans or a Dreyfus-sponsored 403(b)(7) plan, provided that, in the case of a qualified or non-qualified retirement plan, the rollover is processed through an entity that has entered into an agreement with the fund’s distributor specifically relating to processing rollovers. Upon establishing the Dreyfus- sponsored rollover account in the fund, the shareholder becomes eligible to make subsequent purchases of Class A or Class T shares of the fund at NAV in such account

Class C share considerations

Since you pay no initial sales charge, an investment of less than $1 million in Class C shares buys more shares than the same investment would in Class A or Class T shares. However, you will pay higher ongoing Rule 12b-1 fees. Over time these fees may cost you more than paying an initial sales charge on Class A or Class T shares.

Because Class A shares will always be a more favorable investment than Class C shares for investments of $1 million or more, the fund will generally not accept a purchase order for Class C shares in the amount of $1 million or more.While the fund will take reasonable steps to prevent investments of

$1 million or more in Class C shares, it may not be able to identify such investments made through certain financial intermediaries or omnibus accounts.

Class C shares redeemed within one year of purchase are subject to a 1% CDSC.

Class I share considerations

Since you pay no initial sales charge, an investment of less than $1 million in Class I shares buys more shares than the same investment would in Class A or Class T shares. There is also no CDSC imposed on redemptions of Class I shares, and you do not pay any ongoing service or distribution fees.

Class I shares may be purchased by:

  • a bank trust department or other financial services provider acting on behalf of its customers having a qualified trust or investment account or relationship at such institution
  • a custodian, trustee, investment manager or other entity authorized to act on behalf of a qualified or non-qualified employee benefit plan that has entered an agreement with the fund’s distributor or a SEP-IRA
  CDSC waivers

The CDSC on Class A, C and T shares may be waived in the following cases:

  • permitted exchanges of shares, except if shares acquired by exchange are then redeemed within the period during which a CDSC would apply to the initial shares purchased
  • redemptions made within one year of death or disability of the shareholder
  • redemptions due to receiving required minimum distributions from retirement accounts upon reaching age 70 1/2
  • redemptions of Class C shares made through the fund’s Automatic Withdrawal Plan, if such redemptions do not exceed 12% of the value of the account annually
  • redemptions from qualified and non-qualified employee benefit plans

Your Investment 15

SHAREHOLDER GUIDE (continued)

Buying shares

The NAV of each class is generally calculated as of the close of trading on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) (usually 4:00 p.m. Eastern time) on days the NYSE is open for regular business.Your order will be priced at the next NAV calculated after your order is received in proper form by the fund’s transfer agent or other authorized entity. When calculating NAV, the fund’s equity investments are valued on the basis of market quotations or official closing prices. The fund’s fixed-income investments generally are valued by one or more independent pricing services approved by the fund’s board or on the basis of market quotations. The pricing service’s procedures are reviewed under the general supervision of the board. If market quotations or official closing prices or prices from a pricing service are not readily available, or are determined not to reflect accurately fair value (such as when the value of a security has been materially affected by events occurring after the close of the exchange or market on which the security is principally traded (for example, a foreign exchange or market), but before the fund calculates its NAV), the fund may value those investments at fair value as determined in accordance with procedures approved by the fund’s board. Fair value of investments may be determined by the fund’s board, its pricing committee or its valuation committee in good faith using such information as it deems appropriate under the circumstances. Fair value of foreign equity securities may be determined with the assistance of a pricing service using correlations between the movement of prices of foreign securities and indexes of domestic securities and other appropriate indicators, such as closing market prices of relevant ADRs and futures contracts. Using fair value to price securities may result in a value that is different from a security’s most recent closing price and from the prices used by other mutual funds to calculate their net asset values. Forward currency contracts will be valued at the current cost of offsetting the contract. Foreign securities held by the fund may trade on days when the fund does not calculate its NAV and thus may affect the fund’s NAV on days when investors have no access to the fund.

Investments in foreign securities, small-capitalization equity securities and certain other thinly traded securities may provide short-term traders arbi-trage opportunities with respect to the fund’s shares. For example, arbitrage opportunities may exist when trading in a portfolio security or securities is halted and does not resume, or the market on which such securities are traded closes before the fund calculates its NAV. If short-term investors in the fund were able to take advantage of these arbi-trage opportunities they could dilute the NAV of fund shares held by long-term investors. Portfolio valuation policies can serve to reduce arbitrage opportunities available to short-term traders, but there is no assurance that such valuation policies will prevent dilution of the fund’s NAV by short-term traders.While the fund has a policy regarding frequent trading, it too may not be completely effective to prevent short-term NAV arbitrage trading, particularly in regard to omnibus accounts. Please see “Your Investment — Shareholder Guide — General Policies” for further information about the fund’s frequent trading policy.

Key concept

Net asset value (NAV): the market value of one share, computed by dividing the total net assets of a fund or class by its shares outstanding. The fund’s Class A and Class T shares are offered to the public at NAV plus a sales charge. Class C and I shares are offered at NAV, but Class C shares generally are subject to higher annual operating expenses and a CDSC.

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Orders to buy and sell shares received by dealers by the close of trading on the NYSE and transmitted to the distributor or its designee by the close of its business day (normally 5:15 p.m. Eastern time) will be based on the NAV determined as of the close of trading on the NYSE that day.

Minimum investments     
    Initial    Additional 
Regular accounts    $1,000    $100 
Traditional IRAs    $750    no minimum 
Spousal IRAs    $750    no minimum 
Roth IRAs    $750    no minimum 
Education Savings    $500    no minimum 
Accounts        after the first year 

All investments must be in U.S. dollars. Third-party checks cannot be accepted. You may be charged a fee for any check that does not clear. Maximum Dreyfus TeleTransfer purchase is $150,000 per day.

Selling shares

You may sell (redeem) shares at any time. Your shares will be sold at the next NAV calculated after your order is received in proper form by the fund’s transfer agent or other authorized entity. Any certificates representing fund shares being sold must be returned with your redemption request.Your order will be processed promptly and you will generally receive the proceeds within a week.

To keep your CDSC as low as possible, each time you request to sell shares we will first sell shares that are not subject to a CDSC, and then those subject to the lowest charge. The CDSC is based on the lesser of the original purchase cost or the current market value of the shares being sold, and is not charged on fund shares you acquired by reinvesting your fund dividends.As described above in this prospectus, there are certain instances when you may qualify to have the CDSC waived. Consult your financial representative or the SAI for additional details.

Before selling shares recently purchased by check, Dreyfus TeleTransfer or Automatic Asset Builder, please note that:

  • if you send a written request to sell such shares, the fund may delay sending the proceeds for up to eight business days following the purchase of those shares
  • the fund will not process wire, telephone, online or Dreyfus TeleTransfer redemption requests for up to eight business days following the purchase of those shares

If you are selling or exchanging shares you have owned for less than 60 days, the fund may deduct a 2% redemption fee.

Subject to the exceptions described below, shares held for less than 60 days will be subject to the fund’s redemption fee, whether held directly in your name or indirectly through an intermediary, such as a broker, bank, investment adviser, recordkeeper for retirement plan participants, or any other third party. If you hold your shares through an intermediary’s omnibus account, the intermediary is responsible for imposing the fee and remitting the fee to the fund.

The redemption fee will be charged and retained by the fund on shares sold before the end of the required holding period. Dreyfus will use the “first-in, first-out” method to determine the holding period for the shares sold. Under this method, shares held the longest will be redeemed or exchanged first.The holding period commences on the day after your purchase order is effective.

The fund will not assess a redemption fee on fund shares (1) redeemed through automatic withdrawal plans or automatic exchange plans; (2) redeemed through certain comprehensive fee programs, such as wrap fee accounts and automated rebalancing or asset allocation programs offered by financial intermediaries (including those sponsored by Dreyfus or its affiliates); (3) acquired by the reinvestment of fund dividends or capital gain distributions; (4) redeemed by the fund (e.g., for failure to meet

Your Investment 17

SHAREHOLDER GUIDE (continued)

account minimums or to cover various fees); (5) purchased or redeemed by rollover, transfers and changes of account registration, provided that the investment remains in the fund; (6) purchased by other mutual funds, if approved by Dreyfus; (7) held in accounts in which there are legal or contractual restrictions on the imposition of a redemption fee as determined by the fund in its sole discretion; (8) redeemed as a result of death, disability or a Qualified Domestic Relations Order; (9) redeemed through the checkwriting privilege, if any, and (10) converted from one share class to another in the fund.

In addition, the fund will not impose redemption fees on certain types of retirement plan transactions processed through a participant recordkeeping system supported by Dreyfus or through third party recordkeepers. These transactions include: (1) redemptions of shares purchased with new contributions to the plan, such as payroll contributions, excess contributions, and loan repayments; (2) shares redeemed for withdrawals and distributions, such as minimum required distributions, systematic withdrawal programs, and lump sum distributions; (3) shares redeemed by participation in automated account rebalancing programs or other systematic participant investment advice programs approved by the plan sponsor; (4) shares purchased or redeemed as a result of plan sponsor decisions, such as changes in investment options, automated account rebalanc-ing programs, and plan termination or merger; (5) shares redeemed for loans, or following a hardship specified in the retirement plan documents; and (6) forfeitures or redemptions in connection with a participant’s termination of employment.

If you hold your shares through a financial intermediary that does not process your share transactions in an omnibus account, the intermediary is responsible for providing Dreyfus with the information necessary to enable you to receive any redemption fee waivers to which you may be entitled. The fund reserves the right to withdraw waivers in its sole discretion without notice if the fund determines that an account is engaging in frequent trading or other activities detrimental to the fund.

Due to operational limitations or restrictions, retirement plans and intermediaries that maintain omnibus accounts with the fund may calculate redemption fees differently than the fund. However, redemptions made through a participant-initiated balance transfer will be subject to the fund’s redemption fee if such shares were purchased through a participant-initiated balance transfer. If you are investing in fund shares through an intermediary, (or in the case of a 401(k) retirement plan, your plan sponsor) please contact the intermediary for more information on any differences in how the redemption fee may be applied to your investment in the fund.

Limitations on selling shares 
by phone or online     
 
Proceeds    Minimum    Maximum 
sent by    phone/online    phone/online 
 
Check*    no minimum    $250,000 per day 
 
Wire    $1,000    $500,000 for joint 
        accounts every 30 days/ 
        $20,000 per day 
 
Dreyfus    $500    $500,000 for joint 
TeleTransfer        accounts every 30 days/ 
        $20,000 per day 

* Not available online on accounts whose address has been changed 
within the last 30 days. 

Written sell orders

Some circumstances require written sell orders along with signature guarantees. These include:

  • amounts of $10,000 or more on accounts whose address has been changed within the last 30 days
  • requests to send the proceeds to a different payee or address

Written sell orders of $100,000 or more must also be signature guaranteed.

A signature guarantee helps protect against fraud. You can obtain one from most banks or securities dealers, but not from a notary public. For joint accounts, each signature must be guaranteed. Please call to ensure that your signature guarantee will be processed correctly.

18

General policies

Unless you decline teleservice privileges on your application, the fund’s transfer agent is authorized to act on telephone or online instructions from any person representing himself or herself to be you and reasonably believed by the transfer agent to be genuine. You may be responsible for any fraudulent telephone or online order as long as the fund’s transfer agent takes reasonable measures to confirm that instructions are genuine.

The fund is designed for long-term investors.

Frequent purchases, redemptions and exchanges may disrupt portfolio management strategies and harm fund performance by diluting the value of fund shares and increasing brokerage and administrative costs. As a result, Dreyfus and the fund’s board have adopted a policy of discouraging excessive trading, short-term market timing, and other abusive trading practices (frequent trading) that could adversely affect the fund or its operations. Dreyfus and the fund will not enter into arrangements with any person or group to permit frequent trading.

The fund reserves the right to:

  • change or discontinue its exchange privilege, or temporarily suspend the privilege during unusual market conditions
  • change its minimum or maximum investment amounts
  • delay sending out redemption proceeds for up to seven days (generally applies only during unusual market conditions or in cases of very large redemptions or excessive trading)
  • “redeem in kind,” or make payments in securities rather than cash, if the amount redeemed is large enough to affect fund operations (for example, if it exceeds 1% of the fund’s assets)
  • refuse any purchase or exchange request, including those from any individual or group who, in Dreyfus’ view, is likely to engage in frequent trading

More than four roundtrips within a rolling 12-month period generally is considered to be frequent trading.A roundtrip consists of an investment that is substantially liquidated within 60 days. Based on the facts and circumstances of the trades, the fund may also view as frequent trading a pattern of investments that are partially liquidated within 60 days.

Dreyfus monitors selected transactions to identify frequent trading. When its surveillance systems identify multiple roundtrips, Dreyfus evaluates trading activity in the account for evidence of frequent trading. Dreyfus considers the investor’s trading history in other accounts under common ownership or control, in other Dreyfus, Dreyfus Founders, and Mellon Funds Trust funds, and if known, in non-affiliated mutual funds and accounts under common control. These evaluations involve judgments that are inherently subjective, and while Dreyfus seeks to apply the policy and procedures uniformly, it is possible that similar transactions may be treated differently. In all instances, Dreyfus seeks to make these judgments to the best of its abilities in a manner that it believes is consistent with shareholder interests. If Dreyfus concludes the account is likely to engage in frequent trading, Dreyfus may cancel or revoke the purchase or exchange on the following business day. Dreyfus may also temporarily or permanently bar such investor’s future purchases into the fund in lieu of, or in addition to, canceling or revoking the trade.At its discretion, Dreyfus may apply these restrictions across all accounts under common ownership, control, or perceived affiliation.

Your Investment 19

SHAREHOLDER GUIDE (continued)

Fund shares often are held through omnibus accounts maintained by financial intermediaries, such as brokers and retirement plan administrators, where the holdings of multiple shareholders, such as all the clients of a particular broker, are aggregated. Dreyfus’ ability to monitor the trading activity of investors whose shares are held in omnibus accounts is limited and dependent upon the cooperation of the financial intermediary in providing information with respect to individual shareholder transactions. However, the agreements between the distributor and financial intermediaries include obligations to comply with the terms of this prospectus. Further, all intermediaries have been requested in writing to notify the distributor immediately if, for any reason, they cannot meet their commitment to make fund shares available in accordance with the terms of the prospectus and relevant rules and regulations.

To the extent that the fund significantly invests in foreign securities traded on markets that close before the fund calculates its NAV, events that influence the value of these foreign securities may occur after the close of these foreign markets and before the fund calculates its NAV. As a result, certain investors may seek to trade fund shares in an effort to benefit from their understanding of the value of these foreign securities at the time the fund calculates its NAV (referred to as price arbitrage). This type of frequent trading may dilute the value of fund shares held by other shareholders.The fund has adopted procedures designed to adjust closing market prices of foreign equity securities under certain circumstances to reflect what it believes to be their fair value.

To the extent that the fund significantly invests in thinly traded small-capitalization equity securities, certain investors may seek to trade fund shares in an effort to benefit from their understanding of the value of these securities (referred to as price arbi-trage). Any such frequent trading strategies may interfere with efficient management of the fund’s portfolio to a greater degree than funds that invest in highly liquid securities, in part because the fund may have difficulty selling these portfolio securities at advantageous times or prices to satisfy large and/or frequent redemption requests. Any successful price arbitrage may also cause dilution in the value of fund shares held by other shareholders.

Although there is currently no fee for exchanges, the fund may deduct a 2% redemption fee if you are selling or exchanging shares you have owned less than 60 days, and you may also be charged a sales load when exchanging into a fund that has a higher one.

Transactions made through Automatic Investment Plans, Automatic Withdrawal Plans, Dreyfus Auto-Exchange Privileges and automatic non-discretionary rebalancing programs approved in writing by Dreyfus generally are not considered to be frequent trading.

Small account policy

If your account falls below $500, the fund may ask you to increase your balance. If it is still below $500 after 45 days, the fund may close your account and send you the proceeds.

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DISTRIBUTIONS AND TAXES

The fund earns dividends, interest and other income from its investments, and distributes this income (less expenses) to shareholders as dividends. The fund also realizes capital gains from its investments, and distributes these gains (less any losses) to shareholders as capital gain distributions. The fund normally pays dividends and capital gain distributions annually. Fund dividends and capital gain distributions will be reinvested in the fund unless you instruct the fund otherwise. There are no fees or sales charges on reinvestments.

Distributions paid by the fund are subject to federal income tax, and may also be subject to state or local taxes (unless you are investing through a tax-advantaged retirement account). For federal tax purposes, in general, certain fund distributions, including interest income and distributions of short-term capital gains, are taxable to you as ordinary income. Other fund distributions, including dividends from U.S. companies and certain foreign companies and distributions of long-term capital gains, generally are taxable to you as qualified dividends and capital gains, respectively.

High portfolio turnover and more volatile markets can result in significant taxable distributions to shareholders, regardless of whether their shares have increased in value.The tax status of any distribution generally is the same regardless of how long you have been in the fund and whether you reinvest your distributions or take them in cash.

If you buy shares of a fund when the fund has realized but not yet distributed income or capital gains, you will be “buying a dividend” by paying the full price for the shares and then receiving a portion back in the form of a taxable distribution.

Your sale of shares, including exchanges into other funds, may result in a capital gain or loss for tax purposes. A capital gain or loss on your investment in the fund generally is the difference between the cost of your shares and the amount you receive when you sell them.

The tax status of your distributions will be detailed in your annual tax statement from the fund. Because everyone’s tax situation is unique, please consult your tax advisor before investing.

Your Investment 21

SERVICES FOR FUND INVESTORS

The third party through whom you purchased fund shares may impose different restrictions on these services and privileges offered by the fund, or may not make them available at all. Consult your financial representative for more information on the availability of these services and privileges.

Automatic services

Buying or selling shares automatically is easy with the services described below. With each service, you select a schedule and amount, subject to certain restrictions.You can set up most of these services with your application, or by calling your financial representative or 1-800-554-4611.

For investing     
 
Dreyfus Automatic    For making automatic investments 
Asset Builder®    from a designated bank account. 
 
Dreyfus Payroll    For making automatic investments 
Savings Plan    through a payroll deduction. 
 
Dreyfus Government    For making automatic investments 
Direct Deposit    from your federal employment, 
Privilege    Social Security or other regular 
    federal government check. 
 
Dreyfus Dividend    For automatically reinvesting the 
Sweep    dividends and distributions from 
    the fund into another Dreyfus fund 
    or certain Dreyfus Founders funds 
    (not available for IRAs). 
 
For exchanging shares 
 
Dreyfus Auto-    For making regular exchanges from 
Exchange Privilege    the fund into another Dreyfus fund 
    or certain Dreyfus Founders funds. 
 
For selling shares 
 
Dreyfus Automatic    For making regular withdrawals 
Withdrawal Plan    from most Dreyfus funds. There will 
    be no CDSC on Class C shares, as 
    long as the amount of any withdraw- 
    al does not exceed on an annual 
    basis 12% of the greater of the 
    account value at the time of the first 
    withdrawal under the plan, or at the 
    time of the subsequent withdrawal. 

Exchange privilege

You can exchange shares worth $500 or more

(no minimum for retirement accounts) from one class of the fund into the same class of another Dreyfus Premier fund or Dreyfus Founders fund. You can also exchange Class T shares into Class A shares of certain Dreyfus Premier fixed-income funds.You can request your exchange by contacting your financial representative. Be sure to read the current prospectus for any fund into which you are exchanging before investing. Any new account established through an exchange will generally have the same privileges as your original account (as long as they are available). There is currently no fee for exchanges, although you may be charged a sales load when exchanging into any fund that has a higher one.

Dreyfus TeleTransfer privilege

To move money between your bank account and your Dreyfus fund account with a phone call, or online, use the Dreyfus TeleTransfer privilege. You can set up Dreyfus TeleTransfer on your account by providing bank account information and following the instructions on your application, or contacting your financial representative.

Reinvestment privilege

Upon written request, you can reinvest up to the number of Class A or Class T shares you redeemed within 45 days of selling them at the current share price without any sales charge. If you paid a CDSC, it will be credited back to your account.This privilege may be used only once.

Account statements

Every fund investor automatically receives regular account statements. You will also be sent a yearly statement detailing the tax characteristics of any dividends and distributions you have received.

22

To open an account, make subsequent investments or to 
sell shares, please contact your financial representative 
or call toll free in the U.S. 1-800-554-4611. 
Make checks payable to: The Dreyfus Family of Funds. 

Concepts to understand

Wire transfer: for transferring money from one financial institution to another. Wiring is the fastest way to move money, although your bank may charge a fee to send or receive wire transfers. Wire redemptions from the fund are subject to a $1,000 minimum.

Electronic check: for transferring money out of a bank account. Your transaction is entered electronically, but may take up to eight business days to clear. Electronic checks usually are available without a fee at all Automated Clearing House (ACH) banks.

Y o u r I n Your Investment v e s 23 1

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For information and assistance, contact your financial representative or call toll free in the U.S. 1-800-554-4611. Make checks payable to: The Dreyfus Trust Company, Custodian.

Your Investment 25

For More Information

Emerging Markets Opportunity Fund 
A series of Strategic Funds, Inc. 
SEC file number: 811-3940 

More information on this fund is available free upon request, including the following:

Annual/Semiannual Report

Describes the fund’s performance, lists portfolio holdings and contains a letter from the fund’s manager discussing recent market conditions, economic trends and fund strategies that significantly affected the fund’s performance during the last fiscal year.The fund’s most recent annual and semian-nual reports are available at www.dreyfus.com .

Statement of Additional Information (SAI)

Provides more details about the fund and its policies. A current SAI is available at www.dreyfus.com and is on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).The SAI is incorporated by reference (is legally considered part of this prospectus).

Portfolio Holdings

The fund will disclose its complete schedule of portfolio holdings, as reported on a month-end basis, at www.dreyfus.com, under Mutual Fund Center – Dreyfus Mutual Funds – Mutual Fund Total Holdings. The information will be posted with a one-month lag and will remain accessible until the fund files a report on Form N-Q or Form N-CSR for the period that includes the date as of which the information was current. In addition, fifteen days following the end of each calendar quarter, the fund will publicly disclose at www.drey-fus.com its complete schedule of portfolio holdings as of the end of such quarter.

A complete description of the fund’s policies and procedures with respect to the disclosure of the fund’s portfolio securities is available in the fund’s SAI.

To obtain information:

By telephone

Call your financial representative or 1-800-554-4611

By mail Write to: 
The Dreyfus Premier Family of Funds 
144 Glenn Curtiss Boulevard 
Uniondale, NY 11556-0144 

On the Internet Text-only versions of certain fund documents can be viewed online or downloaded from: http://www.sec.gov

You can also obtain copies, after paying a duplicating fee, by visiting the SEC’s Public Reference Room in Washington, DC (for information, call 1-202-551-8090) or by E-mail request to publicinfo@sec.gov, or by writing to the SEC’s Public Reference Section, Washington, DC 20549-0102.

© 2007 MBSC Securities Corporation