Load | Forward Floating NAV Short Duration Fund

Forward Floating NAV Short Duration Fund

Investment Objective

The Fund seeks maximum current income consistent with the preservation of principal and liquidity.

Fees and Expenses of the Fund

The table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy and hold Class C or Class M shares of the Fund. You may qualify for sales charge discounts if you and your family invest, or agree to invest in the future, in one or more series of Forward Funds. More information about these and other discounts is available from your financial professional and in the "Purchasing Shares" section of the Fund's prospectus and "Additional Purchase and Redemption Information" section of the Fund's statement of additional information.

Shareholder Fees (fees paid directly from your investment)

Shareholder Fees - Load Forward Floating NAV Short Duration Fund	CLASS C	CLASS M
Maximum Sales Charge (Load) on purchases (as a percentage of offering price)	none	none
Maximum Deferred Sales Charge for shares held less than 1 year (as a percentage of the lesser of original purchase price or redemption proceeds)	1.00%	none

Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)

Annual Fund Operating Expenses - Load Forward Floating NAV Short Duration Fund		CLASS C	CLASS M
Management Fee		0.35%	0.35%
Distribution (12b-1) Fees		0.75%
Shareholder Services Fees		0.25%	0.05%
Other Expenses	[1]	0.48%	0.48%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses		1.83%	0.88%
Fee Waiver and/or Expense Reimbursement	[2]	(0.39%)	(0.39%)
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver and/or Expense Reimbursement		1.44%	0.49%

Examples

These Examples are intended to help you compare the costs of investing in Class C or Class M shares of the Fund with the costs of investing in other mutual funds. The Examples assume that you invest $10,000 in the noted class of shares of the Fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your shares at the end of those periods. The Examples also assume that your investment has a 5% return each year, that the Fund's total annual operating expenses remain the same and that the contractual fee waiver/reimbursement is in place for the first year. Although actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:

Expense Example - Load Forward Floating NAV Short Duration Fund (USD $)	CLASS C	CLASS M
1 Year	247	50
3 Years	538	242

You would pay the following expenses if you did not redeem your shares:

Expense Example, No Redemption - Load Forward Floating NAV Short Duration Fund (USD $)	CLASS C	CLASS M
1 Year	147	50
3 Years	538	242

Portfolio Turnover

The Fund pays transaction costs when it buys and sells securities (or "turns over" its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in the Annual Fund Operating Expenses or in the Example tables, affect the Fund's performance. The Fund has not commenced operations as of the date of this prospectus. Thus, no portfolio turnover rate is provided for the Fund.

Principal Investment Strategies

Under normal conditions, the Fund invests primarily in a diversified portfolio of investment grade fixed income securities of varying maturities, including bonds, debt securities and other comparable instruments issued by different U.S. and non-U.S. public or private-sector entities. The Fund's average portfolio duration will vary based on Forward Management, LLC's ("Forward Management" or the "Advisor") economic outlook and will not normally exceed one year. Duration is a measure of the price sensitivity of a debt security or portfolio of debt securities to relative changes in interest rates. For instance, a duration of "one" means that a portfolio's or security's price would be expected to decrease by approximately 1% with a 1% increase in interest rates (assuming a parallel shift in the yield curve). The Fund seeks to maintain an average-dollar-weighted portfolio maturity of less than 150 days. The Fund seeks to outperform the Citigroup 3-Month Treasury Bill Index. The Fund's strategy seeks to maximize current income while also maintaining liquidity and preserving principal.

The Fund is not a money market fund and therefore does not seek to maintain a stable share value of $1.00 per share. The Fund will generally invest in U.S. dollar-denominated investment grade debt securities, rated in the "BBB-" category or above by Standard & Poor's Corporation ("S&P"), or equally rated by Moody's Investors Service ("Moody's") or Fitch Investors Service ("Fitch") at the time of purchase, or, if unrated, determined to be of the same quality by Forward Management. The Fund will invest at least 70% of its net assets in securities rated in the "AA-" category or above by S&P or equally rated by Moody's or Fitch at the time of purchase, or, if unrated, determined to be of the same quality by Forward Management, or in direct obligations of the U.S. Federal Government. The Fund may invest, without limitation, in U.S. dollar-denominated securities and instruments of non-U.S. issuers. The Fund may invest, without limitation, in mortgage-related and other asset-backed securities, including to-be announced transactions. The Fund may also purchase and sell securities on a when-issued, delayed delivery or forward commitment basis. The Fund may, without limitation, seek exposure to the securities in which it primarily invests by entering into a series of purchase and sale contracts or by using other investment techniques (such as buy backs or dollar rolls).

Principal Risks

Any of the investments made by the Fund can result in an investment loss, which may be significant. The principal risks of investing in the Fund, which could adversely affect its net asset value and total return, are:

Debt Securities: Debt securities in which the Fund may invest are subject to several types of investment risk, including market or interest rate risk (i.e., the risk that their value will be inversely affected by fluctuations in the prevailing interest rates), credit risk (i.e., the risk that the issuer may be unable to make timely interest payments and repay the principal upon maturity), call or income risk, (i.e., the risk that certain debt securities with high interest rates will be prepaid or "called" by the issuer before they mature), and event risk (i.e., the risk that certain debt securities may suffer a substantial decline in credit quality and market value if the issuer restructures).

Government-Sponsored Enterprises ("GSEs"): Certain GSEs (such as Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, and FHLB), although sponsored or chartered by the U.S. Government, are not funded by the U.S. Government and the securities they issue are not guaranteed by the U.S. Government. As a result, securities issued by GSEs carry greater credit risk than securities issued by the U.S. Treasury or government agencies that carry the full faith and credit of the U.S. Government.

Mortgage-Related and Other Asset-Backed Securities: Rising interest rates tend to extend the duration of mortgage-related securities, making them more sensitive to changes in interest rates. As a result, in a period of rising interest rates, the Fund may exhibit additional volatility (i.e., extension risk). In addition, when interest rates decline, borrowers may pay off their mortgages sooner than expected. This can reduce the returns of the Fund because the Fund will have to reinvest that money at the lower prevailing interest rates (i.e., prepayment risk). The Fund's investments in asset-backed securities are subject to risks similar to those associated with mortgage-related securities, as well as additional risks associated with the nature of the assets and the servicing of those assets. Asset-backed securities present credit risks that are not presented by mortgage-backed securities because asset-backed securities generally do not have the benefit of a security interest in collateral that is comparable in quality to mortgage assets. If the issuer of an asset-backed security defaults on its payment obligations, there is the possibility that, in some cases, the Fund will be unable to possess and sell the underlying collateral and that the Fund's recoveries on repossessed collateral may not be available to support payments on the security. In the event of a default, the Fund may suffer a loss if it cannot sell collateral quickly and receive the amount it is owed.

No Operating History: The Fund has not operated for a full fiscal year and as such has no prior operating history by which an investor can evaluate performance.

Portfolio Turnover: The Fund is generally expected to engage in frequent and active trading of portfolio securities to achieve its investment objective. A higher turnover rate (100% or more) will involve correspondingly greater transaction costs, which will be borne directly by the Fund, may have an adverse impact on performance, and may increase the potential for more taxable distributions being paid to shareholders, including short-term capital gains that are taxed at ordinary income rates. To the extent a Fund engages in short sales (which are not included in calculating the portfolio turnover rate), the transaction costs incurred by a Fund are likely to be greater than the transaction costs incurred by a mutual fund that does not take short positions and has a similar portfolio turnover rate.

Repurchase Agreements: Repurchase agreements involve the risk that a seller will become subject to bankruptcy or other insolvency proceedings or fail to repurchase a security from the Fund. In such situations, the Fund may incur losses including as a result of (a) a possible decline in value of the underlying security during the period while the Fund seeks to enforce its rights thereto, (b) a possible lack of access to income on the underlying security during this period, and (c) expenses of enforcing its rights.

Please see "Discussion of Principal and Non-Principal Risks" in the Fund's prospectus for a more detailed description of the risks of investing in the Fund.It is possible to lose money on an investment in the Fund. An investment in the Fund is not a deposit of a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency.

Performance Information

The Fund has not commenced operations as of the date of this prospectus and the Fund does not yet have a full calendar year of investment returns. Once the Fund has performance for at least one calendar year, a bar chart and performance table will be included in this fund summary.

[1] Other Expenses are based on estimated amounts for the current fiscal year.

[2] The Fund's investment advisor is contractually obligated to waive a portion of its fees and reimburse other expenses until April 30, 2013 in amounts necessary to limit the Fund's operating expenses (exclusive of brokerage costs, interest, taxes, dividends, acquired fund fees and expenses, and extraordinary expenses) for the Fund's Class C shares and Class M shares to an annual rate (as a percentage of the Fund's average daily net assets) of 1.44% and 0.49%, respectively. This expense limitation arrangement may not be terminated by the Fund's investment advisor prior to such date under any circumstances.