NORTHERN TAX-ADVANTAGED ULTRA-SHORT FIXED INCOME FUND

TAX-ADVANTAGED ULTRA-SHORT FIXED INCOME FUND

INVESTMENT OBJECTIVE

The Fund seeks to maximize total return (capital appreciation and income), adjusted for the federal maximum tax rate, to the extent consistent with preservation of principal.

FEES AND EXPENSES OF THE FUND

This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy and hold shares of the Fund.

Shareholder Fees (fees paid directly from your investment)

Shareholder Fees		NORTHERN TAX-ADVANTAGED ULTRA-SHORT FIXED INCOME FUND
Maximum Sales Charge (Load) Imposed on Purchases (as a percentage of offering price)		none
Redemption Fee (as a percentage of amount redeemed, if applicable)	[1]	1.00%

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

Annual Fund Operating Expenses		NORTHERN TAX-ADVANTAGED ULTRA-SHORT FIXED INCOME FUND
Management Fees		0.15%
Other Expenses		0.28%
Administration Fees		0.15%
Transfer Agency Fees		0.10%
Other Operating Expenses		0.03%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses		0.43%
Expense Reimbursement	[1]	(0.18%)
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Expense Reimbursement		0.25%

EXAMPLE

The following Example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your shares at the end of those periods. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:

Expense Example (USD $)	1 Year	3 Years	5 Years	10 Years
NORTHERN TAX-ADVANTAGED ULTRA-SHORT FIXED INCOME FUND	26	120	223	525

PORTFOLIO TURNOVER.

The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, 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 annual portfolio operating expenses or in the Example, affect the Fund’s performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 32.02% of the average value of its portfolio.

PRINCIPAL INVESTMENT STRATEGIES

The Fund will, under normal circumstances, invest primarily (and not less than 80% of its net assets) in fixed-income securities. These include:

• Obligations of state, local and foreign governments;

• Obligations of the U.S. government or its agencies, instrumentalities or sponsored enterprises;

• Commercial paper and other obligations of domestic and foreign banks and corporations;

• Zero coupon bonds, debentures, preferred stock and convertible securities;

• Mortgage and other asset-backed securities; and

• Repurchase agreements relating to the above instruments.

The Fund invests in investment grade domestic debt obligations (i.e., obligations rated within the top four rating categories by a Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organization ("NRSRO") or of comparable quality as determined by the Fund's investment adviser). The Fund's average portfolio quality is expected to be "A" or better. The Fund will focus primarily on U.S. securities, but may invest in fixed-income securities of foreign issuers. The Fund's investments in foreign securities will consist only of U.S. dollar-denominated securities.

The Fund is not a money market fund, and its share price will fluctuate.

The Fund seeks to balance investment considerations to achieve a best net after-tax total return for an investor in the maximum federal tax bracket. The tax-advantaged strategies used by the Fund include analyzing after-tax returns of different securities in the fixed-income market and seeking best net after-tax yield and total return opportunities in both taxable and tax-exempt securities. For example, during certain market cycles a two-year corporate security may offer a significantly higher yield to maturity both gross of taxes and net of the highest federal tax rate versus a two-year tax-exempt municipal security. In this situation, the Fund may purchase the corporate security if a clear net of tax yield advantage can be determined over tax-exempt municipal alternatives. The Adviser will seek to capture such net of tax yield advantages on an opportunistic basis within the Fund's maturity limitations.

The Fund is not limited in the amount of its assets that may be invested in alternative minimum tax ("AMT") obligations (also known as private activity bonds), which pay interest that may be treated as an item of tax preference to shareholders under the federal AMT. For shareholders subject to AMT, a portion of the Fund's dividends may be subject to federal tax.

The Fund's dollar-weighted average maturity, under normal circumstances, will range between six and eighteen months. Under normal circumstances, the Fund will invest only in securities with a duration of three years or less. The Fund's investment adviser may adjust the Fund's holdings based on actual or anticipated changes in interest rates or credit quality, and may shorten the Fund's duration below six months based on the Fund's investment adviser's interest rate outlook or adverse market conditions.

In buying and selling securities for the Fund, the Fund's investment adviser uses a relative value approach. This approach involves an analysis of general economic and market conditions. It also involves the use of models that analyze and compare expected returns and assumed risks. Under the relative value approach, the Fund's investment adviser will emphasize particular securities and types of securities (such as general obligation bonds, corporate-backed municipal bonds, revenue obligation bonds, and other municipal securities, treasury, agency, asset-backed, mortgage-backed and corporate securities) that the team believes will provide a favorable net after-tax return in light of these risks.

The Fund's investment adviser may engage in active trading, and will not consider portfolio turnover a limiting factor in making decisions for the Fund.

PRINCIPAL RISKS

MARKET RISK is the risk that the market values of fixed-income securities owned by the Fund may decline, at times sharply and unpredictably.

MANAGEMENT RISK is the risk that a strategy used by the Fund's investment adviser may fail to produce the intended results.

LIQUIDITY RISK is the risk that certain portfolio securities may be less liquid than others, which may make them difficult or impossible to sell at the time and the price that the Fund would like, adversely affecting the value of the Fund's investments and its returns.

INTEREST RATE/MATURITY RISK is the risk that the value of the Fund's assets will decline because of rising interest rates. The magnitude of this decline will often be greater for longer-term fixed-income securities than shorter-term fixed-income securities.

PREPAYMENT (OR CALL) RISK is the risk that prepayment of the underlying mortgages or other collateral of some fixed-income securities may result in a decreased rate of return and a decline in value of those securities.

DEBT EXTENSION RISK is the risk that an issuer will exercise its right to pay principal on an obligation held by the Fund (such as a mortgage-backed security) later than expected. This may happen during a period of rising interest rates. Under these circumstances, the value of the obligation will decrease and the Fund will suffer from the inability to invest in higher yielding securities.

CREDIT (OR DEFAULT) RISK is the risk that the inability or unwillingness of an issuer or guarantor of a fixed-income security, or a counterparty to a repurchase or other transaction, to meet its payment or other financial obligations will adversely affect the value of the Fund's investments and its returns. Changes in the credit rating of a debt security held by the Fund could have a similar effect.

INFLATION RISK is the risk that interest payments on inflation-indexed securities can be unpredictable and will vary as the principal and/or interest is periodically adjusted based on the rate of inflation. If the index measuring inflation falls, the interest payable on these securities will be reduced.

PORTFOLIO TURNOVER RISK is the risk that high portfolio turnover is likely to lead to increased Fund expenses that may result in lower investment returns. High portfolio turnover also is likely to result in higher short-term capital gains taxable to shareholders. For the last fiscal year, the annual portfolio turnover rate of the Fund exceeded 100%.

U.S. GOVERNMENT SECURITIES RISK is the risk that the U.S. government will not provide financial support to its agencies, instrumentalities or sponsored enterprises if it is not obligated to do so by law. Many U.S. government securities purchased by the Fund are not backed by the full faith and credit of the United States. It is possible that the issuers of such securities will not have the funds to meet their payment obligations in the future.

FOREIGN SECURITIES RISK is the risk that investing in foreign (non-U.S.) securities may result in the Fund experiencing more rapid and extreme changes in value than a fund that invests exclusively in securities of U.S. companies, due to less liquid markets and adverse economic, political, diplomatic, financial, and regulatory factors. Foreign governments also may impose limits on investment and repatriation and impose taxes. Any of these events could cause the value of the Fund's investments to decline.

PROJECT/INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT BOND RISK is the risk that the Fund may be more sensitive to an adverse economic, business or political development if it invests more than 25% of its assets in municipal instruments, the interest upon which is paid solely from revenues of similar projects, or in industrial development bonds.

TAX RISK is the risk that future legislative or administrative changes or court decisions may materially affect the value of municipal instruments or the ability of the Fund to pay tax-exempt dividends.

As with any mutual fund, it is possible to lose money on an investment in the Fund. An investment in the Fund is not a deposit of any bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, any other government agency, or The Northern Trust Company, its affiliates, subsidiaries or any other bank.

FUND PERFORMANCE

The bar chart and table that follow provide an indication of the risks of investing in the Fund by showing (A) changes in the performance of the Fund from year to year, and (B) how the average annual total returns of the Fund compare to those of a broad-based securities market index.

The Fund’s past performance, before and after taxes, is not necessarily an indication of how the Fund will perform in the future.

Updated performance information for the Fund is available and may be obtained on the Fund’s Web site at www.northernfunds.com or by calling 800-595-9111.

CALENDAR YEAR TOTAL RETURN*

* Year to date total return for the six months ended June 30, 2013 is 0.11%. For the periods shown in the bar chart above, the highest quarterly return was 0.63% in the first quarter of 2012, and the lowest quarterly return was (0.15)% in the third quarter of 2011.

AVERAGE ANNUAL TOTAL RETURN
(For the periods ended December 31, 2012)

Average Annual Total Returns	Inception Date	1-Year	Since Inception
NORTHERN TAX-ADVANTAGED ULTRA-SHORT FIXED INCOME FUND	Jun. 18, 2009	1.36%	1.38%
NORTHERN TAX-ADVANTAGED ULTRA-SHORT FIXED INCOME FUND Return after taxes on distributions		1.20%	1.18%
NORTHERN TAX-ADVANTAGED ULTRA-SHORT FIXED INCOME FUND Return after taxes on distributions and sale of Fund shares		0.99%	1.12%
NORTHERN TAX-ADVANTAGED ULTRA-SHORT FIXED INCOME FUND BofA Merrill Lynch 6-12 Month Municipal Securities Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses, or taxes)		0.47%	0.68%
NORTHERN TAX-ADVANTAGED ULTRA-SHORT FIXED INCOME FUND BofA Merrill Lynch 1-3 Year US General Obligation Municipal Securities Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses, or taxes)		1.03%	1.90%
NORTHERN TAX-ADVANTAGED ULTRA-SHORT FIXED INCOME FUND 75% BofA Merrill Lynch 6-12 Month Municipal Securities Index and 25% BofA Merrill Lynch 1-3 Year US General Obligation Municipal Securities Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses, or taxes)		0.61%	0.98%

After-tax returns are calculated using the historical highest individual federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect the impact of state and local taxes. Actual after-tax returns depend on an investor’s tax situation and may differ from those shown. After-tax returns shown are not relevant to investors who hold their shares through tax-deferred arrangements, such as 401(k) plans or individual retirement accounts.

[1] (within 90 days of purchase)

[1] Northern Trust Investments, Inc. has contractually agreed to reimburse a portion of the operating expenses of the Fund (other than acquired fund fees and expenses; a portion of the compensation paid to each Trustee who is not an officer, director or employee of Northern Trust Corporation or its subsidiaries; expenses related to third-party consultants engaged by the Board of Trustees of the Trust; membership dues paid to the Investment Company Institute and Mutual Fund Directors Forum; and extraordinary expenses and interest, if any) to the extent the “Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses” exceed 0.25%. This contractual limitation may not be terminated before July 31, 2014 without the approval of the Board of Trustees. Northern Trust Investments, Inc. serves as the investment adviser and administrator to the Fund. The Northern Trust Company, an affiliate of Northern Trust Investments, Inc., serves as transfer agent, custodian and sub-administrator to the Fund.