to a number of factors, including inflation
(or expectations for inflation), deflation (or expectations for deflation), interest rates,
global demand for particular products or resources, market instability, financial system instability, debt crises and downgrades, embargoes, tariffs, sanctions and other trade barriers, regulatory events, other governmental
trade or market control programs and related geopolitical events. In addition, the value of the
Fund’s investments may be negatively affected by the occurrence of global events such as war, terrorism, environmental disasters, natural disasters or events, country instability, and infectious disease epidemics or
pandemics.
Strategy Risk. The adviser may not be successful in managing the Fund with a lower level of volatility than the S&P 500
Index. Depending on market conditions during a particular time in a market cycle, the
Fund’s volatility at that time may not be lower than that of the S&P 500 Index. Because the Fund seeks lower relative volatility, the Fund may underperform the S&P 500 Index, particularly in rising markets. In
addition, the Fund does not guarantee that distributions will always be paid or will be paid at a
relatively stable level.
Equity-Linked Notes
Risk. When the Fund invests in ELNs, it receives cash but limits its opportunity to profit from
an increase in the market value of the instrument because of the limits relating to the call
options written within the particular ELN. Investing in ELNs may be more costly to the Fund than if
the Fund had invested in the underlying instruments directly. Investments in ELNs often have
risks similar to the underlying instruments, which include market risk. In addition, since ELNs
are in note form, ELNs are subject to certain debt securities risks, such as credit or
counterparty risk. Should the prices of the underlying instruments move in an unexpected manner, the Fund may not achieve the anticipated benefits of an investment in an ELN, and may realize losses, which could
be significant and could include the Fund’s entire principal investment. Investments in
ELNs are also subject to liquidity risk, which may make ELNs difficult to sell and value. A lack of liquidity may also cause the value of the ELN to decline. In addition, ELNs may exhibit price behavior that does not correlate with the
underlying securities. The Fund’s ELN investments are subject to the risk that issuers
and/or counterparties will fail to make payments when due or default completely. Prices of the Fund’s ELN investments may be adversely affected if any of the issuers or counterparties it is invested in are subject to an actual
or perceived deterioration in their credit quality.
See “Covered Call Strategy Risk” below for more information about risks of the options held within
the ELNs.
Covered Call Strategy Risk. When the Fund sells call options within an ELN, it receives cash but limits its opportunity to profit from an increase in the market value of the underlying instrument to the exercise price (plus the premium
received). The maximum potential gain on the underlying Benchmark will be equal to the difference
between the exercise price and the purchase price of the underlying instrument at the time the
option is written, plus the premium received. In a rising market, the option may require an
underlying instrument to be sold at an exercise price that is lower than would be received if the
instrument was sold at the market price. If a call expires, the Fund realizes a gain in the
amount of the premium received, but because there may have been a decline (unrealized loss) in the
market value of the underlying instrument during the option
period, the loss realized may exceed such
gain. If the underlying instrument declines by more than the option premium the Fund receives,
there will be a loss on the overall position.
Large Cap
Company Risk. Because the Fund invests principally in large cap company securities, it may
underperform other funds during periods when the Fund’s large cap securities are out of
favor.
Mid Cap Company Risk. The Fund’s risks increase as it invests more heavily in mid-cap companies. Investments in mid-cap companies may be riskier, less liquid, more volatile
and more vulnerable to economic, market and industry changes than investments in larger, more
established companies. The securities of smaller companies may trade less frequently and in
smaller volumes than securities of larger companies. As a result, changes in the price of
securities issued by such companies may be more sudden or erratic than the prices of other equity
securities, especially over the short term.
Industry and Sector Focus Risk. At times the Fund may
increase the relative emphasis of its investments in a particular industry or sector. The prices
of securities of issuers in a particular industry or sector may be more susceptible to fluctuations due to changes in economic or business conditions, government regulations, availability of basic resources or
supplies, contagion risk within a particular industry or sector or to other industries or
sectors, or other events that affect that industry or sector more than securities of issuers in other industries and sectors. To the extent that the Fund increases the relative emphasis of its investments in a particular industry or
sector, the value of the Fund’s Shares may fluctuate in response to events affecting that
industry or sector.
High Portfolio Turnover
Risk. The Fund may engage in active and frequent trading leading to increased portfolio turnover,
higher transaction costs, and the possibility that the recognition of capital gains will be
accelerated, including short-term capital gains that will generally be taxable to shareholders as ordinary income.
Transactions Risk. The Fund could experience a loss and its liquidity may be negatively impacted when selling securities to meet redemption requests. The risk of loss
increases if the redemption requests are unusually large or frequent or occur in times of overall
market turmoil or declining prices. Similarly, large purchases of Fund shares may adversely affect the Fund’s performance to the extent that the Fund is delayed in investing new cash and is required to maintain a larger
cash position than it ordinarily would.
Investments in the Fund are not deposits or obligations of, or guaranteed or endorsed by, any bank and are not insured or guaranteed by the
FDIC, the Federal Reserve Board or any- other government agency.
You could lose money investing in the
Fund.
The Fund’s Past
Performance
This section provides some indication of the risks of
investing in the Fund. The bar chart shows how the performance of the Fund’s Class R6 Shares has varied from year to year over the past four calendar years. The table shows
how the average annual total returns for the past one year and life of the Fund. The table
compares the Fund’s performance to the performance