Aspiration Redwood Fund
Ticker Symbol: REDWX
A series of
Aspiration Funds
SUMMARY PROSPECTUS
February 1, 2021
Before you invest, you may want to review the Fund’s Prospectus, which contains more information about the Fund and its risks. You can
find the Fund’s Prospectus and other information about the Fund online at https://funds.aspiration.com. You can also get this information at no cost by calling
1-800-683-8529. The Fund’s Prospectus and Statement of Additional Information, each dated February 1, 2021, are incorporated by reference into this Summary Prospectus.
Investment Objective: The
primary investment objective of the Aspiration Redwood Fund (the “Fund”) is to maximize total return, consisting of capital appreciation and current income.
Fees and Expenses: This table
describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold, and sell shares of the Fund. The Annual Fund Operating Expense table shows expense information based on the minimum and maximum fees (0.00% and 2.00%, respectively) that a shareholder
may pay the Fund’s investment adviser.
Shareholder Fees
|
(fees paid directly from your investment)
|
Maximum Sales Charge (Load) Imposed on Purchases
(as a percentage of offering price)
|
0%
|
Maximum Deferred Sales Charge (Load)
(as a percentage of amount redeemed)
|
0%
|
Redemption Fee
(as a percentage of amount redeemed)
|
0%
|
Annual Fund Operating Expenses
|
(expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
|
Management Fees 1
|
0.00%
|
2.00%
|
Distribution and/or Service (12b-1) Fee
|
0.18%
|
0.18%
|
Other Expenses2
|
1.09%
|
1.09%
|
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses
|
1.27%
|
3.27%
|
Expense Reimbursements
|
(0.77%)
|
(0.77%)
|
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses after
Fee Waivers and Expense Reimbursements3
|
0.50%
|
2.50%
|
1. Investors in the Fund are clients of Aspiration Fund Adviser, LLC (the “Adviser”), and may pay the Adviser a fee in the
amount they believe is fair ranging from 0% to 2.00% of the value of the account. This range is reflected in the above columns. These amounts will not be deducted from Fund assets.
2. These are expenses indirectly incurred by the Fund as a result of investing in one or more underlying investment companies
(i.e., fees the Fund pays as a shareholder of the underlying investment companies).
3. The Adviser has entered into an expense limitation agreement (“Agreement”) with the Fund under which it agreed to waive or
reduce its management fees and assume other expenses of the Fund in an amount that limits the Fund’s Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses to 0.50% (“Maximum Operating Expense Limit”). The Adviser will do this by reimbursing the Fund for certain direct
expenses and fees, such as transfer agency, custodial, auditing and legal fees. The Fund also incurs certain indirect expenses, and expenses paid by the Fund when it invests as a shareholder in underlying investment companies, as mentioned in Footnote
2. The Adviser has not agreed to waive or reimburse brokerage fees and commissions, acquired fund fees and expenses, fees and expenses associated with investments in other collective investment vehicles or derivative instruments, borrowing costs,
taxes, or extraordinary expense, such as litigation and indemnification expenses. Because the Adviser is not obligated under the Agreement to pay these expenses, the Fund’s total annual fund operating expenses may actually exceed the Maximum Operating
Expense Limit. The Agreement is in effect through January 31, 2022, unless earlier terminated by a majority of the Board of Trustees (the “Board” or the “Trustees”) who are not “interested persons” of the Trust, as defined in the Investment Company Act
of 1940, as amended, or a majority vote of the outstanding voting securities of the Trust. Any fees or expenses waived or reimbursed by the Adviser are subject to repayment by the Fund within the three fiscal years following the fiscal year in which
the expenses occurred if the Fund is able to make the repayment without exceeding its current Maximum Operating Expense Limit or the Maximum Operating Expense Limit in place at the time of the initial Agreement.
Example
The Example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds. This
Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time period indicated and then sell or hold all of your shares at the end of those periods, and that you made either no payment to the Fund’s adviser or the maximum annual payment of 2% of the
value of your account. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses remain the same (taking into account the expense reimbursement only in the first year). Only the 1 year dollar amount
shown below reflects the Adviser’s agreement to waive fees and/or reimburse fund expenses. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:
|
1
Year
|
3
Years
|
5
Years
|
10
Years
|
Assuming no Payments to the Adviser
|
$51
|
$327
|
$623
|
$1,466
|
Assuming a Payment of 2.00 % of the
Value of the Shareholder’s Account
|
$253
|
$935
|
$1,641
|
$3,515
|
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 fund operating expenses or in the Example, affect the Fund’s performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 161.38% of the average value of its assets.
PRINCIPAL INVESTMENT STRATEGIES
To achieve its investment objective, the Fund invests in, or seeks exposure to, companies based on various financial factors, as well as
fundamental sustainability factors such as the environmental, social, and governance performance of such companies. The Fund invests in equity securities that trade on U.S. securities markets, which may include securities of non-U.S. issuers as well
as securities of U.S. issuers. The equity securities in which the Fund invests include, but are not limited to, dividend-paying securities, common stock, preferred stock, equity securities of real estate investment trusts (“REITS”), shares of
investment companies, convertible securities, warrants, and rights. The Fund may purchase equity securities in an initial public offering (“IPO”) provided that the investment is consistent with the Fund’s investment strategy. The Fund may, but is not
required to, use exchange-traded derivative instruments for risk management purposes or as part of the Fund’s investment strategies. Generally, derivatives are financial contracts with value dependent upon, or derived from, the value of an underlying
asset, reference rate, or index, and may relate to stocks, bonds, interest rates, currencies or currency exchange rates, and related indexes. The derivatives in which the Fund may invest include futures and forward currency agreements. These
derivatives may be used for risk management purposes to manage or adjust the risk profile of the Fund. Futures on currencies and forward currency agreements may also be used to hedge against a specific currency. In addition, futures on indices may be
used for investment (non-hedging) purposes to earn income; to enhance returns; to replace more traditional direct investments; or to obtain exposure to certain markets.
UBS Asset Management (Americas) Inc. (the “Sub-Adviser”) bases investment decisions upon price/value discrepancies as identified by the
Sub-Adviser’s fundamental valuation process. In selecting securities for the Fund, the Sub-Adviser focuses on, among other considerations, identifying discrepancies between a security’s fundamental value and its market price. In this context, the
fundamental value of a given security is the Sub-Adviser’s assessment of what a security is worth. The Sub-Adviser will select a security whose fundamental value it estimates to be greater than its market value at any given time. For each stock under
analysis, the Sub-Adviser bases its estimates of value upon economic, industry, and company analysis, as well as upon a company’s management team, competitive advantage and core competencies. The Sub-Adviser then compares its assessment of a security’s
value against the prevailing market prices, with the aim of constructing a portfolio of stocks across industries with attractive relative price/value characteristics.
The Sub-Adviser will employ both a positive and negative screening process in selecting securities for the Fund. The positive screening
process will identify securities of companies that are fundamentally attractive and that have superior valuation characteristics. In addition, the positive screening process will also include material, fundamental sustainability factors that the
Sub-Adviser believes confirm the fundamental investment case and can enhance the ability to make good investment decisions. The sustainability factors are material extra-financial factors that evaluate the environmental, social, and governance
performance of companies that, along with more traditional financial analytics, identify companies that the Sub-Adviser believes will provide sustained, long-term value. The Sub-Adviser believes that the sustainability strategy provides the Fund with a
high-quality portfolio and mitigates risk.
The Sub-Adviser also applies a negative screening process that will exclude from the Fund’s portfolio securities with more than 5% of
sales in industries such as alcohol, tobacco, defense, nuclear, GMO (Genetically Modified Organisms), water bottles, gambling and pornography, and will entirely exclude all firearms issuers and companies within the energy sector as defined by MSCI and
its Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS).
PRINCIPAL RISKS OF INVESTING IN THE FUND
All investments carry a certain amount of risk, and the Fund cannot guarantee that it will achieve its investment
objective. The value of the Fund’s investments will fluctuate with market conditions, and the value of your investment in the Fund also will vary. You could lose money on your investment in the Fund, or the Fund could perform worse than other
investments. Investments in the Fund are not deposits of a bank and are not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”) or any other government agency. Below are the principal risks of investing in the Fund:
Management Risk. There
is a risk that the investment strategies, techniques and risk analyses employed by the Sub-Adviser may not produce the desired results. The Adviser believes that most of its clients will pay a reasonable and fair advisory fee. If a significant number
of clients do not pay an advisory fee for an extended period of time, the Adviser and the Sub-Adviser may not be able to continue to render services to the Fund. If the Adviser is not able to pay Fund expenses required under the Fund’s expense
limitation agreement, the Adviser may have to resign as adviser to the Fund or dissolve and liquidate the Fund. Dissolution or liquidation of the Fund may cause shareholders to liquidate or transfer their investments at inopportune times.
Market Risk. The
Fund’s investments will face risks related to investments in securities in general and the daily fluctuations in the securities markets. 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 or events, country instability, and infectious disease epidemics or pandemics.
Equity Securities
Risk. The Fund may invest in equity securities. Equity securities fluctuate in value, often based on factors unrelated to the fundamental economic condition of the issuer of the securities, including general economic and market conditions, and
these fluctuations can be pronounced.
Focused Investment
Risk. There is a risk that investing in a select group of securities or securities in a particular sector could subject the Fund to greater risk of loss and could be considerably more volatile than the Fund’s primary benchmark or other mutual
funds that are diversified across a greater number of securities or sectors.
Derivatives Risk.
The value of “derivatives”—so called because their value “derives” from the value of an underlying asset, reference rate, or index—may rise or fall more rapidly than other investments. It is possible for the Fund to lose more than the amount it
invested in the derivative. The risks of investing in derivative instruments also include market risk, management risk and counterparty risk (which is the risk that counterparty to a derivative contract is unable or unwilling to meet its financial
obligations). In addition, non-exchange traded derivatives may be subject to liquidity risk, credit risk, and mispricing or valuation complexity. These derivatives risks are different from, and may be greater than, the risks associated with investing
directly in securities and other instruments.
Convertible
Securities Risk. The Fund may invest in convertible securities. Convertible securities include debt obligations and preferred stock of the company issuing the security, which may be exchanged for a pre-determined price (the conversion price)
into the common stock of the issuer. The market values of convertible securities and other debt securities tend to fall when prevailing interest rates rise. The values of convertible securities also tend to change whenever the market value of the
underlying common or preferred stock fluctuates.
Limited
Capitalization Risk. There is a risk that securities of small capitalization companies tend to be more volatile and less liquid than securities of larger capitalization companies. This can have a disproportionate effect on the market price of
smaller capitalization companies and affect the Fund’s ability to purchase or sell those securities. In general, smaller capitalization companies are more vulnerable than larger companies to adverse business or economic developments and they may have
more limited resources.
Portfolio Turnover
Risk. The Fund may buy and sell portfolio securities actively. If it does, its portfolio turnover rate and transaction costs will rise, which may lower the Fund’s performance and may increase the likelihood of capital gains distributions.
IPOs Risk. The
purchase of equity securities issued in IPOs may expose the Fund to the risks associated with companies that have no operating history as public companies, as well as to the risks associated with the sectors of the market in which the companies
operate. The market for IPO shares may be volatile and share prices of newly public companies may fluctuate significantly over a short period of time.
Foreign Investing
Risk. The Fund may invest in securities of non-U.S. issuers. Investments in non-U.S. issuers may be riskier than investments in U.S. issuers because of factors such as unstable international political and economic conditions, currency
fluctuations, foreign controls on investment, withholding taxes, a lack of adequate company information, a lack of government regulation, and legal systems or market practices that permit inequitable treatment of minority and/or non-domestic investors.
Futures Risk.
Use of futures contracts may cause the value of the Fund’s shares to be more volatile. Futures contracts expose the Fund to leverage and tracking risks because a small investment in futures contracts may produce large losses and futures contracts may
not accurately track the underlying securities.
Leverage Risk
Associated with Financial Instruments Risk. The use of financial instruments to increase potential returns, including derivatives used for investment (non-hedging) purposes, may cause the Fund to be more volatile than if it had not been
leveraged. The use of leverage may also accelerate the velocity of losses and can result in losses to the Fund that exceed the amount originally invested.
Investment Company
Risk. Investments by the Fund in other investment companies, including ETFs, will expose investors to the risk that the underlying fund manager may change objectives which may or may not parallel the investment direction of the Fund. The
Adviser and Sub-Adviser have no control over the managers or investments of underlying funds. In addition, the price movement of an ETF may not correlate to the underlying index and may result in a loss. Closed-end funds may trade infrequently, with
small volume, and at a discount to net asset value (“NAV”), which may affect the Fund’s ability to sell shares of the fund at a reasonable price. Further, investments in other investment companies subject the investor to fees and expenses charged by
such other investment companies, including ETFs. Finally, the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, imposes certain limitations on a fund’s investments in other investment companies. These limitations may limit the amount the Fund may invest in
certain investment companies.
REITs Risk. The
risk that the Fund’s performance will be affected by adverse developments to REITs and the real estate industry. REITs and underlying real estate values may be affected by a variety of factors, including: local, national or global economic conditions;
changes in zoning or other property-related laws; environmental regulations; interest rates; tax and insurance considerations; overbuilding; property taxes and operating expenses; or declining values in a neighborhood. Similarly, a REIT’s performance
depends on the types, values, locations and management of the properties it owns. In addition, a REIT may be more susceptible to adverse developments affecting a single project or market segment than a more diversified investment. Loss of status as a
qualified REIT under the US federal tax laws could adversely affect the value of a particular REIT or the market for REITs as a whole.
Temporary Defensive
Positions Risk. From time to time, the Fund may take temporary defensive positions that are inconsistent with the Fund’s principal investment strategies, in attempting to respond to adverse market, economic, political, or other conditions. For
example, the Fund may hold all or a portion of its assets in money market instruments (high quality income securities with maturities of less than one year), securities of money market funds or U.S. Government repurchase agreements. The Fund may also
invest in such investments at any time to maintain liquidity or pending selection of investments in accordance with its policies. As a result, the Fund may not achieve its investment objective.
Cybersecurity Risk. As part of their business, the Adviser, the Sub-Adviser, and third-party service providers process, store, and transmit large amounts of electronic
information, including information relating to the transactions of the Fund. The Adviser, Sub-Adviser, third-party services providers, and the Fund are therefore susceptible to cybersecurity risk. Cybersecurity failures or breaches of the Adviser,
Sub-Adviser, third-party service providers, or the Fund have the ability to cause disruptions and impact business operations, potentially resulting in financial losses, the inability of Fund shareholders to transact business, violations of applicable
privacy and other laws, regulatory fines, penalties, and/or reputational damage. The Fund and its shareholders could be negatively impacted as a result.
PERFORMANCE INFORMATION
The following bar chart shows how the Fund’s investment results have varied from year to year and the following table shows how the
fund’s average annual total returns compared to that of a broad measure of market performance since the Fund’s inception. This information provides some indication of the risks of investing in the Fund. All figures assume distributions were
reinvested. Keep in mind that future performance may differ from past performance. Also, shareholder reports containing financial and investment return information will be provided to shareholders semi-annually. Updated performance information is
available at no cost by calling (800) 683-8529 (toll free) or by visiting www.aspiration.com.
Calendar Year Returns
(with 0% assumed management fee reduction)
Calendar Year Returns
(with 2.00% assumed management fee reduction)
Highest and Lowest Quarterly Returns with 0% Management Fee
|
Highest return for a quarter
|
29.65%
|
Quarter ended
June 30, 2020
|
Lowest return for a quarter
|
-29.73%
|
Quarter ended
March 31, 2020
|
Highest and Lowest Quarterly Returns with 2% Management Fee
|
Highest return for a quarter
|
27.65%
|
Quarter ended
June 30, 2020
|
Lowest return for a quarter
|
-31.73%
|
Quarter ended
March 31, 2020
|
Average Annual Total Returns
Periods Ended December 31, 2020
|
Past
1 Year
|
Five
Year
|
Since
Inception*
|
Aspiration Redwood Fund –
Without maximum contribution reduction (0.00% management fee)
|
Returns Before taxes
Returns after taxes on distributions
Returns after taxes on distributions and sale of shares
|
15.89%
15.89%
12.91%
|
15.89%
13.36%
11.84%
|
14.52%
12.08%
10.72%
|
Aspiration Redwood Fund –
With maximum assumed contribution reduction (2.00% management fee)
|
Returns Before taxes
Returns after taxes on distributions
Returns after taxes on distributions and sale of shares
|
13.89%
13.89%
10.91%
|
13.89%
11.36%
9.84%
|
12.52%
10.08%
8.72%
|
S&P 500 Total Return Index
(reflects no deductions for fees and expenses)
|
18.40%
|
15.22%
|
14.77%
|
* The Fund commenced operations on November 16, 2015.
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 and are not applicable to investors who hold Fund shares through tax-deferred arrangements such as a 401(k) plan or an individual retirement account
(IRA).
MANAGEMENT OF THE FUND’S PORTFOLIO
Investment Adviser.
Aspiration Fund Adviser, LLC
Sub-Adviser.
UBS Asset Management (Americas) Inc.
Sub-Adviser Portfolio Manager(s)
|
Joseph Elegante
Portfolio Manager
Since 08/2020
|
Adam Jokich
Portfolio Manager
Since 08/2020
|
MANAGER OF MANAGERS
The Fund obtained regulatory authority to hire one or more additional sub-advisers to manage portions of the Fund’s portfolio without
obtaining the approval of Fund shareholders. The Fund will notify all shareholders before making any changes to its sub-advisers.
BUYING AND SELLING OF FUND SHARES
Minimum Initial Investment:
|
$10
|
Minimum Additional Investment:
|
$1
|
Shares of the Fund are only available to clients of Aspiration Fund Adviser, LLC. Before investing in the Fund, you should carefully
review the Fund’s prospectus together with any materials the Adviser provides you, including any materials that discuss fees associated with the Adviser’s services (such as the Adviser’s firm brochure or its advisory agreement with you). You can buy
or sell other shares of the Fund on any business day on which the Fund is open. You can pay for shares via an Automated Clearing House (“ACH”) transfer from your bank. For information about purchasing Fund shares, visit www.aspiration.com.
TAX INFORMATION
Fund distributions are generally taxable to you as ordinary income or capital gains, unless your investment is held in an IRA, 401(k) or
other tax-advantaged investment plan. Investments in such tax-advantaged plans will generally be subject to tax upon withdrawal of monies from the tax-advantaged plan.
10