Market
Risk—market prices of investments held by the Fund may fall rapidly or unpredictably
due to a variety of factors, including economic, political, or market conditions, or other
factors including terrorism, war, natural disasters and the spread of infectious illness or
other public health issues, including epidemics or pandemics such as the COVID-19 pandemic, or in response to events that affect particular industries or companies.
Emerging Markets Risk—investments in emerging markets are subject to the general risks of foreign investments, as well
as additional risks which can result in greater price volatility. Such additional risks
include the risk that markets in emerging market countries are typically less developed and less liquid than markets in developed countries and such markets are subjected to increased economic, political, or
regulatory uncertainties.
Foreign Investment Risk—investments in foreign issuers involve additional risks (such as risks arising from less frequent
trading, changes in political or social conditions, and less publicly available information
about non-U.S. issuers) that differ from those associated with investments in U.S. issuers and may result in greater price volatility.
Debt Securities Risk—the value of a debt security changes in response to various factors, including, for example, market-related factors, such as changes in interest
rates or changes in the actual or perceived ability of an issuer to meet its obligations.
Investments in debt securities are subject to, among other risks, credit risk, interest rate risk, extension risk, prepayment risk and liquidity risk.
Asset-Backed and Mortgage-Backed Securities Risk— investments in asset-backed and mortgage-backed securities involve risk of severe credit downgrades, loss due to prepayments that occur earlier or later than
expected, illiquidity and default.
Credit Risk—the issuer of bonds or other debt securities may be unable or unwilling, or may be perceived as unable or unwilling, to make timely interest or principal
payments or otherwise honor its obligations.
Currency Risk—fluctuations in exchange rates may affect the total loss or gain on a non-U.S. dollar investment when converted back to U.S. dollars and exposure to
non-U.S. currencies may subject the Fund to the risk that those currencies will decline in
value relative to the U.S. dollar.
ESG Investing Risk—because applying the Fund’s ESG investment criteria may result in the selection or
exclusion of securities of certain issuers for reasons other than financial performance,
the Fund’s investment returns may underperform funds that do not incorporate ESG factors into their investment process. The incorporation of ESG criteria into the investment process may affect the Fund’s
investment exposure to certain companies, sectors, regions, countries or types of investments, which could negatively impact the Fund’s performance depending on whether such investments are in
or out of favor. Applying ESG criteria to investment decisions is qualitative and
subjective by nature, and there is no guarantee that the criteria utilized by the
Subadviser or any judgment exercised by the Subadviser will improve the financial performance of the Fund
or reflect the beliefs or
values of any particular investor. ESG standards differ by region and industry, and a company’s ESG practices or the Subadviser’s assessment of a company’s ESG practices may change over
time.
Extension Risk—during periods of rising interest rates, a debtor may pay back a bond or other fixed income security slower than expected or required, and the
value of such security may fall.
Growth Stock
Risk—the prices of equity securities of companies that are expected to experience
relatively rapid earnings growth, or “growth stocks,” may be more sensitive to
market movements because the prices tend to reflect future investor expectations rather
than just current profits.
High Yield Risk—below investment grade debt securities and unrated securities of similar credit quality (commonly
known as “junk bonds” or “high yield securities”) may be subject to
greater levels of interest rate, credit, liquidity, and market risk than higher-rated
securities. These securities are considered predominately speculative with respect to the issuer’s continuing ability to make principal and interest payments.
Inflation/Deflation Risk—inflation risk is the risk that the value of assets or income from investments will be worth less
in the future. Inflation rates may change frequently and drastically as a result of various
factors and the Fund’s investments may not keep pace with inflation, which may result in losses to Fund investors or adversely affect the real value of shareholders’ investments in the Fund. Recently,
inflation levels have been at their highest point in nearly 40 years, and the Federal Reserve
has begun an aggressive campaign to raise certain benchmark interest rates in an effort to
combat inflation. As such, fixed income securities markets may experience heightened levels of interest rate volatility and liquidity risk. Deflation risk is the risk that the prices throughout the
economy decline over time – the opposite of inflation. Deflation may have an adverse effect on the creditworthiness of issuers and may make issuer default more likely, which may result in a decline in
the value of the Fund’s portfolio.
Interest Rate Risk—fixed coupon payments (cash flows) of bonds and debt securities may become less competitive with the market in periods of rising interest
rates and cause bond prices to decline. During periods of increasing interest rates, the Fund
may experience high levels of volatility and shareholder redemptions, and may have to sell
securities at times when it would otherwise not do so, and at unfavorable prices, which could
reduce the returns of the Fund.
Large-Capitalization Stock Risk—the stocks of large-capitalization companies are generally more mature and may not be able to reach the same levels of growth as the
stocks of small- or mid-capitalization companies.
Liquidity Risk—the Fund may not be able to dispose of particular investments, such as illiquid securities, readily at favorable times or prices or the Fund
may have to sell them at a loss.