Risks
Principal Investment Risks: As with all mutual funds, there is the risk that you could lose money through your investment in the Fund. The Fund is not intended to be a complete investment program. Many factors affect the Fund's net asset value and performance.
The following risks apply to the Fund directly and indirectly through the Fund's investment in mutual funds, ETFs and pooled vehicles.
Bond Risk: Typically, a rise in interest rates causes a decline in the value of bonds. The credit quality of securities may be lowered if an issuer's financial condition deteriorates and issuers may default on their interest and or principal payments.
Commodity Risk: Investing in the commodities markets may subject the Fund to greater volatility than investments in traditional securities. Commodity prices may be influenced by unfavorable weather, animal and plant disease, geologic and environmental factors as well as changes in government regulation such as tariffs, embargoes or burdensome production rules and restrictions.
Derivatives Risk: Derivatives are subject to tracking risk because they may not be perfect substitutes for the instruments they are intended to hedge or replace. Short positions are subject to potentially unlimited liability. Over the counter derivatives, such as swaps, are subject to counterparty default. Leverage inherent in derivatives, including futures contracts, will tend to magnify the Fund's losses.
Emerging Market Risk: Emerging market countries may have relatively unstable governments, weaker economies, and less-developed legal systems with fewer security holder rights. Emerging market securities also tend to be less liquid.
Equity Risk: The net asset value of the Fund will fluctuate based on changes in the value of the equity securities in which it invests. Equity prices can fall rapidly in response to developments affecting a specific company or industry, or to changing economic, political or market conditions.
Foreign Investment Risk: Foreign investments may be riskier than U.S. investments for many reasons, such as changes in currency exchange rates and unstable political, social and economic conditions.
Junk Bond Risk: Lower-quality fixed income securities, known as "high yield" or "junk" bonds, present greater risk than bonds of higher quality, including an increased risk of default. These securities are considered speculative. Defaulted securities or those subject to reorganization proceeding may become worthless and are illiquid.
Leverage Risk: Derivatives magnify losses because they require only a small investment relative to their notional amount. Borrowing magnifies the potential for losses and exposes the Fund to interest expenses on money borrowed.
Management Risk: The sub-adviser's reliance on its strategies and judgments about the attractiveness, value and potential appreciation of particular assets may prove to be incorrect and may not produce the desired results.
Market Risk: Overall investment market risks affect the value of the Fund. Factors such as economic growth and market conditions, interest rate levels, and political events affect the US and international investment markets.
Mortgage-Backed Security Risk: Mortgage-Backed Securities ("MBS") are subject to credit risk because underlying loan borrowers may default. Additionally, these securities are subject to prepayment risk because the underlying loans held by the issuers may be paid off prior to maturity.
Mutual Fund, ETF Risk and Pooled Vehicle Risk: Mutual funds, ETFs and pooled vehicles involve duplication of investment advisory fees and certain other expenses. ETFs are subject to brokerage and other trading costs, which could result in greater expenses to the Fund. Pooled vehicles will not have all the protections of the Investment Company Act of 1940 such as governance standards, limits on leverage and fees including the structure of performance-based managed fees.
Non-Diversification Risk: As a non-diversified fund, the Fund may invest more than 5% of its total assets in the securities of one or more issuers. The Fund's performance may be more sensitive to any single economic, business, political or regulatory occurrence than the value of shares of a diversified investment company.
Short Position Risk: The Fund's short positions may result in a loss if the price of the short position instruments rise and it costs more to cover the short positions. In contrast to the Fund's long positions, for which the risk of loss is typically limited to the amount invested, the potential loss on the Fund's short positions is unlimited.
Small and Medium Capitalization Stock Risk: The value of small or medium capitalization company stocks may be subject to more abrupt or erratic market movements than larger, more established companies or the market averages in general.