Sierra Tactical Core Income Fund
| Class A Shares | SSIZX |
| Class C Shares | SSICX |
| Investor Class | SSIIX |
| Instl Class | SSIRX |
Summary Prospectus
January 30, 2023
Before you invest, you may want to review the Fund’s prospectus, which contains more information about the Fund and its risks. The Fund’s prospectus and Statement of Additional Information, both dated January 30, 2023, along with the Fund’s annual report dated September 30, 2022, are incorporated by reference into this Summary Prospectus. You can obtain these documents and other information about the Fund online at https://sierramutualfunds.com/documents. You can also obtain these documents at no cost by calling 1-866-738-4363 or by sending an email request to OrderSierra@ultimusfundsolutions.com.
Investment Objectives: The Fund’s two investment objectives are to provide total return (with income contributing a significant part) and to limit volatility and downside risk.
Fees and Expenses of the Fund: This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund. You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the tables and examples below. You may qualify for sales charge discounts on purchases of Class A shares if you and your family invest, or agree to invest in the future, at least $50,000 in the Fund. More information about these and other discounts is available from your financial intermediary and in How to Purchase Shares on page 15 of the Fund’s Prospectus and in Purchase, Redemption and Pricing of Shares on page 47 of the Statement of Additional Information.
|
Shareholder Fees (fees paid directly from your investment) |
Class A |
Class C |
Investor Class |
Instl Class |
| Maximum Sales Charge (Load) Imposed on Purchases (as a % of offering price) |
3.75% | None | None | None |
| Maximum Deferred Sales Charge (Load) (as a % of the lower of purchase price or redemption proceeds) |
1.00% | None | None | None |
| Maximum Sales Charge (Load) Imposed on Reinvested Dividends and other Distributions |
None | None | None | None |
| Redemption Fee | None | None | None | None |
|
Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment) | ||||
| Management Fees | 0.75% | 0.75% | 0.75% | 0.75% |
| Distribution and/or Service (12b-1) Fees | 0.40% | 1.00% | 0.40% | None |
| Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses(1) | 0.47% | 0.47% | 0.47% | 0.47% |
| Other Expenses | 0.19% | 0.19% | 0.19% | 0.19% |
| Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses | 1.81% | 2.41% | 1.81% | 1.41% |
| Expense Reimbursement | 0.01% | 0.01% | 0.01% | 0.00% |
| Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Expense Reimbursement | 1.82% | 2.42% | 1.82% | 1.41% |
(1) Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses are the estimated average indirect costs of investing in other investment companies (the “Underlying Funds”). The operating expenses in this fee table will not correlate to the expense ratio in the Fund’s financial highlights because the financial statements include only the direct operating expenses incurred by the Fund.
| 1 |
Example: This 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 upon these assumptions your costs would be:
| Class | 1 Year | 3 Years | 5 Years | 10 Years |
| Class A | $552 | $925 | $1,322 | $2,431 |
| Class C | $244 | $754 | $1,290 | $2,756 |
| Investor Class | $184 | $572 | $984 | $2,136 |
| Instl Class | $144 | $446 | $771 | $1,691 |
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 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 period, the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 522% of the average value of its portfolio.
Principal Investment Strategies: To access a wide variety of underlying asset classes and special strategies of unaffiliated mutual funds, the Sierra Tactical Core Income Fund invests in (1) open-end investment companies (mutual funds) and (2) exchange-traded funds (“ETFs”) (collectively, “Underlying Funds”). The Adviser seeks to achieve the Fund’s investment objectives by investing primarily in Underlying Funds that in turn invest in a wide variety of fixed-income instruments of any maturity, including domestic and foreign bonds, some of which are hedged against currency risk, funds that are designed to have returns that are inverse to the 10-year U.S. Treasury note or the 30-year U.S. Treasury bond, as well as real estate investment trusts (“REITs”) and other income-generating underlying assets. The Fund invests in Underlying Funds without restriction as to issuer credit quality (including “high-yield” or “junk bonds”), capitalization, country or the individual security maturity of the securities held by the Underlying Funds. The Fund defines high-yield securities, also known as junk bonds, as fixed-income securities rated below investment grade (rated BB+ or lower by S&P or comparably rated by another nationally recognized statistical rating organization (NRSRO)).
Among the types of underlying instruments in which this Fund will invest, through Underlying Funds, are the following:
| · | Ultra-short-term bonds |
| · | U.S. government bonds and agency instruments |
| · | Floating rate instruments |
| · | Municipal bonds |
| · | High-yield corporate bonds |
| · | High-grade corporate bonds |
| · | Bonds of emerging market countries |
| · | Bonds of European countries |
| · | REIT common and preferred stocks |
| · | Master-Limited partnerships (“MLPs”) |
| · | Mutual funds that have their own special strategies, such as combining asset classes and tactical strategies |
On occasion, a portion of the Fund’s portfolio may be hedged with positions that move inversely to the U.S. Treasury 10-year U.S. Treasury note and/or the 30-year Treasury bond to improve returns when the interest-rate environment is moving adversely to long positions in the major bond markets (that is, when interest rates are in a rising trend) or to hedge other positions, and/or positions that hedge currency risk. Additionally, on occasion, the Fund will use Underlying Funds that are moderately leveraged, although the portfolio as a whole will not use leverage extensively, since one of the goals of the Fund is to limit downside volatility.
| 2 |
The Adviser’s investment strategy is a tactical style that includes analysis and use of a wide variety of income-producing investment categories, such as fixed-income securities and dividend-paying REITs of issuers from various markets and industries (“Asset Classes”) in an effort to limit overall volatility and downside risk as well as to seek opportunities to enhance return through income and capital appreciation (total return). The current yield of the Fund is not a separate goal, and the monthly dividend yield will fluctuate significantly given the Fund’s tactical approach of seeking various bond categories from time to time that the Adviser’s portfolio managers feel will contribute to total return.
The Adviser constructs the Fund’s portfolio in the following manner: First, the Adviser identifies income-producing Asset Classes that it believes will respond differently to a variety of economic forces, and identifies those Asset Classes that are currently in a rising trend. Second, the Adviser identifies diversified Underlying Funds through which the Fund can participate in each chosen Asset Class. Third, within many Asset Classes, the Adviser attempts to identify Underlying Funds with managers whose history demonstrates an ability to add positive Alpha (above-peer-group-average total return after adjusting for volatility). Where available, the Fund invests in institutional share classes (those with the lowest internal expenses) for those Underlying Funds.
The Adviser does not employ a passive “buy and hold,” strategy. As part of its integrated risk-management disciplines, the Adviser monitors each Fund holding daily and applies a trailing stop discipline (a form of sell signal) to each Underlying Fund within the Fund’s portfolio, based on the proprietary approach (“Sell Disciplines”) that one of the Fund’s portfolio managers, Dr. Sleeper has used with separately managed accounts, in order to limit the impact on the overall Fund portfolio of any sustained decline in a given Asset Class or Underlying Fund. Thus, whenever an Underlying Fund declines “substantially”, as defined by the Adviser’s proprietary studies of the historic behavior of the Asset Class represented by the Underlying Fund, the Adviser sells or hedges the Underlying Fund.
The Sell Disciplines are not designed to attempt to buy at lows or to sell at highs, but to participate in a substantial part of any sustained uptrend in a selected Asset Class, as well as to step aside during most of any sustained downtrend. The Adviser employs a “reactive” approach as distinct from a “predictive” approach. The Adviser does not consider its approach to be a “trading” style in terms of frequency, and does not expect to average more than two sell signals per year in each Asset Class.
The overall asset allocation of the Fund is not fixed. It can and does change significantly over time as the Adviser decides to re-allocate portions of the portfolio in response to trend changes in the U.S. and global economy and in various fixed income investment markets using the tactical style described above.
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.
Performance of the Fund during future periods will definitely vary. Some months and some quarters will result in negative performance; indeed, some future years may have negative performance.
| · | Fixed-Income Risk. When the Fund invests in Underlying Funds that invest in fixed-income securities, the value of your investment in the Fund will generally decline when interest rates rise. Defaults by fixed income issuers in which the Underlying Funds invest may also harm performance. |
| · | Inverse Risk. The Fund engages in hedging or declining-market strategies by investing in inverse Underlying Funds. Any strategy that includes inverse securities could cause the Fund to suffer significant losses. The Fund will not participate in market gains to the extent it holds inverse Underlying Funds. |
| · | High Yield (Junk Bond) Risk. Underlying Fund investments in lower-quality bonds, known as high-yield or junk bonds, present greater risk than bonds of higher quality, including an increased risk of default. An economic downturn or period of rising interest rates could adversely affect the market for these bonds and reduce liquidity in these bonds. Junk bonds are considered speculative and issuers are more sensitive to economic conditions than high quality issuers and more likely to seek bankruptcy protection which, will delay resolution of bondholder claims and may eliminate liquidity. |
| · | Foreign Risk. Foreign markets can be more volatile than the U.S. market due to increased risks of adverse issuer, political, regulatory, market, economic developments or currency exchange rates and can perform differently from the U.S. market. The net asset value of the Fund will fluctuate based on changes in the value of the foreign securities held by any Underlying Funds that invest in such securities. |
| · | Government Securities Risk. It is possible that the U.S. Government would not provide financial support to its agencies or instrumentalities if it is not required to do so by law. The ability of foreign governments to repay their obligations is adversely impacted by default, insolvency, bankruptcy or by political instability, including authoritarian and/or military involvement in governmental decision-making, armed conflict, civil war, social instability and the impact of these events and circumstances on a country’s economy and its government’s revenues. |
| 3 |
| · | Management Risk. The Adviser’s dependence on its strategic income investment strategy and judgments about the attractiveness, value and potential appreciation of particular Asset Classes in which the Fund invests will in some cases prove to be incorrect and have negative impacts on performance. |
| · | Market and Geopolitical Risk. The increasing interconnectivity between global economies and financial markets increases the likelihood that events or conditions in one region or financial market may adversely impact issuers in a different country, region or financial market. Securities in the Fund may underperform due to inflation (or expectations for inflation), interest rates, global demand for particular products or resources, natural disasters, pandemics, epidemics, climate change or climate change related events, terrorism, international conflicts, regulatory events and governmental or quasi-governmental actions. The occurrence of global events similar to those in recent years, such as terrorist attacks around the world, natural disasters, social and political discord or debt crises and downgrades, among others, may result in market volatility and may have long term effects on both the U.S. and global financial markets. It is difficult to predict when similar events affecting the U.S. or global financial markets may occur, the effects that such events may have and the duration of those effects. Any such event(s) could have a significant adverse impact on the value and risk profile of the Fund. The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) global pandemic and the aggressive responses taken by many governments, including closing borders, restricting international and domestic travel, and the imposition of prolonged quarantines or similar restrictions, as well as the forced or voluntary closure of, or operational changes to, many retail and other businesses, had negative impacts, and in many cases severe negative impacts, on markets worldwide. It is not known how long such impacts, or any future impacts of other significant events described above, will or would last, but there could be a prolonged period of global economic slowdown, which may impact your investment. Therefore, the Fund could lose money over short periods due to short-term market movements and over longer periods during more prolonged market downturns. During a general market downturn, multiple asset classes may be negatively affected. Changes in market conditions and interest rates can have the same impact on all types of securities and instruments. In times of severe market disruptions you could lose your entire investment. |
| · | Master Limited Partnerships Risk. Investments in MLPs involve risks different from those of investing in common stock including risks related to limited control and limited rights to vote on matters affecting the MLP, risks related to potential conflicts of interest between an MLP and the MLP’s general partner, cash flow risks, dilution risks and risks related to the general partner’s limited call right. MLPs are generally considered interest-rate sensitive investments. During periods of interest rate volatility, these investments may not provide attractive returns. MLPs, typically, do not pay U.S. federal income tax at the partnership level. Instead, each partner is allocated a share of the partnership’s income, gains, losses, deductions and expenses. A change in current tax law or in the underlying business mix of a given MLP could result in an MLP being treated as a corporation for U.S. federal income tax purposes, which would result in such MLP being required to pay U.S. federal income tax on its taxable income. The classification of an MLP as a corporation for U.S. federal income tax purposes would have the effect of reducing the amount of cash available for distribution by the MLP. Thus, if any of the MLPs owned by the Fund were treated as corporations for U.S. federal income tax purposes, it could result in a reduction of the value of your investment in the Fund and lower income, as compared to an MLP that is not taxed as a corporation. |
| · | Municipal Risk. Municipal securities are subject to the risk that legislative changes and local and business developments may adversely affect the yield or value of the Fund’s investments in such securities. |
| · | Portfolio Turnover Risk. As to the portion of the portfolio invested in ETFs and closed-end investment companies, turnover may result in higher brokerage commissions, dealer mark-ups and other transaction costs. The Fund’s investment style will result in most capital gains within the portfolio being realized as short-term capital gains. |
| · | REIT Common and Preferred Stock Risk. A REIT’s performance depends on the types and locations of the rental properties it owns and on how well it manages those properties. A decline in rental income may occur because of extended vacancies, increased competition from other properties, tenants’ failure to pay rent or poor management. Common and preferred stock prices can fall rapidly in response to developments affecting a specific company or industry, or to changing economic, political or market conditions. |
| · | Underlying Fund Risk. Each Underlying Fund is subject to specific risks, depending on its investments. Underlying Funds are also subject to investment advisory fees and other expenses, which are indirectly borne by the Fund. As a result, your overall cost of investing in the underlying stocks, bonds and other basic assets will be higher than the cost of investing directly in them, and may be higher than other mutual funds that invest directly in stocks and bonds. |
| 4 |
Performance: The bar chart and performance table below show the variability of the Fund’s returns, which is some indication of the risks of investing in the Fund. The bar chart shows performance of Instl Class of the Fund for each full calendar year since the Fund’s inception. The performance table compares the performance of the share classes of the Fund over time to the performance of a broad-based securities market index. You should be aware that the Fund’s past performance (before and after taxes) may not be an indication of how the Fund will perform in the future. Updated performance information is available at no cost by calling 1-866-738-4363 or visiting www.SierraMutualFunds.com.
Instl Class Annual Total Return For Calendar Years Ended December 311
| 1 | The returns are for Instl Class, which would have substantially similar annual returns as the other share classes because the shares are invested in the same portfolio of securities and the returns for each class would differ only to the extent that the classes have different expenses. |
| Best Quarter: | 4th Quarter 2020 | 3.56% |
| Worst Quarter: | 1st Quarter 2020 | (3.04)% |
Performance Table
Average Annual Total Returns
(For periods ended December 31, 2022)
| One Year | Five Years | Ten Years | |
| Instl Class | |||
| Return before taxes | (4.91)% | 1.50% | 2.59% |
| Return after taxes on distributions | (5.47)% | 0.54% | 1.36% |
| Return after taxes on distributions and sale of Fund shares | (2.86)% | 0.83% | 1.48% |
| Class A shares | |||
| Return before taxes with sales load | (10.73)% | (0.09)% | 1.61% |
| Class C shares | |||
| Return before taxes | (5.84)% | 0.49% | 1.61% |
| Investor Class | |||
| Return before taxes | (5.29)% | 1.11% | 2.21% |
| Bloomberg US Aggregate Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes) |
(13.01)% | 0.02% | 1.06% |
After-tax returns were 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 after-tax returns shown are not relevant to investors who hold shares of the Fund through tax-deferred arrangements, such as 401(k) plans or Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs). After tax returns are not shown for Class A, C and Investor shares and would differ from those of Instl Class.
| 5 |
The Bloomberg US Aggregate Index, an unmanaged, broad-based market capitalization weighted index, has been selected as the Fund’s benchmark index. The Bloomberg US Aggregate Bond Index is commonly used as a benchmark by both passive and active investors to measure portfolio performance relative to the U.S. dollar-denominated investment grade fixed-rate taxable bond market. The index includes Treasuries, government-related and corporate securities, MBS (agency fixed-rate pass-throughs), ABS and CMBS (agency and non-agency). The index does not take into account charges, fees and other expenses, and investors cannot invest directly in an index.
Investment Adviser: Wright Fund Management, LLC (the “Adviser”) is the Fund’s investment adviser.
Investment Adviser Portfolio Managers: Kenneth L. Sleeper, MBA, PhD, Managing Director and Portfolio Manager of the Adviser, Douglas A. Loeffler, CFA®, Executive Vice President, and Ryan Harder, CFA®, Chief Investment Strategist are the portfolio managers of the Fund. Dr. Sleeper has served the Fund as portfolio manager since it commenced operations in December 2011. Mr. Loeffler has served the Fund as portfolio manager since January 2022. Ryan Harder has served the Fund as portfolio manager since January 2023. Each portfolio manager is jointly and primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund.
Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares: For all Classes, the minimum initial investment is $10,000 and the minimum subsequent investment is $1,000. You may purchase and redeem shares of the Fund on any day that the New York Stock Exchange is open. Redemption requests may be made in writing, by telephone, or through a financial intermediary and will be paid by Automatic Clearing House (“ACH”), check or wire transfer. The Fund reserves the right to waive any investment minimum.
Tax Information: Dividends and capital gain distributions you receive from the Fund, whether you reinvest your distributions in additional Fund shares or receive them in cash, are taxable to you at either ordinary income or capital gains tax rates unless you are investing through a tax-deferred account such as an IRA or 401(k). However, these dividend and capital gain distributions may be taxable upon their eventual withdrawal from tax-deferred plans.
Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries: If you purchase shares of the Fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), the Fund and its related companies may pay the intermediary for the sale of Fund shares and related services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.
| 6 |