Spectrum Low Volatility Fund

 

Advisor Class Shares SVASX

 

SUMMARY PROSPECTUS

 

February 1, 2023

 

Before you invest, you may want to review the Fund’s complete prospectus, which contains more information about the Fund and its risks. You can find the Fund’s prospectus and other information about the Fund at http://thespectrumfunds.com/fund-documents#close. You can also get this information at no cost by calling 1-866-862-9686, emailing orderspectrumfunds@ultimusfundsolutions.com or by asking any financial intermediary that offers shares of the Fund. The Fund’s prospectus and statement of additional information dated February 1, 2023, are incorporated by reference into this summary prospectus and may be obtained, free of charge, at the website or phone number noted above.

 

Adviser:

 

Advisors Preferred, LLC

1445 Research Boulevard, Ste. 530

Rockville, MD 20850

Sub-Adviser:

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“Transforming the way you invest”

272 Bendix Road, Suite 600

Virginia Beach, VA 23452

 

Investment Objective: The Spectrum Low Volatility Fund’s (the “Fund’s) investment is objective is total return with lower downside volatility and risk compared to major stock market indices. 

 

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 table and Examples below.

 

 

Annual Fund Operating Expenses

(expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)

 
Management Fees 2.15%
Distribution (12b-1) Fees 0.25%
Other Expenses 0.19%
Shareholder Service Expenses(1) 0.03%  
Remaining Expenses 0.16%  
Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses(2) 0.33%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses 2.92%
(1)Shareholder Service Expenses may include sub-transfer agent and sub-custodian fees.
(2)The Advisor Class Shares have not yet commenced operations. 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 and does not include the indirect costs of investing in other investment companies.

 

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’s Advisor Class Shares 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:

 

1 Year 3 Years 5 Years 10 Years
$295 $904 $1,538 $3,242

 

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 fiscal year ended September 30, 2022, the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 321% of the average value of its portfolio.

 

Principal Investment Strategies: The Fund’s adviser delegates execution of the Fund’s investment strategy to a sub-adviser. The sub-adviser uses a flexible investment approach to seek total return from capital appreciation and income from interest payments while managing downside volatility and risk. The sub-adviser seeks capital appreciation from opportunistic trading of fixed income securities and related instruments. Low volatility in the Fund’s name refers to the sub-adviser’s strategy of attempting to limit the Fund’s investment losses such that they will be less than the S&P 500 Index losses over any 12-month period when the stock market is trending lower. Interest payments may also contribute to low volatility by providing a source of risk-managed returns. However, the sub-adviser will not attempt to constrain the Fund’s upside volatility in rising markets. The technical strategies employed by the sub-adviser focus

 

 
 

primarily on trend-following, momentum, relative strength and many other technical analysis strategies applied to domestic and international stock and bond markets to signal favorable or unfavorable market conditions. During favorable market conditions (when the sub-adviser believes security prices will be stable or rising) the sub-adviser leverages the Fund’s investment portfolio through Swap contracts and/or borrowing to invest in more securities. During unfavorable market conditions, the sub-adviser emphasizes capital preservation by increasing the Fund’s allocation to cash equivalents and reducing leverage.  

 

The Fund invests in a diversified portfolio of primarily income-producing fixed income securities, including preferred stock. The sub-adviser does not select individual bonds or other fixed income securities but instead, invests the Fund’s assets in open-end investment companies (“mutual funds”) and exchange-traded funds (“ETFs”) that each invest primarily in fixed rate or floating rate fixed income securities. The Fund invests without restriction as to issuer type, country, capitalization, credit quality or maturity of individual securities held by the mutual funds and ETFs in which it invests. The mutual funds and ETFs may invest in foreign countries including emerging markets. When the sub-adviser believes market conditions for lower-quality debt are favorable, the Fund will primarily invest in mutual funds and ETFs that invest in income-producing high-yield fixed income securities commonly known as “junk” bonds. The Fund defines junk bonds as those rated lower than Baa3 by Moody’s Investor Services (“Moody’s”) or lower than BBB- by Standard and Poor’s Rating Group (“S&P”), or, if unrated, determined by the sub-adviser to be of similar credit quality. The sub-adviser selects mutual funds and ETFs that have high “Volatility Adjusted Returns” (“VAR”) and low risk (defined as return volatility). The sub-adviser also considers mutual fund and ETF fees, management experience and liquidity. The sub-adviser selects swap counterparties it believes to be credit worthy and does not invest more than 25% of Fund assets in swap contracts with any one counterparty. The Fund’s use of swaps is generally limited by the requirements to pledge collateral to swap counterparties.

 

By focusing on market conditions and VAR, the sub-adviser believes the Fund should maintain returns with lower downside volatility and risk compared to major stock market indices. The sub-adviser sells securities, and reduces swap positions and borrowing, when it believes market conditions have become unfavorable or when more attractive investments are available. Additionally, the sub-adviser may employ a long/short strategy through inverse ETFs and swaps to reduce market risk, to negate recessionary credit risk or interest rate risk. Inverse ETFs seek to deliver returns that are opposite of the return of a benchmark (e.g., if the benchmark goes up by 1%, the ETF will go down by 1%), typically using a combination of derivative strategies. The long/short strategy seeks to enhance returns by taking short positions in sectors the sub-adviser believes are less attractive while maintaining long positions in sectors the sub-adviser believes are more attractive. The sub-adviser may engage in frequent trading to achieve the Fund’s investment objective, which results in turnover in excess of 100%.

 

The sub-adviser believes the consistency of its execution of both its investment strategy and its risk management strategy is reflected in the following biblical quote:

 

“Steady plodding brings prosperity; hasty speculation brings poverty.”
(Proverbs 21:5, Living Bible)

 

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 (“NAV”) and performance. The following risks apply to the Fund directly and indirectly through the Fund’s investment in mutual funds and ETFs. 

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. The sub-adviser’s technical strategies may lose predictive validity or may not be sufficiently robust to address all market conditions. There is no assurance that the sub adviser’s investment strategy will enable the Fund to achieve its investment objective.

 

Bond Risk: Typically, a rise in interest rates causes a decline in the value of bonds. Current conditions may result in a rise in interest rates, which in turn may result in a decline in the value of the fixed income investments held by the Fund. As a result, interest rate risk may be heightened. 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. Bonds may become illiquid.

 

Derivatives Risk: Swaps are subject to tracking risk because they may not be perfect substitutes for the instruments they are intended to hedge or replace. Over the counter swaps are subject to counterparty default. Leverage inherent in derivatives will tend to magnify the Fund’s losses. Derivatives also magnify losses because they require only a small investment relative to their potential price effect on the Fund.

 

Emerging Market Risk: Investing in emerging markets involves not only the risks described below with respect to investing in foreign securities, but also other risks, including exposure to economic structures that are generally less diverse and mature, limited availability and reliability of information material to an investment decision, and exposure to political systems that can be expected to have less stability than those of developed countries. The typically small size of the markets of securities of issuers located in emerging markets and the possibility of a low or nonexistent volume of trading in those securities may also result in a lack of liquidity and in price volatility of those securities.

 

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 a reorganization proceeding may become worthless and are illiquid.

 

Leverage Risk: Derivatives magnify losses because they require only a small investment relative to their potential price effect on the Fund. Borrowing magnifies the potential for losses and exposes the Fund to interest expenses on money borrowed.

 

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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. Additionally, unexpected local, regional or global events, such as war; acts of terrorism; financial, political or social disruptions; natural, environmental or man-made disasters; the spread of infectious illnesses or other public health issues (such as the global pandemic coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)); and recessions and depressions could have a significant impact on the Fund and its investments and may impair market liquidity. Such events can cause investor fear, which can adversely affect the economies of nations, regions and the market in general, in ways that cannot necessarily be foreseen.

 

Mortgage-Backed Security (“MBS”) Risk: 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.

 

Municipal Securities Risk: Changes in the financial health of a municipality may make it difficult for it to make interest and principal payments when due. A downgrade in the issuer’s or security’s credit rating can reduce the market value of the security. The value of municipal bonds that depend on a specific revenue source or general revenue source to fund their payment obligations may fluctuate as a result of changes in the cash flows generated by the revenue source(s) or changes in the priority of the municipal obligation to receive the cash flows generated by the revenue source(s). In addition, changes in federal tax laws or the activity of an issuer may adversely affect the tax-exempt status of municipal bonds.

 

Mutual Fund and ETF Risk: Mutual funds and ETFs 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.

 

Preferred Stock Risk: The value of preferred stocks will fluctuate with changes in interest rates. Typically, a rise in interest rates causes a decline in the value of preferred stock. Preferred stocks are also subject to credit risk, which is the possibility that an issuer of preferred stock will fail to make its dividend payments.

 

Short Position Risk: The Fund’s short swap positions may result in a loss if the price of the short position instruments rise. In contrast to long positions, the potential loss on the Fund’s short swap positions is unlimited. Inverse ETFs will limit the Fund’s participation in market wide gains. Because inverse ETFs typically seek to obtain their objective on a daily basis, holding inverse ETFs for longer than a day may produce unexpected results particularly when the benchmark index experiences large ups and downs. Inverse ETFs may also be leveraged. Inverse ETFs contain all of the risks that regular ETFs present.

 

Small and Medium Capitalization Risk: The value of small or medium capitalization company securities may be subject to more abrupt or erratic market movements than larger, more established companies or the market averages in general.

 

Turnover Risk: A higher portfolio turnover may result in higher transactional and brokerage costs. The Fund’s portfolio turnover rate is expected to be above 100% annually.

 

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. As the Advisor Class shares have not commenced operations, the bar chart shows performance of the Fund’s Investor Class shares for each full calendar year since the Fund’s inception. The performance table compares the performance of the Fund’s Investor Class shares over time to the performance of a broad-based market index and a supplemental 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 visiting www.thespectrumfunds.com or by calling 1-866-862-9686. 

 

Performance Bar Chart For

Calendar Years Ended December 31

Spectrum Low Volatility Fund

Investor Class Shares

Highest Quarter: June 30,2020 8.83%
Lowest Quarter: March 31, 2020 -2.17%

 

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Performance Table

Average Annual Total Returns

(For the periods ended December 31, 2022)

Spectrum Low Volatility Fund
Investor Class Shares
One
Year
Five
Years
Since Inception(1)
Return before taxes -4.35% 6.01% 6.39%
Return after taxes on Distributions -4.35% 4.57% 4.52%
Return after taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares -2.57% 4.06% 4.13%
S&P/LSTA Leveraged Loan 100 Index(2) -0.60% 3.08% 3.04%
50/50 Barclays VLYHI/S&P Leveraged Loan Index(3) -6.25% 2.45% 3.10%
(1)The inception date of the Fund’s Investor Class shares is December 16, 2013. The Advisor Class shares have not commenced operations.
(2)The S&P/LSTA Leveraged Loan 100 Index is designed to reflect the performance of the largest facilities in the leveraged loan market. Investors cannot invest directly in an index and the S&P/LSTA Leveraged Loan 100 Index performance does not reflect deductions for fees, expenses, or taxes.
(3)The 50/50 Barclays VLYHI/S&P Leveraged Loan Index gives 50% weight to the Barclays VLYHI Index and 50% weight to the S&P Leveraged Loan Index. Barclays VLYHI benchmark includes publicly issued U.S. dollar denominated non-investment grade, fixed-rate taxable corporate bonds that have a remaining maturity of at least one year, regardless of optionality. The bonds are rated high-yield (Ba1/BB+/BB+ or below) using the middle rating of Moody’s, S&P, and Fitch, respectively (before July 1, 2005, the lower of Moody’s and S&P was used.) Included issues consist of only the three largest bonds from each issuer that have a minimum amount outstanding of $500 million or more (face value) and less than five years from issue date. S&P Leveraged Loan Index is designed to reflect the performance of the largest facilities in the leveraged loan market.

 

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.

 

Investment Adviser: Advisors Preferred, LLC (“Advisors Preferred” or the “Adviser”)

 

Sub-Adviser: Spectrum Financial, Inc. (“Spectrum Financial” or the “Sub-Adviser”)

 

Sub-Adviser Portfolio Managers: 

Spectrum Financial, Inc. employs a team approach to its portfolio management role as sub-adviser to the Fund. Each member of the team brings specialized skills in the area of compliance, research, and strategy development. Currently, the team has four (4) individuals.

 

Ralph Doudera – Lead Portfolio Manager. Ralph Doudera’s role is to focus on the overall portfolio composition with an emphasis on fund selection and the perceived risk of the environment. He has served the Fund since it commenced operations in 2013.

 

Chris Hendrix – Assistant Portfolio Manager. Chris Hendrix’s role is focused on investment strategy development, implementation, and research. He has served the Fund since July 2020.

 

Mary Collins – Assistant Portfolio Manager. Mary Collins’ role is focused on Fund compliance in all aspects of trading restrictions. She also influences the Fund with regards to strategy structure and implementation. She has served the Fund since July 2020.

 

Elena Piper – Assistant Portfolio Manager. Elena Piper’s role is focused on trade implementation and analysis along with research. She has served the Fund since December 2022.

 

Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares: You may purchase and redeem shares of the Fund on any day that the New York Stock Exchange is open for trading by written request or by telephone. The minimum initial investment in the Fund is $1,000. The minimum subsequent investment in the Fund is $500. The Fund, Adviser or Sub-Adviser may 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 plan such as an IRA or 401(k) plan. 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 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.