include securities that
represent interests in pools of mortgage loans made by lenders such as commercial
banks, savings and loan institutions, mortgage bankers and others. They include
mortgage pass-through securities, collateralized mortgage obligations (“CMOs”), commercial mortgage-backed securities, mortgage dollar rolls, CMO residuals, stripped
mortgage-backed securities, non-agency residential mortgage-backed securities and
other securities that directly or indirectly represent a participation in, or are secured by and payable from, mortgage loans or real property. The characteristics of these mortgage-backed and
asset-backed securities differ from traditional fixed-income securities. Mortgage-backed securities are subject to “prepayment risk” and “extension risk.”
Prepayment risk is the risk that, when interest rates fall, certain types of obligations will be paid off by the obligor more quickly than originally anticipated and the Portfolio may have to
invest the proceeds in securities with lower yields. Extension risk is the risk that, when interest rates rise, certain obligations will be paid off by the obligor more slowly than
anticipated, causing the value of these securities to fall. Small movements in
interest rates (both increases and decreases) may quickly and significantly
reduce the value of certain mortgage-backed securities. These securities also are subject to risk of default on the underlying mortgage, particularly during periods of economic downturn.
Management Risk. The Portfolio is subject to management risk because it is an actively-managed investment portfolio. The Portfolio’s portfolio managers apply investment techniques and
risk analyses in making investment decisions, but there can be no guarantee that
these decisions or the individual securities selected by the portfolio managers will produce the
desired results.
Market Risk. The Portfolio’s share price or the market as a whole can decline for many reasons or be adversely
affected by a number of factors, including, without limitation: weakness in the
broad market, a particular industry, or specific holdings; adverse political, regulatory or economic developments in the United States or abroad; changes in investor psychology; heavy
institutional selling; military confrontations, war, terrorism and other armed
conflicts, disease/virus outbreaks and epidemics; recessions; taxation and
international tax treaties; currency, interest rate and price fluctuations; and other
conditions or events. In
addition, the subadviser’s assessment of securities held in the Portfolio may prove incorrect, resulting in losses or poor performance even in a rising market.
Issuer Risk. The value of a security may decline for a number of reasons directly related to the issuer, such as management performance, financial leverage and reduced demand for the issuer’s goods and
services.
Active Trading Risk. The Portfolio may engage in frequent trading of securities to achieve its investment goal. Active trading may result in
high portfolio turnover and correspondingly greater brokerage commissions and
other transaction costs, which will be borne directly by the Portfolio and could
affect its performance. During periods of increased market volatility, active trading may be more
pronounced.
As a result of a reorganization which occurred on November
8, 2021 (the “Reorganization”), the Portfolio acquired all of the assets and liabilities of the SA Wellington Government and Quality Bond Portfolio (the “Predecessor Portfolio”), a
series of Anchor Series Trust. The performance information below is based on the performance of the Predecessor Portfolio for periods prior to the date of the Reorganization.
The Predecessor Portfolio had the same investment goal, strategies, portfolio
management team and contractual fees and expenses as the Portfolio as of the date of the Reorganization. As a result, the performance of the Portfolio would have been substantially
similar to that of the Predecessor Portfolio.
The following bar chart illustrates the risks of investing in the Portfolio by showing changes
in the Portfolio’s performance from calendar year to calendar year and the
table compares the Portfolio’s average annual returns to those of the
Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index (a broad-based securities market index) and the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate A or Better Index, which is relevant to the Portfolio because it has
characteristics similar to the Portfolio’s investment strategies. Fees and expenses
incurred at the contract level are not reflected in the bar chart or table. If
these amounts were reflected, returns