rates, global demand for particular
products or resources, market instability, financial system instability, debt crises and
downgrades, embargoes, tariffs, trade wars, retaliatory trade measures, sanctions and other trade
barriers, supply chain disruptions, regulatory events, other governmental trade or market control
programs and related geopolitical events. In addition, the value of the Fund’s investments may be negatively affected by the occurrence of global events such as war, terrorism, environmental disasters, natural disasters
or events, country instability, and infectious disease epidemics or pandemics or the threat or
potential of one or more such factors and occurrences.
Strategy Risk. The adviser may not be successful in managing the Fund with a lower level of volatility than the large cap market. Depending on market conditions during a
particular time in a market cycle, particularly during higher market volatility, the Fund’s
volatility at that time may not be lower than that of the Index because the Fund may not be able to adjust its call options strategy as quickly as the market does. In addition, because the Fund seeks lower relative volatility
(and may, therefore, be over or underweight in certain sectors or securities included in the
Index), the Fund may underperform the Index, particularly in rising markets. In addition, the Fund does not guarantee that distributions will always be paid or will be paid at a relatively stable
level.
Equity-Linked Notes Risk. When the Fund invests in ELNs, it receives cash but limits its opportunity to profit from an increase in the market value of the instrument because of the limits relating to the call options written
within the particular ELN. Investing in ELNs may be more costly to the Fund than if the Fund had
invested in the underlying instruments directly. Investments in ELNs often have risks similar to the underlying instruments, which include market risk. In addition, since ELNs are in note form, ELNs are subject to certain
debt securities risks, such as credit or counterparty risk. Should the prices of the underlying
instruments move in an unexpected manner, the Fund may not achieve the anticipated benefits of an investment in an ELN, and may realize losses, which could be significant and could include the Fund’s entire
principal investment. Investments in ELNs are also subject to liquidity risk, which may make ELNs
difficult to sell and value. A lack of liquidity may also cause the value of the ELN to decline. In addition, ELNs may exhibit price behavior that does not correlate with the underlying securities. The Fund’s ELN investments are
subject to the risk that issuers and/or counterparties will fail to make payments when due or
default completely. Prices of the Fund’s ELN investments may be adversely affected if any of the issuers or counterparties it is invested in are subject to an actual or perceived deterioration in their credit
quality.
See “Covered Call Strategy Risk” below for
more information about risks of the options held within the ELNs.
Covered Call Strategy Risk. When the Fund sells call
options within an ELN, it receives cash but limits its opportunity to profit from an increase in
the market value of the underlying instrument to the exercise price (plus the premium received). The maximum potential gain on the underlying index or ETF (each, an underlying instrument) will be equal to the
difference between the exercise price and the purchase price of the underlying instrument at the
time the option is written, plus the premium received. In a rising market, the option may require an underlying instrument to be sold at an exercise price that is
lower than would be received if the instrument was sold at the market price. If a call expires, the Fund realizes a gain in the amount of the premium received, but because
there may have been a decline (unrealized loss) in the market value of the underlying instrument
during the option period, the loss realized may exceed such gain. If the underlying instrument
declines by more than the option premium the Fund receives, there will be a loss on the overall
position.
Large Cap Company Risk. Because the Fund invests principally in large cap company securities, it may underperform other funds
during periods when the Fund’s large cap securities are out of favor.
Smaller Company Risk. Investments in securities of smaller companies (mid cap and small cap companies) may be riskier, less liquid, more volatile and more vulnerable to economic, market and industry changes than securities of
larger, more established companies. The securities of smaller companies may trade less frequently
and in smaller volumes than securities of larger companies. As a result, changes in the price of securities issued by such companies may be more sudden or erratic than the prices of securities of larger companies,
especially over the short term. These risks are higher for small cap companies.
Derivatives Risk. Derivatives, including futures
contracts, may be riskier than other types of investments and may increase the volatility of the
Fund. Derivatives may be sensitive to changes in economic and market conditions and may create leverage, which could result in losses that significantly exceed the Fund’s original investment. The Fund may be
more volatile than if the Fund had not been leveraged because the leverage tends to exaggerate
any effect on the value of the Fund’s portfolio securities. Certain derivatives expose the Fund to counterparty risk, which is the risk that the derivative counterparty will not fulfill its contractual obligations (and
includes credit risk associated with the counterparty). Certain derivatives are synthetic
instruments that attempt to replicate the performance of certain reference assets. With regard to
such derivatives, the Fund does not have a claim on the reference assets and is subject to
enhanced counterparty risk. Derivatives may not perform as expected, so the Fund may not realize the intended benefits. When used for hedging, the change in value of a derivative may not correlate as expected with the
security or other risk being hedged. In addition, given their complexity, derivatives expose the
Fund to risks of mispricing or improper valuation. Derivatives also can expose the Fund to derivative liquidity risk, which includes risks involving the liquidity demands that derivatives can create to make
payments of margin, collateral, or settlement payments to counterparties, legal risk, which
includes the risk of loss resulting from insufficient or unenforceable contractual documentation, insufficient capacity or authority of the Fund’s counterparty and operational risk, which includes documentation or
settlement issues, system failures, inadequate controls and human error. Certain of the
Fund’s transactions in derivatives could also affect the amount, timing and character of
distributions to shareholders which may result in the Fund realizing more ordinary income and short-term capital gain subject to tax at ordinary income tax rates than it would if it did not engage in such
transactions, which may adversely impact the Fund’s after-tax returns.
Significant Holdings Risk. Although the Fund is
considered “diversified” under applicable law, a relatively large portion of its
portfolio at times may be invested in a relatively small