to buy and sell shares of the Fund. Although your actual costs may be higher
or lower, based on these assumptions, your costs would be:
|
1
Year |
3
Years |
5
Years |
10
Years |
|
$
44 |
$
151 |
$
268 |
$
610 |
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 rate 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, there was no portfolio turnover rate for the Fund since the Fund invested in short-term securities with maturities less than
or equal to 365 days, which are excluded from portfolio turnover calculations.
Principal Investment Strategies of the Fund
The Fund employs a “passive management” – or indexing – investment approach designed to track the performance of the Index. The
Fund generally uses a representative sampling strategy to achieve its investment objective, meaning it generally will invest in a sample of the securities in the Index whose risk, return and other characteristics resemble the risk, return, and other
characteristics of the Index as a whole. Under normal circumstances, at least 80% of the Fund’s total assets (exclusive of collateral held from securities lending) will be invested in component securities of the Index and investments that have
economic characteristics that are substantially identical to the economic characteristics of such component securities.
The Index tracks the value of a cash-secured (i.e., collateralized) put option sales strategy, which consists of selling (or “writing”) Russell 2000 Index put options (“RUT Puts”) and investing the sale proceeds in one-month Treasury
bills. By selling a RUT Put, the Fund receives a premium from the option buyer, which increases the Fund’s return if the option is not exercised and expires worthless. If, however, the value of the Russell 2000 Index falls below the RUT
Put’s strike price, the option finishes “in-the-money” and the Fund pays the buyer the difference between the strike price and the value of the Russell 2000 Index. The Index’s strategy (and, accordingly, the Fund’s
strategy) of selling cash-secured RUT Puts serves to partially offset a decline in the value of the Russell 2000 Index to the extent of the premiums received. Further, if the value of the Russell 2000 Index increases beyond the amount of premiums
received, Index (and Fund) returns would not be expected to increase accordingly.
All RUT Puts are standardized options traded on the Chicago
Board Options Exchange. The RUT Puts in the Index are struck at-the-money (i.e., struck at or very near the Russell 2000 Index value) and are sold on a monthly basis, usually the third Friday of the month (the
“Roll Date”), which matches the expiration date of the RUT Puts. RUT Puts generally may only be exercised at the expiration date, which is referred to as a European style option. The number of RUT Puts sold by the Fund varies month to
month but is limited by the amount held by the Fund in Treasury bills, the value of which is expected to equal the maximum possible loss from final settlement of the RUT Puts. At each Roll Date, any settlement loss from the expiring RUT Puts is paid
from the Treasury bill investments and a new batch of at-the-money RUT Puts is sold. The revenue from their sale is invested at the one-month Treasury bill rate. The Fund expects to operate in a similar manner as the foregoing Index description in
seeking to track the Index.
Principal Risks of Investing
in the Fund
You can lose money on your investment in the Fund. The Fund
is subject to the risks described below. Some or all of these risks may adversely affect the Fund’s net asset value per share (“NAV”), trading price, yield, total return and/or ability to meet its objective. For more information
about the risks of investing in the Fund, see the sections in the Fund’s Prospectus titled “Additional Principal Risk Information About the Funds” and “Additional Non-Principal Risk Information.”
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|
Investment Risk. As with all investments, an investment in the Fund is subject to investment risk. Investors in the Fund could lose money, including the possible loss of the entire principal amount of an investment, over short or long
periods of time. |
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Market
Risk. The trading prices of equity securities and other instruments fluctuate in response to a variety of factors, such as economic, financial or political events that impact the entire market, market segments, or
specific issuers. The Fund’s NAV and market price may fluctuate significantly in response to these and other factors. As a result, an investor could lose money over short or long periods of time. |