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Bond Funds have the same interest rate, high yield and credit risks associated with the underlying bonds in the portfolio, all of which could reduce the Fund's value. As interest rates rise, the value of the Fund can decline and an investor can lose principal.
All indexes listed are unmanaged, and are not available for direct investment. Unlike a mutual fund, the performance of an index assumes no taxes, transaction costs, management fees, or other expenses. The securities in the fund may differ substantially from those in the index.
1 Yield To Maturity (YTM) is a yield based on the assumption that the security will remain outstanding to maturity. It represents the total of coupon payments until maturity, plus interest on interest, and whatever gain or loss is realized from the security at maturity.
2 The benchmark for each funds’ YTM comparison is defined in notes 3-9.
3 The Merrill Lynch 1 Year Treasury Index is comprised of a single U.S. Treasury issue with approximately one year to final maturity purchased at the beginning of each month and held for one full month. At the end of the month, that issue is sold and rolled into a newly selected issue.
4 The Merrill Lynch 1-3 Year Treasury Index consists of all U.S. Treasury securities outstanding with maturities greater than one year and less than three years.
5 The Barclays Capital Intermediate Government/Credit Index (formerly known as the Lehman Brothers Intermediate Government/Credit Index) measures the performance of intermediate (1-10 year) government and corporate fixed rate debt issues.
6 The Barclays Capital Aggregate Index (formerly known as the Lehman Brothers Aggregate Index) measures the performance of the investment grade universe of bonds issued in the US.
7 The Barclays Capital US Corporate High Yield - 2% Issuer Cap Index (formerly known as the Lehman Brothers US Corporate High Yield - 2% Issuer Cap Index) is generally representative of corporate bonds rated below investment-grade. The index limits the maximum exposure to any one issuer to 2% of the market value of the index.
8 The LIBOR (London Interbank Offered Rate) yield to maturity is provided for the AlphaTrak 500 Fund yield comparison.
9 The Merrill Lynch 3-Month T-Bill Index is comprised of a single U.S. Treasury issue with approximately three months to final maturity purchased at the beginning of each month and held for one full month. At the end of the month, that issue is sold and rolled into a newly selected issue. The Adviser has selected the Index plus 200 basis points (2%) as the appropriate benchmark for performance comparison purposes.
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