Under normal circumstances, the Fund will invest at least 80% of its net assets, plus the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes, in debt securities. These debt securities may include U.S. Government securities (including agency securities, and securities issued by government-sponsored enterprises such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, including their mortgage-backed securities), corporate debt securities, other mortgage-backed securities, asset-backed securities and securities issued by foreign governments, which may include sovereign debt. The Fund may invest up to 15% of its total assets in debt securities which are unrated or which are non-investment grade (we consider investment grade to mean rated at least BBB- by one or more nationally recognized credit ratings firms) (non-investment grade securities are commonly referred to as “junk bonds”); however, U.S. Government securities, as described above, even if unrated, do not count toward this 15% limit. The Fund may invest in derivatives instruments, such as options, futures contracts, including interest rate futures, and options on futures. These investments will typically be made for investment purposes consistent with the Fund's investment objective and may also be used to mitigate or hedge risks within the portfolio or for the temporary investment of cash balances. These derivative instruments will count toward the Fund's 80% policy only if they have economic characteristics similar to the securities included within that policy. The Fund may invest in securities issued by non-U.S. issuers, which securities may be denominated in U.S. dollars or foreign currencies. We select debt securities whose yield is sufficiently attractive in view of the risks of ownership. In deciding whether the Fund should invest in particular debt securities, we consider a number of factors such as the price, coupon and yield-to-maturity, as well as the credit quality of the issuer. We review the terms of the debt security, including subordination, default, sinking fund, and early redemption provisions.

The Fund may invest in debt securities of all maturities, but expects to maintain an average effective duration between one to three and a half years. The average effective duration of the Fund’s portfolio as of June 30, 2024 was 1.5 years. “Duration” is a measure of a debt security’s price sensitivity to changes in interest rates. The longer the duration of the Fund’s overall portfolio (or an individual debt security), the more sensitive its market price will be to changes in interest rates. For example, if interest rates increase by 1%, the market price of a debt security with a duration of 3 years will generally decrease by approximately 3%. Conversely, a 1% decline in interest rates will generally result in an increase of approximately 3% of that security’s market price.

The Fund may also invest in common stocks, preferred stocks and securities convertible into stocks.

If we determine that circumstances warrant, a greater portion of the Fund’s portfolio may be retained in cash and cash equivalents such as U.S. Government securities or other high-quality debt securities. In the event that the Fund takes such a temporary defensive position, it may not be able to achieve its investment objective during this temporary period.