Rydex High Yield Strategy

Objective And Strategy

Objective
The fund seeks to provide investment results that correlate, before fees and expenses, to the performance of the high yield bond market.

Strategy
The Fund seeks to gain exposure similar to the total return of the high yield bond market, as represented by U.S. and Canadian high yield bonds, by investing in the universe of fixed rate, non-investment grade debt through the use of credit default swaps, high yield securities, futures and other financial instruments with economic characteristics comparable to that of the high yield bond market. The Fund will primarily invest in credit default swaps to gain exposure similar to the high yield bond market. In addition, the Fund may invest in bond futures for the purpose of managing duration risk. For cash management purposes, the Fund may invest in other fixed income securities and money market instruments. The Fund also may invest in other financial instruments including corporate notes, convertible debt securities, preferred securities and derivatives thereof, as well as other investment companies, including exchange-traded funds (“ETFs”), unit investment trusts, and closed-end funds, that invest primarily in high yield debt instruments.
Tax Inefficient Fund

Principal Risks

* Payment of interest and repayment of principal may be impacted by the cash flows generated by the assets backing these securities.

* Fixed income securities are subject to interest rate risk because the prices of fixed income securities tend to move in the opposite direction of interest rates. When interest rates rise, fixed income security prices fall. When interest rates fall, fixed income security prices rise.

* Credit risk is the risk that the issuer of a security may be unable to make interest payments and/or repay principal when due. A downgrade to an issuer's credit rating or a perceived change in an issuer's financial strength may affect a security's value, and thus, impact the VA Short-Term Fixed Portfolio's performance.

* Securities lending involves the risk that the borrower may fail to return the securities in a timely manner or at all. As a result, the portfolio may lose money and there may be a delay in recovering the loaned securities. The portfolio could also lose money if it does not recover the securities and/or the value of the collateral falls, including the value of investments made with cash collateral. Securities lending also may have certain potential adverse tax consequences.

* Mortgage-backed securities may be affected by, among other things, changes or perceived changes in interest rates, factors concerning the interests in and structure of the issuer or the originator of the mortgage, or the quality of the underlying assets. The underlying assets may default or decline in quality or value.

* The risk that high yield securities and unrated securities of similar credit quality (commonly known as "junk bonds") are subject to greater levels of credit and liquidity risks. High yield securities are considered primarily speculative with respect to the issuer's continuing ability to make principal and interest payments.

* A futures contract is considered a derivative because it derives its value from the price of the underlying security or financial index. The prices of futures contracts can be volatile, and futures contracts may be illiquid. In addition, there may be imperfect or even negative correlation between the price of a futures contract and the price of the underlying securities.