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Fund Overview: Objective, Strategy and Holdings

Fund Availability
SVF is only available to participants in Wespath Benefits and Investments defined contribution benefit plans.

The Stable Value Fund (SVF) seeks preservation of capital while earning current income higher than that of money market funds. The Fund invests in a broad range of high-quality, low-risk, fixed-income instruments. These include U.S. government and agency bonds, corporate bonds, mortgages, asset-backed securities and other similar types of investments.

The manager enters into contracts with highly rated financial institutions and insurance companies ("Wrap Contracts"). Wrap Contracts provide a principal protection feature designed to protect investors from interest rate risk to assure investors can transfer or withdraw the value of all contributions and accumulated interest.

SVF seeks to maintain a constant unit price of $1.00 and credit participants with interest at month-end. Each month, Wespath Benefits and Investments posts the interest rate earned by the Fund during the previous month on the Stable Value Fund Crediting Rate page.

The Fund generally does not invest in companies that derive more than 10% of their revenue from gambling or from the manufacture, sale or distribution of alcoholic beverages, tobacco-related products, adult entertainment, weapons, or the management or operation of prison facilities.

Fund Managers

The following individuals are responsible for the selection and monitoring of external asset managers:

Frank Holsteen Image

Frank Holsteen

Managing Director, Investment Management

  • With Wespath since 2012
  • B.A. from Lake Forest College
Connie Christian portrait

Connie Christian, CFA

Manager, Fixed Income

  • With Wespath since 2023
  • B.S. in finance from Xavier University
  • MBA from Xavier University

Management

Insight Investment is the lead manager of the Fund. The Fund engages the services of highly regarded fixed-income managers to manage a portion of the Fund's assets.

Asset Managers

* Signatory to the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment

 

Insurance Contracts

Name Moody's Rating Credit Summary Reports
Aegon USA A1 Aegon Report
American United Life Insurance Company — American United Life Insurance Company Report
Prudential Aa3 Prudential Report
Voya Financial A2 Voya Report
 

Please refer to the Investment Funds Description – P Series for a detailed description of the investment strategies used in managing the Fund.


* The Stable Value Fund performance benchmark is the Bank of America Merrill Lynch 3-Month Treasury Bill Index, effective January 1, 2016. The index measures the investment performance of the 3-month sector of the U.S. Treasury Bill market. Prior to this, the benchmark was the Bank of America Merrill Lynch Wrapped 1-5 Year Corporate Government Index. The BofA ML Wrapped 1-5 Year Corp. Govt Index is a custom index that started on December 1, 2002 to coincide with the inception of the Stable Value Fund. This index does not reflect actual performance; performance has been adjusted to represent the assumed rate of return that would have been achieved if the BofA ML 1-5 Year Corp. Govt Index had been wrapped for book value returns. This index has been established and calculated by Standish Mellon Asset Management, is not sponsored or licensed by BofA Merrill Lynch, and is not available for direct investment. The index assumes a 12 basis point annual book value wrap fee from inception to June 30, 2004; 10 basis points from then until December 31, 2008; 15 basis points from then until December 31, 2011; and 20 basis points thereafter. These wrap fee assumptions are Standish's view of the industry's average during these points in time. The Crediting Rate formula applied is: CR = (((1+YTM) * ((MV/BV)^(1/D)))-1, where CR is equal to the book value crediting reset rate, YTM is the market yield to maturity of the underlying asset(s), MV is the market value of the underlying asset(s), BV is the book value of the synthetic wrap contract and D is the duration of the underlying asset(s).

Fund Snapshot
Inception November 18, 2002
Exp. Ratio 0.51% for 2022
Benchmark Custom Benchmark*
Fund Assets $369 Million as of July 31, 2023
Holdings September 30, 2023
Unit Price History Wespath Funds Price History
For More Information Investment Funds Description – P Series

Relative level of risk compared to other Wespath Funds

Graphic of relative level of risk compared to other Wespath Funds.

Fund Performance 1,2,3, Net-of-Fees (as of 09/30/2023)

  3 mo YTD 1 yr 3 yr 5 yr 10 yr
Stable Value Fund 0.62% 1.59% 2.01% 1.61% 1.70% 1.93%
SVF Benchmark 1.32% 3.62% 4.50% 1.71% 1.72% 1.77%

Footnotes

Wespath Benefits and Investments (“Wespath”) is a general agency of The United Methodist Church, a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization. Wespath administers benefit plans and together with its subsidiaries, UMC Benefit Board, Inc. (“UMCBB”) and Wespath Institutional Investments LLC (“WII”) invests (or provides back-office services for) assets on behalf of benefit plan participants and beneficiaries, plan sponsors and other institutions controlled by, affiliated with or related to The United Methodist Church (the “Church”). For GIPS compliance purposes, the Firm referenced herein is defined to include Wespath, UMCBB and WII (“Firm”).

Wespath claims compliance with the Global Investment Performance Standards (GIPS®). GIPS is a registered trademark of CFA Institute. CFA Institute does not endorse or promote this organization, nor does it warrant the accuracy or quality of the content contained herein. To obtain a copy of Wespath’s GIPS Report, please call us at 1-847-866-4100 or e-mail us at [email protected].

1 The performance shown is for the stated time period only, is computed in U.S. Dollars (USD) and reflects time‐weighted returns. Historical returns are not indicative of future performance. Investment performance is presented net-of-fees. See Risks and Disclosures for more information regarding fees, including how fees are reflected in performance. The investments of the Fund may vary substantially from those in the applicable benchmark. Benchmarks are based on broad-based securities market indices, which are unmanaged, cannot be invested in and are not subject to fees and expenses typically associated with investment funds. Investments cannot be made directly in an index. The bar chart and tables were produced using data from sources believed to be accurate. The bar chart and tables assume reinvestment of dividends, interest and other distributions. This information is for informational purposes only and is not an offer to purchase securities.

2 Please refer to the Investment Funds Description – P Series for more information about the Fund. The investment funds are neither insured nor guaranteed by the government.

3 Benchmark descriptions can be found here.

Allocations

Sector Distribution as of September 30, 2023

  SVF SVF Benchmark
U.S. Treasuries 33.7% 100.0%
U.S. Government 13.7% 0.0%
U.S. Corporate 19.5% 0.0%
Non-U.S. Government 0.3% 0.0%
Non-U.S. Corporate 2.9% 0.0%
High Yield 0.0% 0.0%
Emerging Market Debt 2.8% 0.0%
Mortgage-Backed Securities (MBS) 16.3% 0.0%
Asset-Backed Securities (ABS) 7.1% 0.0%
Commercial Mortgage-Backed Securities 0.0% 0.0%
Term Loans 0.7% 0.0%
Collateralized Mortgage Obligations (CMO) 0.8% 0.0%
Affordable Housing-Wespath 0.0% 0.0%
Other 2.2% 0.0%

 

Characteristics

Fund Characteristics as of September 30, 2023

  SVF SVF Benchmark
Effective Duration 3.31 0.24
Yield to Worst (%) 5.63% 5.11%


Maturity Distribution as of September 30, 2023

  SVF SVF Benchmark
Cash 0.0% 100.0%
< 1 Year 11.9% 0.0%
1 Year - 5 Years 58.2% 0.0%
5 Years - 10 Years 28.6% 0.0%
10 Years - 20 Years 1.3% 0.0%

 

Credit Quality Distribution as of September 30, 2023

  SVF SVF Benchmark
AAA 42.0% 0.0%
AA 23.1% 100.0%
A 15.1% 0.0%
BBB 18.3% 0.0%
BB 0.1% 0.0%
B 0.0% 0.0%
< B 0.0% 0.0%
NR 0.1% 0.0%
Cash 1.3% 0.0%

Risks & Disclosures

All investments carry some degree of risk that will affect the value of the Fund’s holdings, its investment performance and the price of its units. As a result, loss of money is a risk of investing in the Fund. SVF is subject to the following principal investment risks: market risk, investment style risk, security-specific risk, credit risk, country risk, currency risk, derivatives risk, interest rate risk, liquidity risk and prepayment risk.

The performance shown is for the stated time period only and computed in U.S. Dollars (USD). Historical returns are not indicative of future performance. For further discussion of the Fund’s investments strategies and risks, please refer to the Investment Funds Description – P Series. This is not an offer to purchase securities.

Lending of Portfolio Securities

The Fund seeks to earn additional income by lending a portion of its portfolio securities to brokers, dealers and other financial institutions. The loans are secured at all times by cash and liquid high-grade debt obligations. As with any extension of credit, there are risks of delay in recovery and in some cases even loss of rights in the collateral should the borrower fail financially. In addition, losses could result from the reinvestment of the cash collateral received on loaned securities.

Expense Ratio

The expense ratio is a measure of the annual fund operating expenses paid by the Fund expressed as a percentage of the average fair value of the Fund’s assets for the applicable year. The annual fund operating expenses consist of fees paid to subadvisor(s), and the Fund’s pro rata portion of custody fees and administrative and overhead expenses incurred by the overall Wespath Benefits and Investments organization in connection with providing investment, operating and administrative support to the Fund and the other funds available through Wespath Benefits and Investments, and for non-Fund related activities and operations.

The expense ratio shown on the Fund Overview page is based on the prior year’s data and fee calculation methodology. The fee calculation methodology was changed effective July 1, 2023. The Fund’s actual annual fund operating expenses and the related expense ratio can differ from year to year. Actual annual fund operating expenses may vary depending on, among other things, market events, Fund size, transaction costs, timing of Fund inflows and outflows, and applicable internal costs and third-party fees.

The Fund may also pay transaction costs, performance fees, interest expenses, taxes and fees on uninvested cash held in sweep accounts, which are in addition to the annual fund operating expenses. The annual fund operating expenses and these additional expenses are reflected in the Fund’s unit price and reduce the Fund’s rate of return. For further information about the Fund’s fees and expenses, including the fee calculation methodology change, please refer to the Investment Funds Description – P Series.