Bond Risk: Bond funds will tend to experience smaller fluctuations in value than stock funds. However, investors in any bond fund should anticipate fluctuations in price, especially for longer-term issues and in environments of rising interest rates.

Currency Risk: Foreign currencies will fluctuate in value relative to the U.S. dollar; therefore you may lose money if the local currency of a foreign market depreciates against the U.S. dollar.

Credit (Or Default) Risk: The risk that the inability or unwillingness of an issuer or guarantor of a fixed-income security to meet its payment or other financial obligations will adversely affect the value of the Fund’s investments and its returns. Changes in the credit rating of a debt security held by the Fund could have a similar effect.

Emerging and Frontier Markets Risk: Emerging and frontier market investing may be subject to additional economic, political, liquidity and currency risks not associated with more developed countries. Additionally, frontier countries generally have smaller economies or less developed capital markets than traditional emerging markets and, as a result, the risks of investing in emerging market countries are magnified in frontier countries.

Foreign Securities Risk is the risk that investing in foreign  (non-U.S.) securities may result in the Fund experiencing more rapid and extreme changes in value than a fund that invests exclusively in securities of U.S. companies, due to less liquid markets, and adverse economic, political, diplomatic, financial, and regulatory factors. Foreign governments may impose limitations on foreigners’ ownership of interests in local issuers, restrictions on the ability to repatriate assets, and may also impose taxes. Any of these events could cause the value of the Fund’s investments to decline. 

High-Yield Risk is the risk that the Fund’s below-investment grade fixed-income securities, sometimes known as “junk bonds,” will be subject to greater credit risk, price volatility and risk of loss than investment grade securities, which can adversely impact the Fund’s return and NAV. High yield securities are considered highly speculative and are subject to the increased risk of an issuer’s inability to make principal and interest payments. 

Interest Rate Risk: Increases in prevailing interest rates will cause fixed-income securities, including convertible securities, held by the Fund to decline in value.

International Risk: International investing involves increased risk and volatility.

Liquidity Risk is the risk that certain securities may be less liquid than others, which may make them difficult or impossible to sell at the time and the price that the Fund would like and the Fund may have to lower the price, sell other securities instead or forgo an investment opportunity, adversely affecting the value of the Fund’s investments and its returns. 

Multi-Manager Risk is the risk that the sub-advisers’ investment styles will not always be complementary or that the investment adviser’s allocation of assets amongst sub-advisers will not achieve the intended result, which could negatively impact the performance of the Fund. 

ICE BofA U.S. High Yield Constrained Index contains all securities in the ICE BofA U.S. High Yield Master II Index, but caps issuer based on their current amount outstanding, provided the total allocation to an individual issuer does not exceed 2%. The Index tracks the performance of US dollar denominated below investment grade corporate debt publicly issued in the U.S. domestic market. It is not possible to invest directly in an index.

View investment terms definitions

Please carefully read the prospectus and summary prospectus and consider the investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses of Northern Funds carefully before investing. Call 800-595-9111 to obtain a prospectus and summary prospectus, which contains this and other information about the funds.

Investing involves risk. Principal loss is possible.

Not FDIC insured | May lose value | No bank guarantee

The Morningstar Rating^TM for funds, or "star rating," is calculated for managed products (including mutual funds, variable annuity and variable life subaccounts, exchange-traded funds, closed-end funds, and separate accounts) with at least a three-year history. Exchange-traded funds and open-ended mutual funds are considered a single population for comparative purposes. It is calculated based on a Morningstar Risk-Adjusted Return measure that accounts for variation in a managed product's monthly excess performance, placing more emphasis on downward variations and rewarding consistent performance. The top 10% of products in each product category receive 5 stars, the next 22.5% receive 4 stars, the next 35% receive 3 stars, the next 22.5% receive 2 stars, and the bottom 10% receive 1 star. The Overall Morningstar Rating for a managed product is derived from a weighted average of the performance figures associated with its three-, five-, and 10-year (if applicable) Morningstar Rating metrics. The weights are: 100% three-year rating for 36-59 months of total returns, 60% five-year rating/40% three-year rating for 60-119 months of total returns, and 50% 10-year rating/30% five-year rating/20% three-year rating for 120 or more months of total returns. While the 10-year overall star rating formula seems to give the most weight to the 10-year period, the most recent three-year period actually has the greatest impact because it is included in all three rating periods. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

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