The Fund, under normal circumstances, invests at least 80% of its assets (net assets plus any borrowings for investment purposes) in high-yield debt securities that are rated below investment grade by a nationally recognized statistical rating organization (“NRSRO”) or that are unrated but are considered to be of comparable quality by MacKay Shields LLC, the Fund's Subadvisor. Debt securities in which the Fund may invest include all types of debt obligations such as bonds, debentures, notes, bank debt, loan participations, commercial paper, floating rate loans, U.S. Government securities (including obligations, such as repurchase agreements, secured by such instruments), and convertible corporate bonds. The Fund will generally seek to maintain a weighted average duration of three years or less, although the Fund may invest in instruments of any duration or maturity. Duration is a measure used to determine the sensitivity of a security’s price to changes in interest rates. The longer a security’s duration, the more sensitive it will be to changes in interest rates.

Securities that are rated below investment grade by an NRSRO (such securities rated lower than BBB- and Baa3) are commonly referred to as “high-yield securities” or "junk bonds." If NRSROs assign different ratings to the same security for purposes of determining the security's credit quality, the Fund will use the middle rating when three NRSROs rate the security. For securities where only two NRSROs rate the security, the Fund will use the higher rating. If only one rating is available for a security, the Fund will use that rating.

The Fund may invest up to 20% of its net assets in equity securities, including preferred shares. The Fund also may invest in securities of non-U.S. issuers. An issuer of a security is considered to be a U.S. or foreign issuer based on the issuer's "country of risk" (or similar designation) as determined by a third-party such as Bloomberg. The Fund may hold cash or invest in investment grade short-term instruments during times when the Subadvisor is unable to identify attractive high-yield securities.

The Fund may invest in derivatives, such as futures, options and swap agreements to seek enhanced returns or to reduce the risk of loss by hedging certain of its holdings.

In times of unusual or adverse market, economic or political conditions, the Fund may invest without limit in investment grade securities and may invest in U.S. government securities or other high quality money market instruments. Periods of unusual or adverse market, economic or political conditions may exist in some cases, for up to a year or longer. The yield on cash, investment grade debt or other high quality instruments tends to be lower than the yield on other investments normally purchased by the Fund. Although investing heavily in these investments may help to preserve the Fund's assets, it may not be consistent with the Fund's primary investment objective and may limit the Fund's ability to achieve a high level of income.

Investment Process: The Subadvisor seeks to identify investment opportunities through analyzing individual companies and evaluates each company's competitive position, financial condition, and business prospects. The Fund seeks to minimize interest rate risk through its emphasis on duration management and investments in securities with short and intermediate maturities. The Fund invests in companies in which the Subadvisor has judged that there is sufficient asset coverage—that is, the Subadvisor's subjective appraisal of a company's value compared to the value of its debt, with the intent of maximizing risk-adjusted income and returns.

The Subadvisor may sell a security if it believes the security will no longer contribute to meeting the investment objectives of the Fund. In considering whether to sell a security, the Subadvisor may evaluate, among other things, the price of the security and meaningful changes in the issuer's financial condition and competitiveness.