497K 1 d829295d497k.htm FORM 497K Form 497K
Summary Prospectus
LifePoints® Funds Variable Target Portfolio Series
Equity Growth Strategy Fund
May 1, 2024, as supplemented through September 10, 2024
 
Before you invest, you may want to review the Fund's Prospectus, which contains more information about the Fund and its risks. You can find the Fund's Prospectus, Statement of Additional Information (SAI), reports to shareholders and other information about the Fund online at https://connect.rightprospectus.com/russellinvestments?site=RIF. You can also get this information at no cost by calling 1-800-787-7354 or by sending an e-mail to: service@russellinvestments.com. The Fund's Prospectus and SAI, both dated May 1, 2024, as supplemented through September 10, 2024, and the Fund's most recent shareholder report, dated June 30, 2024, are all incorporated by reference into this Summary Prospectus.
 
Ticker:
RIFJX
Investment Objective
The Fund seeks to provide high long term capital appreciation.
Fees and Expenses of the Fund
The following tables describe the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold and sell Shares of the Fund. The fees and expenses shown in this section do not reflect any Insurance Company Separate Account or Policy charges. Those charges, if included, would have increased overall fees and expenses. Please refer to your account or policy documents for a description of those fees and expenses. Please see the Expense Notes section of the Fund’s Prospectus for further information regarding expenses of the Fund.
Shareholder Fees (fees paid directly from your investment)
None
Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)# 
Advisory Fee
0.20%
Distribution (12b-1) Fees
None
Other Expenses
0.24%
Acquired (Underlying) Fund Fees and Expenses
0.88%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses
1.32%
Less Fee Waivers and Expense Reimbursements
(0.29)%
Net Annual Fund Operating Expenses
1.03%
#
Until April 30, 2025, Russell Investment Management, LLC (“RIM”) has contractually agreed to waive up to the full amount of its advisory fee and then to reimburse the Fund for other direct Fund-level expenses to the extent that direct Fund-level expenses exceed 0.15% of the average daily net assets of the Fund on an annual basis. Direct Fund-level expenses do not include infrequent and/or unusual expenses (including litigation expenses) or the expenses of other investment companies in which the Fund invests, including the Underlying Funds, which are borne indirectly by the Fund. This waiver and reimbursement may not be terminated during the relevant period except with Board approval.
“Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses” and “Net Annual Fund Operating Expenses” have been restated to reflect the proportionate share of the expenses of the Underlying Funds in which the Fund invests. The Fund’s proportionate share of these expenses is reflected under “Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses.”
Example
This example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds.
 
1
The example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your Shares at the end of those periods. The example also assumes your investment has a 5% return each year and that operating expenses remain the same. The calculation of costs for the one-year period takes into account the effect of any current contractual fee waivers and/or reimbursements. The calculation of costs for the remaining periods takes such fee waivers and/or reimbursements into account only for the first year of the periods. This example does not reflect any Insurance Company Separate Account or Policy charges. If it did, the costs shown would have been higher. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, under these assumptions your costs would be: 
1 Year
3 Years
5 Years
10 Years
$105
$390
$696
$1,565
Portfolio Turnover
The Fund pays no transaction costs or commissions when it buys and sells Shares of the Underlying Funds. The Underlying Funds pay transaction costs, such as commissions, when they buy and sell securities (or “turn over” their portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs. These costs affect the Underlying Funds’ performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 36% of the average value of its portfolio. Portfolio turnover rates for the Underlying Funds are available in the Prospectus for the Underlying Funds.
Investments, Risks and Performance
Principal Investment Strategies of the Fund
The Fund is a “fund of funds,” which seeks to achieve its objective by investing in a combination of several other Russell Investment Funds (“RIF” ) funds or Russell Investment Company (“RIC”) funds (the “Underlying Funds”). RIC is a registered investment company that has the same investment adviser as RIF. Russell Investment Management, LLC (“RIM”), the Fund’s investment adviser, intends the Fund’s strategy of investing in a combination of Underlying Funds to result in investment diversification that an investor could otherwise achieve only by holding numerous individual investments. The Fund’s approximate target strategic asset allocation as of May 1, 2024 is 81% to equity, 4.5% to fixed income, 8% to multi-asset and 6.5% to alternative asset classes. As a result of its investments in the Underlying Funds, the Fund indirectly invests principally in U.S. and non-U.S. equity and fixed income securities and derivatives. Alternative Underlying Funds pursue investment strategies that differ from those of traditional broad market equity or fixed income funds. The RIC Long Duration Bond Underlying Fund is managed directly by RIM, the Fund’s investment adviser. For all other Underlying Funds, RIM employs a multi-manager approach whereby most assets of the Underlying Funds are allocated to the strategies of different unaffiliated money managers. RIM considers this Fund to be an “equity growth” fund due to its investment objective and asset allocation to equity and alternative Underlying Funds.
RIM may modify the target strategic asset allocation for any Fund, including changes to the Underlying Funds in which a Fund invests, from time to time. RIM’s allocation decisions are generally based on RIM’s outlook on the business and economic cycle, relative market valuations and market sentiment. RIM may change the Fund’s target strategic asset allocation by up to +/- 5% at the equity, fixed income, multi-asset or alternative asset class level based on RIM’s capital markets research. A Fund’s actual allocation may vary from the target strategic asset allocation at any point in time due to market movements, and/or due to the implementation over a period of time of a change to the target strategic asset allocation including the addition of a new Underlying Fund. The Fund’s target strategic asset allocation and the Underlying Funds in which the Fund may invest may be changed from time to time without shareholder notice or approval. The Fund has a non-fundamental policy to invest, under normal circumstances, at least 80% of the value of its net assets plus borrowings for investment purposes in shares of equity Underlying Funds. The Fund considers the alternative Underlying Funds to be equity Underlying Funds for purposes of assessing compliance with this policy, as they invest predominantly in equity securities.
Please refer to the “Investment Objective and Investment Strategies” section in the Fund’s Prospectus for further information.
Principal Risks of Investing in the Fund
An investment in the Fund, like any investment, has risks. The value of the Fund fluctuates and you could lose money. The principal risks of investing in the Fund are those associated with:
2
●
Investing in Affiliated Underlying Funds. The assets of the Fund are invested in Shares of the Underlying Funds, and the investment performance of the Fund is directly related to the investment performance of the Underlying Funds in which it invests. RIM is the investment adviser for both the Fund and the Underlying Funds and may be deemed to have a conflict of interest in determining the allocation of the Fund to the Underlying Funds.
●
Asset Allocation. Neither the Fund nor RIM can offer any assurance that the asset allocation of the Fund will achieve the Fund’s investment objective. Nor can the Fund or RIM offer assurance that a recommended allocation will be the appropriate allocation in all circumstances for every investor. The value of your investment may decrease if RIM’s judgment about the attractiveness, value or market trends affecting a particular asset class, investment style or Underlying Fund is incorrect. Asset allocation decisions might also result in the Fund having more exposure, indirectly through its investments in the Underlying Funds, to asset classes, countries or regions, or industries or groups of industries that underperform.
●
Cyber Security and Other Operational Risks. An investment in the Fund, like any fund, can involve operational risks. In addition, other disruptive events may adversely affect the Fund’s ability to conduct business. While the Fund seeks to minimize such risks and events through controls and oversight, including business continuity plans and risk management systems, there may still be events or failures that could cause losses to the Fund. In addition, the Fund may be susceptible to operational risks through breaches in cyber security. A cyber security breach may cause sensitive information (including relating to personally identifiable information of investors) to be lost, improperly accessed, used or disclosed. The Fund and its shareholders could be negatively impacted by such disruptive events or cyber security incidents.
The Fund is exposed to the same risks as the Underlying Funds in direct proportion to the allocation of its assets among the Underlying Funds. The following are the principal risks associated with investing in the Underlying Funds, which are also principal risks of investing in the Fund as a result of its investment in the Underlying Funds.
●
Equity Securities. The value of equity securities will rise and fall in response to the activities of the company that issued them, general market conditions and/or economic conditions. Investments in small and medium capitalization companies may involve greater risks because these companies generally have narrower markets, more limited managerial and financial resources and a less diversified product offering than larger, more established companies. Small and some medium capitalization stocks may also be thinly traded, and thus, difficult to buy and sell in the market. Investments in preferred stocks are subject to the risks of common stocks, as well as the risk that interest rates will rise and make the fixed dividend feature, if any, less appealing to investors resulting in a decline in price. In rising markets, defensive stocks are likely to underperform growth, value and dynamic stocks and the relative performance of stocks selected pursuant to a defensive style may fluctuate over time. Dynamic stocks have higher than average stock price volatility and may experience sharp declines in value.
●
Fixed Income Securities. Prices of fixed income securities generally rise and fall in response to, among other things, interest rate changes. Volatility in interest rates and in fixed income markets may increase the risk that an Underlying Fund’s investments in fixed income securities could lose money. In addition, an Underlying Fund could lose money if the issuer or guarantor of a fixed income security or other issuer of credit support is unable or unwilling to make timely principal and/or interest payments, or to otherwise honor its obligations. Fixed income securities may be downgraded in credit rating or go into default.
●
Non-U.S. and Emerging Markets Securities. Non-U.S. securities have risks relating to political, economic, social and regulatory conditions in foreign countries. Non-U.S. securities may also be subject to risk of loss because of more or less foreign government regulation, less public information and less stringent investor protections and disclosure standards. The risks associated with non-U.S. securities may be amplified for emerging markets securities.
●
U.S. and Non-U.S. Corporate Debt Securities Risk. Investments in U.S. and non-U.S. corporate debt securities are subject to interest rate risk and market risk and are affected by perceptions of the creditworthiness and business prospects of individual issuers. Non-U.S. corporate debt securities may expose an Underlying Fund to greater risk than investments in U.S. corporate debt securities.
●
Government Issued or Guaranteed Securities, U.S. Government Securities. Bonds issued or guaranteed by a government are subject to inflation risk, price depreciation risk and default risk.
●
Non-Investment Grade Debt Securities (“High Yield” or “Junk Bonds”). Non-investment grade debt securities involve higher volatility and higher risk of default than investment grade bonds.
3
●
Non-U.S. and Emerging Markets Debt. The value of an investment in non-U.S. and emerging markets debt may be affected by political, economic or social conditions or foreign currency exchange rates. Prices of emerging markets debt can be severely affected not only by rising interest rates and adverse currency fluctuations, but also by the deterioration of credit quality or default by the issuer. Non-U.S. and emerging markets debt may also be subject to risk of loss because of more or less foreign government regulation, less public information and less stringent investor protections and disclosure standards.
●
Global Financial Markets Risk. Global economies and financial markets are becoming increasingly interconnected and conditions (including volatility and instability) and events (including natural disasters, pandemics and epidemics) in one country, region or financial market may adversely impact issuers in a different country, region or financial market. In addition, governmental and quasi-governmental organizations have taken a number of unprecedented actions designed to support the markets. Such events and conditions may adversely affect the value of an Underlying Fund’s securities, result in greater market or liquidity risk or cause difficulty valuing an Underlying Fund’s portfolio instruments or achieving an Underlying Fund’s objective.
●
Liquidity Risk. The market for certain investments may become illiquid or less liquid (i.e., there may be a significant reduction in trading activity, including in the number of market participants or transactions, in such investments) under adverse or volatile market or economic conditions, making those investments difficult to sell. The market price of certain investments may fall dramatically if there is no liquid trading market. For derivatives, this also includes the risk involving liquidity demands that derivatives can create to make payments of margin or settlement payments to counterparties. Such events and conditions may adversely affect the value of an Underlying Fund’s investments, result in greater market or liquidity risk or cause difficulty valuing an Underlying Fund’s portfolio instruments or achieving an Underlying Fund’s objective.
●
Illiquid Investments. An illiquid or less liquid investment may be difficult to sell quickly and at a fair price, which could cause an Underlying Fund to realize a loss on the investment if it was sold at a lower price than that at which it had been valued.
●
Currency Risk. Non-U.S. securities that trade in, and receive revenues in, non-U.S. currencies are subject to the risk that those currencies will decline in value relative to the U.S. dollar or, in the case of hedging positions, that the U.S. dollar will decline in value relative to the currency being hedged. As a result, investments in non-U.S. dollar-denominated securities and currencies may reduce the returns of an Underlying Fund.
●
Real Estate Securities. Just as real estate values go up and down, the value of the securities of real estate companies also fluctuates. Real estate securities, including real estate investment trusts (“REITs”), may be affected by changes in the value of the underlying properties owned by the companies and by the quality of tenants’ credit.
●
Active Management. Despite strategies designed to achieve the Fund’s and/or an Underlying Fund’s investment objective, the value of investments will change with market conditions, and so will the value of any investment in the Fund and/or Underlying Funds and you could lose money. RIM utilizes a variety of quantitative inputs and qualitative investment information and analysis in the management of the Underlying Funds. If the quantitative inputs are not predictive or qualitative assessments are incorrect, the Underlying Funds may underperform. The securities, baskets of securities or instruments selected for an Underlying Fund’s portfolio may not perform as RIM or the Underlying Fund's money managers expect and security or instrument selection risk may cause the Underlying Funds to underperform relative to other funds with similar investment objectives and strategies. Exposure tilts may be ineffective and RIM’s judgments regarding perceived market risks and opportunities may be incorrect. There is no guarantee that RIM will effectively assess an Underlying Fund’s portfolio characteristics and it is possible that its judgments regarding an Underlying Fund’s exposures may be incorrect. In addition, actions taken to manage Underlying Fund exposures, including risk, may be ineffective and/or cause the Underlying Fund to underperform.
●
Quantitative Investing. Quantitative inputs and models use historical company, economic and/or industry data to evaluate prospective investments or to generate forecasts which could result in incorrect assessments of the specific portfolio characteristics or ineffective adjustments to an Underlying Fund’s exposures. Securities selected using quantitative analysis may perform differently than analysis of their historical trends would suggest. Inputs or models may be flawed or not work as anticipated and may cause an Underlying Fund to underperform other funds with similar investment objectives and strategies.
●
Derivatives. Investments in a derivative instrument could lose more than the initial amount invested. Compared to conventional securities, derivatives can be more sensitive to changes in interest rates or to sudden fluctuations in
4
market prices and thus the Underlying Fund’s losses may be greater if it invests in derivatives than if it invests only in conventional securities. The use of derivative instruments involves risks different from, and possibly greater than, the risks associated with investing directly in equity or fixed income securities, currencies or other instruments. Derivatives are generally subject to a number of risks such as leveraging risk, liquidity risk, market risk, credit risk, default risk, counterparty risk (the risk that the other party in an agreement will fail to perform its obligations), management risk, operational risk and legal risk. Certain of these risks do not apply to derivative instruments entered into for hedging or cash equitization, certain cleared derivative instruments, and written options contracts. Derivatives also involve the risk of mispricing or improper valuation and the risk that changes in the value of the derivative instrument may not correlate exactly with the change in the value of the underlying asset, rate or index.
●
Index-Based Investing. Index-based strategies (including index replication which seeks to purchase the securities in an index or a blend of indexes and optimized index sampling which seeks to purchase a sampling of securities using optimization and risk models), which may be used to gain desired Underlying Fund exposures, may cause an Underlying Fund's returns to be lower than if an Underlying Fund employed a fundamental investment approach to security selection with respect to that portion of its portfolio. Additionally, index-based strategies are subject to “tracking error” risk, which is the risk that the performance of the portion of an Underlying Fund's portfolio utilizing an index-based strategy will differ from the performance of the index it seeks to track.
●
Multi-Manager Approach. While the investment styles employed by the money managers are intended to be complementary, they may not in fact be complementary. A multi-manager approach could result in more exposure to certain types of securities and higher portfolio turnover.
●
Fundamental Investing Risk. A fundamental investment approach uses research and analysis of a variety of factors to create a forecast of company results, which is used to select securities. The process may result in an evaluation of a security’s value that may be incorrect or, if correct, may not be reflected by the market. Security or instrument selection using a fundamental investment approach may also cause the Underlying Fund to underperform other funds with similar investment objectives and investment strategies even in a rising market.
●
Mortgage-Backed Securities. 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.
●
Distressed Securities. Investments in distressed securities inherently have more credit risk than investments in non-distressed issuers. In the event that an issuer of distressed securities defaults or initiates insolvency proceedings, an Underlying Fund may lose all of its investment in the distressed securities.
●
Asset-Backed Securities. Payment of principal and interest on asset-backed securities may be largely dependent upon the cash flows generated by the assets backing the securities and asset-backed securities may not have the benefit of any security interest in the related assets.
●
Asset-Backed Commercial Paper. Investment in asset-backed commercial paper is subject to the risk that insufficient proceeds from the projected cash flows of the contributed receivables are available to repay the commercial paper.
●
Loans and Other Direct Indebtedness. Loans and other direct indebtedness involve the risk that payment of principal, interest and other amounts due in connection with these investments may not be received. The highly leveraged nature of many such loans, including bank loans, and other direct indebtedness may make such loans and other direct indebtedness especially vulnerable to adverse changes in economic or market conditions and/or changes in the financial condition of the debtor. Investments in bank loans are typically subject to the risks of floating rate securities.
●
Bank Obligations. The banking industry may be particularly susceptible to certain economic factors such as interest rate changes, adverse developments in the real estate market, fiscal and monetary policy and general economic cycles. The banking industry may also be impacted by legal and regulatory developments.
●
Variable and Floating Rate Securities Risk. Variable and floating rate securities generally are less sensitive to interest rate changes but may decline in value if their interest rates do not rise as much, or as quickly, as interest rates in general.
5
●
Money Market Securities (Including Commercial Paper). Prices of money market securities generally rise and fall in response to interest rate changes.
●
Repurchase Agreements. Repurchase agreements are subject to the risk that the sellers may not be able to pay the agreed-upon repurchase price on the repurchase date.
●
Reverse Repurchase Agreements. Reverse repurchase agreements are subject to the risk that the other party may fail to return the security in a timely manner or at all. An Underlying Fund may lose money if the market value of the security transferred by an Underlying Fund declines below the repurchase price.
●
Yankee Bonds and Yankee CDs. Issuers of Yankee Bonds and Yankee CDs are not necessarily subject to the same regulatory requirements that apply to U.S. corporations and banks.
●
Securities of Other Investment Companies. Investments in other investment companies expose shareholders to the expenses and risks associated with the investments of an Underlying Fund as well as to the expenses and risks of the underlying investment companies.
●
Depositary Receipts. Depositary receipts (including American Depositary Receipts and Global Depositary Receipts) are securities traded on a local stock exchange that represent securities issued by a foreign publicly-listed company. Depositary receipts are generally subject to the same risks of investing in the foreign securities they evidence or into which they may be converted.
●
Infrastructure Companies. Infrastructure companies are subject to the risk that: the potential for realized revenue volumes is significantly lower than projected and/or cost overruns; the nature of the concession fundamentally changes during the life of the project (e.g., the state sponsor alters the terms); macroeconomic factors such as low GDP growth or high nominal interest rates raise the average cost of funding; government regulation may affect rates charged to customers; government budgetary constraints impact projects; special tariffs are imposed; and changes in tax laws, regulatory policies or accounting standards could be unfavorable. Other risks include environmental damage due to a company's operations or an accident, changes in market sentiment towards infrastructure and terrorist acts.
●
Convertible Securities. Convertible securities are subject to both the credit and interest rate risks associated with fixed income securities and to the market risk associated with common stocks. Contingent convertible securities generally provide for mandatory conversion into common stock of the issuer under certain circumstances, and therefore are subject to the risk that an Underlying Fund could experience a reduced income rate and a worsened standing in the case of an issuer’s insolvency.
●
Financial Services Sector Risk. Certain Underlying Funds may be susceptible to adverse economic or regulatory occurrences affecting the financial services sector, including with respect to U.S. and foreign banks, broker-dealers, insurance companies, finance companies (e.g., automobile finance) and related asset-backed securities. These developments may affect the value of the Underlying Fund’s investments more than if the Underlying Fund were not invested to such a degree in this sector. Companies in the financial services sector may be particularly susceptible to factors such as interest rate, fiscal, regulatory and monetary policy changes.
●
Information Technology Sector Risk. To the extent that an Underlying Fund invests significantly in the information technology sector, an Underlying Fund will be sensitive to changes in, and an Underlying Fund’s performance may depend to a greater extent on, the overall condition of the information technology sector. Companies in the information technology sector can be significantly affected by short product cycles, obsolescence of existing technology, impairment or loss of intellectual property rights, falling prices and profits, competition from new market entrants, government regulation and other factors.
●
Puts, Stand-by Commitments and Demand Notes. The ability of an Underlying Fund to exercise a put or stand-by commitment may depend on the seller’s ability to purchase the securities at the time the put or stand-by commitment is exercised or on certain restrictions in the buy back arrangement. If there is a shortfall in the anticipated proceeds from demand notes, including variable rate demand notes, the notes may not be fully repaid and an Underlying Fund may lose money.
●
Master Limited Partnerships (“MLPs”). Investing in MLPs involves certain risks related to investing in the underlying assets of the MLPs and risks associated with pooled investment vehicles. MLPs that concentrate in a particular industry or a particular geographic region are subject to risks associated with such industry or region. The benefit derived from an Underlying Fund’s investment in MLPs is largely dependent on the MLPs being treated as partnerships for U.S. federal income tax purposes.
6
●
Short Sales Risk. A short sale will result in a loss if the price of the security sold short increases between the date of the short sale and the date on which the borrowed security must be returned. Short sales may give rise to a form of leverage. Leverage tends to exaggerate the effect of any increase or decrease in the value of portfolio securities. Short sales have the potential for unlimited loss.
●
Volatility Strategies Risk. Volatility strategies depend on mispricings based upon market-anticipated volatility and realized volatility of an underlying asset. If anticipated and realized volatility are incorrectly estimated, the strategy may result in losses.
●
Asset Allocation. Neither an Underlying Fund nor RIM can offer any assurance that the asset allocation of an Underlying Fund will achieve the Underlying Fund’s investment objective. Nor can an Underlying Fund or RIM offer assurance that a recommended allocation will be the appropriate allocation in all circumstances for every investor. The value of your investment may decrease if RIM’s judgment about the attractiveness, value or market trends affecting a particular asset class or investment style is incorrect.  Asset allocation decisions might also result in an Underlying Fund having more exposure to asset classes, countries or regions, or industries or groups of industries that underperform.
●
Synthetic Foreign Equity/Fixed Income Securities. Investments in these instruments involve the risk that the issuer of the instrument may default on its obligation to deliver the underlying security or its value. These instruments may also be subject to liquidity risk, currency risk and the risks associated with investments in non-U.S. securities. In addition, the exercise or settlement date may be affected by certain market disruption events which could cause the local access products to become worthless if the events continue for a period of time.
●
Securities Lending. If a borrower of an Underlying Fund's securities fails financially, the Underlying Fund’s recovery of the loaned securities may be delayed or the Underlying Fund may lose its rights to the collateral, which could result in a loss to the Underlying Fund. While securities are on loan, an Underlying Fund is subject to a number of risks, including that the borrower may default on the loan and that the collateral could be inadequate in the event of default.
●
Counterparty Risk. Counterparty risk is the risk that the other party or parties to an agreement or a participant to a transaction, such as a broker, might default on a contract or fail to perform by failing to pay amounts due or failing to fulfill the obligations of the contract or transaction.
●
Impact of Large Redemptions (Including Possible Fund Liquidation). Certain Underlying Funds are used as investments for certain funds of funds and in asset allocation programs and may have a large percentage of their Shares owned by such funds or held in such programs. Large redemption activity could result in an Underlying Fund incurring additional costs and being forced to sell portfolio securities at a loss to meet redemptions. Large redemptions may also result in increased expense ratios, higher levels of realized capital gains or losses with respect to an Underlying Fund’s portfolio securities, higher Underlying Fund cash levels, higher brokerage commissions and other transaction costs, among other negative consequences such as reduced liquidity in an Underlying Fund’s portfolio. As a result, large redemption activity could adversely affect an Underlying Fund’s ability to conduct its investment program which, in turn, could adversely impact an Underlying Fund's and/or the Fund’s performance or may result in an Underlying Fund and/or the Fund no longer remaining at an economically viable size, in which case an Underlying Fund and/or the Fund may cease operations.
●
Currency Trading Risk. Currency trading strategies may involve instruments that have volatile prices, are illiquid or less liquid or create economic leverage. Forward currency contracts are subject to the risk that, should forward prices increase, a loss will be incurred to the extent that the price of the currency agreed to be purchased exceeds the price of the currency agreed to be sold.
●
High Portfolio Turnover Risk. Certain Underlying Funds may engage in active and frequent trading, which may result in higher portfolio turnover rates, higher transaction costs and realization of short-term capital gains that will generally be taxable to shareholders as ordinary income.
●
Non-Discretionary Implementation Risk. With respect to the portion of an Underlying Fund that is managed pursuant to model portfolios provided by non-discretionary money managers, it is expected that trades will be effected on a periodic basis and therefore less frequently than would typically be the case if discretionary money managers were employed. Given that values of investments change with market conditions, this could cause an Underlying Fund's return to be lower than if the Underlying Fund employed discretionary money managers with respect to that portion of its portfolio.
7
●
Cyber Security and Other Operational Risks. An investment in an Underlying Fund, like any fund, can involve operational risks. In addition, other disruptive events may adversely affect an Underlying Fund’s ability to conduct business. While the Underlying Funds seek to minimize such risks and events through controls and oversight, including business continuity plans and risk management systems, there may still be events or failures that could cause losses to an Underlying Fund. In addition, the Underlying Funds may be susceptible to operational risks through breaches in cyber security. A cyber security breach may cause sensitive information (including relating to personally identifiable information of investors) to be lost, improperly accessed, used or disclosed. An Underlying Fund and its shareholders could be negatively impacted by such disruptive events or cyber security incidents.
The officers and Trustees of the Fund currently serve as officers and Trustees of the Underlying Funds. RIM currently serves as investment manager of the Fund and Underlying Funds. Therefore, conflicts may arise as those persons and RIM fulfill their fiduciary responsibilities to the Fund and to the Underlying Funds.
Please refer to the “Risks” section in the Fund’s Prospectus for further information.
Performance
The following bar chart illustrates the risks of investing in the Fund by showing how the performance of the Fund varies from year to year over a 10-year period. The highest and lowest returns for a full quarter during the periods shown in the bar chart are set forth next to the bar chart. The performance results shown in this section do not reflect any Insurance Company Separate Account or Policy charges. Those charges, if included, would have reduced the performance results shown in this section.
The table accompanying the bar chart further illustrates the risks of investing in the Fund by showing how the Fund’s average annual total returns for the periods shown compare with the returns of one or more indexes that measure broad market performance. Effective May 1, 2024, the Fund changed its primary benchmark from the Russell 1000® Index to the MSCI ACWI Index, as RIM believes the MSCI ACWI Index better represents the largest asset classes invested in by the Fund. 
Past performance is no indication of future results.
Calendar Year Total Returns
   
Average annual total returns
for the periods ended December 31, 2023
1 Year
5 Years
10 Years
Equity Growth Strategy Fund
19.52%
8.88%
6.03%
MSCI ACWI Index (net of tax on dividends from foreign holdings) (reflects no
deduction for fees or expenses)
22.81%
12.27%
8.48%
Russell 1000® Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes)
26.53%
15.52%
11.80%
Frank Russell Company is the source and owner of the trademarks, service marks and copyrights related to the Russell Indexes. Russell® is a trademark of Frank Russell Company.
8
Management
Investment Adviser
RIM is the investment adviser of the Fund and the Underlying Funds.
Portfolio Managers
Samuel Pittman, Managing Director, Co-Head of Strategic Asset Allocation, and Amneet Singh, Senior Asset Allocation Strategist, have primary responsibility for the management of the Fund. Mr. Pittman and Mr. Singh have managed the Fund since September 2023.
Additional Information
Purchase of Fund Shares
Each insurance company (“Insurance Company”) places orders for its accounts (“Separate Account”) which hold the interests of each variable insurance product (“Policy”) owner based on, among other things, the amount of premium payments to be invested pursuant to such Policies. Individuals may not place orders directly with Russell Investment Funds (“RIF”) or the Funds. See the prospectus of the Separate Account and Policies of the Insurance Company for more information on the purchase of Fund Shares and with respect to the availability for investment in specific Funds. The Funds do not issue share certificates. Any minimum or subsequent investment requirements are governed by the applicable Policy through which you invest.
For more information about how to purchase Shares, please see Additional Information About Purchase of Fund Shares in the Funds’ Prospectus.
Redemption of Fund Shares
Shares may be redeemed at any time by Insurance Companies on behalf of their Separate Accounts or their general accounts. Individuals may not place redemption orders directly with RIF or the Funds. Redemption requests for Fund Shares are based on premiums and transaction requests represented to the Funds by each Insurance Company as having been received prior to the close of regular trading on the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”) (normally 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time) on any business day of the Funds (defined as a day on which the NYSE is open for regular trading).
For more information about how to redeem Shares, please see Additional Information About Redemption of Fund Shares in the Funds’ Prospectus.
Taxes
Provided that the Funds and Separate Accounts of Insurance Companies investing in the Funds satisfy applicable tax requirements, the Funds generally will not be subject to federal tax. Special tax rules apply to Insurance Companies, variable annuity contracts and variable life insurance contracts. For a discussion of the taxation of life insurance companies and the Separate Accounts, as well as the tax treatment of the Policies and the holders thereof, see the discussion regarding “Federal Tax Considerations” included in the prospectus for the Policies.
For more information about Taxes, please see Additional Information About Taxes in the Funds’ Prospectus.
Servicing Arrangements
Some Insurance Companies have entered into arrangements with Russell Investments Fund Services, LLC (“RIFUS”) and/or Russell Investments Financial Services, LLC. (“RIFIS” or the “Distributor”) pursuant to which they may receive compensation from RIFUS and/or the Distributor, from RIFUS’s and/or the Distributor’s own resources, for administrative and/or other services provided by those Insurance Companies. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the Insurance Company and your salesperson to recommend the Funds or a Fund over another investment or by influencing an Insurance Company’s decision to include the Funds as an underlying investment option in its Policy. Ask your salesperson or visit your Insurance Company’s website for more information.
9
 
[THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK.]
10
 
[THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK.]
11
36-08-289 (0924)