Example. This
Example is intended to help you compare the cost of owning shares of the Fund with the cost of investing in other funds. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then sell all of your shares at the
end of those periods. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions, your costs
would be:
1
Year |
3
Years |
5
Years |
10
Years |
$40
|
$125
|
$219
|
$493
|
Portfolio Turnover. The Fund may pay transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may
result in higher taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in Annual Fund Operating Expenses or in the Example, affect the Fund's performance. From inception, January 31, 2012, to the most recent
fiscal year end, the Fund's portfolio turnover rate was 1% of the average value of its portfolio.
Principal Investment Strategies
The Underlying Index has been developed by MSCI
Inc. (“MSCI”) to measure the combined performance of equity securities of companies primarily involved in the extraction or production of diversified metals, the production of aluminum or steel, and in the mining of precious metals and
minerals (excluding gold and silver) in both developed and emerging markets. MSCI begins with the MSCI All Country World Investable Market Index, and then selects securities of companies that are primarily focused on extraction and production of
aluminum, steel and
diversified metals and mining. The Underlying Index excludes
companies that are included in the MSCI ACWI Select Gold Miners Investable Market Index and MSCI ACWI Select Silver Miners Investable Market Index. As of June 30, 2012, the Underlying Index consisted of companies in the following 37 countries or
regions: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, the Netherlands, Norway, Peru, the Philippines, Poland, Russia,
Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States. The Fund, under normal market conditions, will invest at least 40% of its assets in issuers organized or located
outside the United States or doing business outside the United States.
BFA uses a “passive” or indexing
approach to try to achieve the Fund’s investment objective. Unlike many investment companies, the Fund does not try to “beat” the index it tracks and does not seek temporary defensive positions when markets decline or appear
overvalued.
Indexing may eliminate the
chance that the Fund will substantially outperform