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Sustainable and Impact Investing and/or Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) managers may take into consideration factors beyond traditional financial information to select securities, which could result in relative investment performance deviating from other strategies or broad market benchmarks, depending on whether such sectors or investments are in or out of favor in the market. Further, ESG strategies may rely on certain values based criteria to eliminate exposures found in similar strategies or broad market benchmarks, which could also result in relative investment performance deviating.
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Merrill Edge Select™ Funds, while not intended as a recommendation or endorsement of any particular mutual fund, allows you to review funds by Morningstar category that meet a proprietary Merrill screening standard to help you identify investments that are in line with your personal needs and investment objectives. Merrill Edge Select™ ETFs, while not intended as a recommendation or endorsement of any particular exchange traded fund, allows you to review funds by Morningstar category that meet a proprietary Merrill screening standard to help you identify investments that are in line with your personal needs and investment objectives.
Target Date Funds – The target date [or retirement date, as applicable] for these funds is the approximate date when an investor plans to start withdrawing the assets from their retirement account. The principal value of these funds is not guaranteed at any time, including at the target date. These funds are designed to become more conservative over time as the target date approaches. Because a target date fund is a "fund of funds," it will bear its allocable share of the costs and expenses of the underlying investment vehicles in which it invests (including its allocable share of the management fees and incentive compensation payable to the investment managers of such vehicles). The target date fund is thus subject to two levels of fees and a potentially higher expense ratio than would be associated with an investment in a fund that trades directly in financial instruments under the direction of a single manager.
Asset allocation and diversification do not ensure a profit or protect against loss in declining markets.
The investments discussed have varying degrees of risk, and there is always the potential of losing money when you invest in securities. Some of the risks involved with equities include the possibility that the value of the stocks may fluctuate in response to events specific to the companies or markets, as well as economic, political or social events in the U.S. or abroad. Investments focused in a certain industry may pose additional risk due to lack of diversification, industry volatility, economic turmoil, susceptibility to economic, political or regulatory risks and other sector concentration risks.
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