Fund Evaluator:

MFS Global Total Return R1 Overview

MFS Global Total Return R1 (MFWGX) is an actively managed Allocation Global Moderate Allocation fund. MFS launched the fund in 2005.

The investment seeks total return. MFS invests the fund's assets in equity securities and debt instruments. Equity securities include common stocks and other securities that represent an ownership interest (or right to acquire an ownership interest) in a company or other issuer. Debt instruments include corporate bonds, foreign government securities, U.S. government securities, securitized instruments, and other obligations to repay money borrowed. MFS generally invests approximately 60% of the fund's assets in equity securities and approximately 40% of the fund's assets in debt instruments.

About MFS Global Total Return R1 (MFWGX)

There are 9 members of the management team with an average tenure of 11.48 years: Jonathan Sage (2014), Robert Spector (2015), Pilar Gomez-Bravo (2013), David Shindler (2022), Andy Li (2019), Johnathan Munko (2021), John Mitchell (2023), Erik Weisman (2005), Steven Gorham (2000). Management tenure is more important for actively managed funds than passive index funds.

The fund has 2 primary benchmarks: MSCI World NR USD index with a weighting of 100% and Bloomberg Global Aggregate TR USD index with a weighting of 100%. MFS Global Total Return R1 has 1016 securities in its portfolio. The top 10 holdings constitute 14.4% of the fund’s assets. The fund meets the SEC requirement of being classified as a diversified fund. The fund is not considered to have an ESG focus with its investment selection and management.

MFS Global Total Return R1 is part of the Allocation global asset class and is within the Allocation fund group. MFS Global Total Return R1 has 56.9% of its portfolio invested in foreign issues. The overall assets allocated to domestic stock is 29.8%. There is 30.5% allocated to foreign stock, and 0.5% is allocated to preferred stocks. The bond allocation as a percentage of total assets is 40.2% (13.9% domestic bond, 26.4% foreign bond and 0.1% convertible bond). MFS Global Total Return R1 has -1.1% of the portfolio in cash.

Assets Under Management

The fund has $3 million in total assets, which is below the $947 million average for the Global Moderate Allocation category. Normally, lower assets under management translates to higher average expense ratios, and greater total assets are desired. However, for some investment categories, such as small-cap investing, it may be difficult for the manager to fully employ the desired active strategy if assets grow too large or too quickly.

MFWGX Performance and Fees

The expense ratio measures how much of a fund’s assets are used for administrative expenses and operating expenses, including adviser fees and fees for the transfer agent and custodial services. The MFS Global Total Return R1 expense ratio is high compared to funds in the Global Moderate Allocation category. MFS Global Total Return R1 has an expense ratio of 1.84%, which is 76% higher than its category average, making the fund expense ratio grade a F. While it is difficult to predict returns, it is known that high annual expense ratios reduce your rate of return, and excessive fees are difficult to overcome. Active management normally comes with higher expense ratios than passive index management. Certain investment categories such as small company and foreign also normally have higher expense ratios. It is best to compare fund expense ratios against the category averages for meaningful assessments.

High portfolio turnover can translate to higher expenses and lower aftertax returns. MFS Global Total Return R1 has a portfolio turnover rate of 62%, indicating that holds its assets around 0.0 years. By way of comparison, the average portfolio turnover is 64% for the Global Moderate Allocation category.

Recently, in the month of July 2026, MFS Global Total Return R1 returned 2.8%, which earned it a grade of A, as the Global Moderate Allocation category had an average return of 0.3%. The letter grades of A, B, C, D and F are based upon relative rankings within the investment category. A grade of A, for example, would indicate that the return is in the highest 20% for that time period compared to all funds in that category.

MFS Global Total Return R1 has a trailing yield of 1.98%, which is below the 2.61% category average. The fund normally distributes its income quarterly and its capital gains annually.

It’s natural to seek the best-performing investments, but you must consider the relationship between risk and return and the impact of costs and taxes on your realized returns.

MFS Global Total Return R1 Grades

Year to date, the fund has returned 7.8%, 0.4 percentage points worse than the category, which translates into a grade of C. The fund has returned 14.4% over the past year (grade of D), 9.7% over the past three years (grade of F) and 4.5% per year over the past five years (grade of F) and 5.6% per year over the past 10 years (grade of F).

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