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Empower Core Strategies Flex Bd Inv Overview

Empower Core Strategies Flex Bd Inv (MXEWX) is an actively managed Taxable Bond Intermediate Core-Plus Bond fund. Empower Funds launched the fund in 2020.

The investment seeks to provide total return, consisting of two components: (1) changes in the market value of its portfolio holdings; and (2) income received from its portfolio holdings. The fund will, under normal circumstances, invest at least 80% of its net assets (plus the amount of borrowings for investment purposes) in a diversified portfolio of fixed income securities of any maturity and duration. The fixed income securities in which the fund may invest include corporate bonds, U.S. government securities, mortgage- and asset-backed securities, and bank loans.

About Empower Core Strategies Flex Bd Inv (MXEWX)

There are 5 members of the management team with an average tenure of 4.16 years: Jack Brown (2025), Brian Kennedy (2018), Darrin Clough (2025), Jason Harubin (2025), Matthew Eagan (2018). Management tenure is more important for actively managed funds than passive index funds.

The fund has 1 primary benchmark: Bloomberg US Agg Bond TR USD index with a weighting of 100%. Empower Core Strategies Flex Bd Inv has 1083 securities in its portfolio. The top 10 holdings constitute 21.0% 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.

Empower Core Strategies Flex Bd Inv is part of the Fixed Income global asset class and is within the Taxable Bond fund group. Empower Core Strategies Flex Bd Inv has 11.0% of its portfolio invested in foreign issues. The overall assets allocated to domestic stock is 0.2%. There is 0.0% allocated to foreign stock, and 0.3% is allocated to preferred stocks. The bond allocation as a percentage of total assets is 97.9% (86.9% domestic bond, 11.0% foreign bond and 0.9% convertible bond). Empower Core Strategies Flex Bd Inv has 0.7% of the portfolio in cash.

Assets Under Management

The fund has $1 billion in total assets, which is below the $1 billion average for the Intermediate Core-Plus Bond 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.

MXEWX 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 Empower Core Strategies Flex Bd Inv expense ratio is high compared to funds in the Intermediate Core-Plus Bond category. Empower Core Strategies Flex Bd Inv has an expense ratio of 0.80%, which is 3% higher than its category average, making the fund expense ratio grade a D. 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. Empower Core Strategies Flex Bd Inv has a portfolio turnover rate of 98%, indicating that holds its assets around 0.0 years. By way of comparison, the average portfolio turnover is 181% for the Intermediate Core-Plus Bond category.

Recently, in the month of July 2026, Empower Core Strategies Flex Bd Inv returned -1.0%, which earned it a grade of A, as the Intermediate Core-Plus Bond category had an average return of -1.3%. 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.

Empower Core Strategies Flex Bd Inv has a trailing yield of 4.62%, which is above the 4.36% category average. The fund normally distributes its income semi-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.

Empower Core Strategies Flex Bd Inv Grades

Year to date, the fund has returned -0.8%, 0.2 percentage points worse than the category, which translates into a grade of D. The fund has returned 2.5% over the past year (grade of D), 4.5% over the past three years (grade of B) and 0.2% per year over the past five years (grade of B).

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