Fund Evaluator:

Nuveen Global Equity Income I Overview

Nuveen Global Equity Income I (NQGIX) is an actively managed International Equity Global Large-Stock Value fund. Nuveen launched the fund in 2009.

The investment seeks to provide high current income and long-term capital appreciation. The fund will generally focus its investments on income producing securities. Normally, it will invest at least 80% of the sum of its net assets and the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes in equity securities, including common stock and preferred securities, certain debt securities convertible into common stock or preferred securities, and other securities with equity characteristics. Up to 20% of the fund's net assets may be invested in debt securities, including corporate debt securities and U.S. government and agency debt securities.

About Nuveen Global Equity Income I (NQGIX)

There are 2 members of the management team with an average tenure of 9.30 years: Peter Boardman (2022), James Stephenson (2012). 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 MSCI World Value NR USD index with a weighting of 100%. Nuveen Global Equity Income I has 70 securities in its portfolio. The top 10 holdings constitute 27.3% 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.

Nuveen Global Equity Income I is part of the Equity global asset class and is within the International Equity fund group. Nuveen Global Equity Income I has 48.0% of its portfolio invested in foreign issues. The overall assets allocated to domestic stock is 46.3%. There is 48.0% allocated to foreign stock, and 7.4% is allocated to preferred stocks. The bond allocation as a percentage of total assets is 0.0% (0.0% domestic bond, 0.0% foreign bond and 0.0% convertible bond). Nuveen Global Equity Income I has -1.7% of the portfolio in cash.

Assets Under Management

The fund has $59 million in total assets, which is below the $514 million average for the Global Large-Stock Value 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.

NQGIX 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 Nuveen Global Equity Income I expense ratio is high compared to funds in the Global Large-Stock Value category. Nuveen Global Equity Income I has an expense ratio of 0.86%, which is 18% lower than its category average, making the fund expense ratio grade a B. 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. Nuveen Global Equity Income I has a portfolio turnover rate of 30%, indicating that holds its assets around 0.0 years. By way of comparison, the average portfolio turnover is 47% for the Global Large-Stock Value category.

Recently, in the month of August 2026, Nuveen Global Equity Income I returned 1.0%, which earned it a grade of D, as the Global Large-Stock Value category had an average return of 2.0%. 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.

Nuveen Global Equity Income I has a trailing yield of 2.28%, which is above the 1.74% 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.

Nuveen Global Equity Income I Grades

Year to date, the fund has returned 14.3%, 0.5 percentage points worse than the category, which translates into a grade of C. The fund has returned 22.1% over the past year (grade of C), 20.1% over the past three years (grade of B) and 12.1% per year over the past five years (grade of B) and 10.3% per year over the past 10 years (grade of C).

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