Fund Evaluator:

SMI Multi-Strategy Overview

SMI Multi-Strategy (SMILX) is an actively managed Allocation Moderately Aggressive Allocation fund. SMI Funds launched the fund in 2015.

The investment seeks total return. The fund primarily invests in open-end equity mutual funds, ETFs and publicly traded partnerships using its Stock Upgrading strategy. Generally, underlying funds with the highest momentum scores are chosen. The underlying funds that do not have the highest momentum scores may not outperform and could, in fact, lose money. These underlying funds may, in turn, invest in a broad range of equity securities, including foreign securities and securities of issuers located in emerging markets.

About SMI Multi-Strategy (SMILX)

There are 3 members of the management team with an average tenure of 11.35 years: Mark Biller (2015), Eric Collier (2015), Anthony Ayers (2015). Management tenure is more important for actively managed funds than passive index funds.

The fund has 2 primary benchmarks: S&P 500 (TR) (1970) index with a weighting of 100% and Bloomberg US Agg Bond TR USD index with a weighting of 100%. SMI Multi-Strategy has 46 securities in its portfolio. The top 10 holdings constitute 67.5% 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.

SMI Multi-Strategy is part of the Allocation global asset class and is within the Allocation fund group. SMI Multi-Strategy has 14.3% of its portfolio invested in foreign issues. The overall assets allocated to domestic stock is 74.5%. There is 13.0% allocated to foreign stock, and 0.0% is allocated to preferred stocks. The bond allocation as a percentage of total assets is 4.3% (3.0% domestic bond, 1.3% foreign bond and 0.0% convertible bond). SMI Multi-Strategy has 6.1% of the portfolio in cash.

Assets Under Management

The fund has $57 million in total assets, which is below the $572 million average for the Moderately Aggressive 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.

SMILX 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 SMI Multi-Strategy expense ratio is high compared to funds in the Moderately Aggressive Allocation category. SMI Multi-Strategy has an expense ratio of 1.71%, which is 66% 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. SMI Multi-Strategy has a portfolio turnover rate of 187%, indicating that holds its assets around 0.0 years. By way of comparison, the average portfolio turnover is 34% for the Moderately Aggressive Allocation category.

Recently, in the month of August 2026, SMI Multi-Strategy returned 1.7%, which earned it a grade of C, as the Moderately Aggressive Allocation category had an average return of 1.9%. 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.

SMI Multi-Strategy has a trailing yield of 0.80%, which is below the 1.45% category average. The fund normally distributes its income annually 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.

SMI Multi-Strategy Grades

Year to date, the fund has returned 9.4%, 2.4 percentage points worse than the category, which translates into a grade of F. The fund has returned 16.2% over the past year (grade of C), 12.3% over the past three years (grade of F) and 6.0% per year over the past five years (grade of F) and 7.7% per year over the past 10 years (grade of F).

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