Fund Evaluator:

Spectrum Low Volatility Investor Overview

Spectrum Low Volatility Investor (SVARX) is an actively managed Taxable Bond Nontraditional Bond fund. Advisors Preferred launched the fund in 2013.

The investment seeks total return with lower downside volatility and risk compared to major stock market indices. The fund's adviser delegates execution of the fund's investment strategy to a sub-adviser. It invests in a diversified portfolio of primarily income-producing fixed income securities. The sub-adviser does not select individual bonds or other fixed income securities but instead, invests the fund's assets in open-end investment companies ("mutual funds") and exchange-traded funds ("ETFs") that each invests primarily in fixed rate or floating rate fixed income securities.

About Spectrum Low Volatility Investor (SVARX)

There are 3 members of the management team with an average tenure of 8.21 years: Ralph Doudera (2013), Christopher Hendrix (2020), Mary Collins (2020). Management tenure is more important for actively managed funds than passive index funds.

The fund has 3 primary benchmarks: Morningstar LSTA US LL100 Index TR USD index with a weighting of 100%, iBoxx USD Liquid High Yield index with a weighting of 50% and Morningstar LSTA US LL Index TR USD index with a weighting of 50%. Spectrum Low Volatility Investor has 16 securities in its portfolio. The top 10 holdings constitute 120.7% 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.

Spectrum Low Volatility Investor is part of the Fixed Income global asset class and is within the Taxable Bond fund group. Spectrum Low Volatility Investor has 11.4% of its portfolio invested in foreign issues. The overall assets allocated to domestic stock is 0.0%. There is 0.0% allocated to foreign stock, and 0.2% is allocated to preferred stocks. The bond allocation as a percentage of total assets is 29.1% (17.7% domestic bond, 11.4% foreign bond and 0.0% convertible bond). Spectrum Low Volatility Investor has 29.3% of the portfolio in cash.

Assets Under Management

The fund has $161 million in total assets, which is below the $663 million average for the Nontraditional 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.

SVARX 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 Spectrum Low Volatility Investor expense ratio is high compared to funds in the Nontraditional Bond category. Spectrum Low Volatility Investor has an expense ratio of 2.99%, which is 111% 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. Spectrum Low Volatility Investor has a portfolio turnover rate of 529%, indicating that holds its assets around 0.0 years. By way of comparison, the average portfolio turnover is 304% for the Nontraditional Bond category.

Recently, in the month of July 2026, Spectrum Low Volatility Investor returned -0.0%, which earned it a grade of B, as the Nontraditional Bond category had an average return of -0.2%. 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.

Spectrum Low Volatility Investor has a trailing yield of 5.89%, which is above the 4.94% category average. The fund normally distributes its income monthly 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.

Spectrum Low Volatility Investor Grades

Year to date, the fund has returned 1.0%, 0.2 percentage points worse than the category, which translates into a grade of C. The fund has returned 4.9% over the past year (grade of B), 6.3% over the past three years (grade of B) and 3.0% per year over the past five years (grade of C) and 6.3% per year over the past 10 years (grade of A).

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