Under normal circumstances, the Fund invests at least 80% of its assets (defined as net assets plus borrowing for investment purposes) in dividend-paying common stock of U.S. companies. The Fund defines U.S. companies as those domiciled in the U.S., deriving a majority of revenue or profits from the U.S., maintaining a majority of assets in the U.S., or listed on a U.S. stock exchange. The Fund invests in companies of any capitalization. The Fund's investment advisor delegates execution of the Fund's investment strategy to Advisors Capital Management, LLC (the "Sub-Advisor").

The Sub-Advisor seeks total returns composed of income and long-term capital appreciation by investing primarily in S&P 500 common stocks that regularly pay dividends. The Sub-Advisor selects investments based on higher relative dividend yields, dividend growth potential, and anticipated stock price appreciation. The Sub-Advisor identifies potential for dividend growth by reviewing a company’s dividend history, dividend policy, capital allocation policy, and company free cash flow projections. Income from dividends is expected to represent a relatively smaller portion of total return when compared to long-term capital appreciation. The Sub-Advisor identifies potential for stock price appreciation by examining fundamental factors including projected industry revenue growth, anticipated company earnings growth, and valuation criteria. The Sub-Advisor's philosophy is to invest long-term in what it believes are attractively-valued, conservatively-structured, competitively-advantaged, dynamic companies with growing free cash flow and honest, competent leadership. These companies are selected based on fundamental macro and micro-level analysis. Selected companies will typically have stronger balance sheets, better profitability, and lower earnings volatility relative to peers. The Sub-Advisor uses SEC filings, computer databases, industry publications, general and business publications, brokerage firm research reports, and other information sources to gather information used in the fundamental analysis.

The Fund is typically structured with 30 to 50 stocks spread across seven to ten sectors. The Fund is diversified, invested in multiple industries, and the Sub-Advisor uses statistical analysis to avoid what it believes are over exposures to individual risk factors. The Sub-Advisor regularly reviews each of the companies in the portfolio to confirm that each company's stock continues to hold promise for future appreciation. The Fund is expected to have low annual turnover. Each investment has an intended two- to four-year time frame, although investments may be held longer if the company's fundamentals remain favorable, or sold earlier if the fundamentals weaken. The Sub-Advisor expects the Fund to have a better-than-market dividend yield with lower downside risk when compared to the S&P 500 Index. The Sub-Advisor focuses primarily on companies which regularly generate free cash flow even in weaker economic environments. Further, these investments feature companies with less debt in their capital structure and which have higher average profitability versus benchmark index averages. The Sub-Advisor believes these criteria will provide for less downside risk as measured by downside capture over the full market cycle. Downside capture ratio is the performance of the Fund relative to an index in a negative return environment.

The Sub-Advisor sells a stock when it reaches the Sub-Advisor's estimate of intrinsic value, when there is a more attractively priced stock as an alternative, when the fundamentals of the business have changed, or when the Sub-Advisor determines that management of the company is not enhancing shareholder value. The Sub-Advisor reviews a company’s return on invested capital (ROIC) compared to the company’s weighted average cost of capital (WACC). The Sub-Advisor believes that companies with ROIC below their WACC are not enhancing shareholder value.