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Fund Overview: Objective, Strategy and Holdings

  • Preserve capital while earning current income generally greater than that of typical money market funds
  • Invests exclusively in units of the sweep account, which holds primarily short-term fixed income instruments including U.S. government bonds, agency bonds, corporate bonds, securitized products, commercial paper, certificates of deposit and other similar types of investments.
  • In periods of stable and falling interest rates, the fund is expected to outperform funds holding securities with shorter maturities.1

Fund Managers

The following individuals are responsible for the selection and monitoring of external asset managers:

Frank Holsteen Image

Frank Holsteen

Managing Director, Investment Management

  • With Wespath since 2012
  • B.A. from Lake Forest College
Connie Christian portrait

Connie Christian, CFA

Manager, Fixed Income

  • With Wespath since 2023
  • B.S. in finance from Xavier University
  • MBA from Xavier University

Management

Wespath Institutional Investments is the investment adviser to the Fund. Through exposure to the assets in the sweep account, the Fund seeks diversification across sectors, industries, issuers, and credit quality. Wellington Management Company is the primary investment subadviser to the sweep account. The sweep account can hold U.S. government and agency bonds, corporate bonds, securitized products, dollar-denominated international fixed income securities, commercial paper, certificates of deposit, and other similar types of investments. The sweep account also holds loans from our Positive Social Purpose Lending Program (the program that focuses on affordable housing, charter schools, and community development facilities). The sweep account is designed to maintain liquidity to ensure the availability of cash for withdrawals and consequently provide liquidity for the Short Term Investment Fund-I Series. The account can only purchase securities rated A-, A1/P1 or higher by a Nationally Recognize Rating Organization. From time to time the account can hold lower-rated securities. The average quality of the portfolio is expected to be Aa3/AA-/AA- or higher.

Securities of any-one issuer, except those issued by the U.S. Treasury and government agency, and repo, may not constitute more than 5% of the account. The effective duration of the portfolio will be within a quarter of a year of its benchmark, the Merrill Lynch 90-Day Treasury Bill Index. No holding with a maturity greater than 3.1 years is permitted.

Please refer to the Investment Funds Description – I Series for a detailed description of the investment strategies used in managing the Fund.

1 In periods of very low interest rates, some money market funds may voluntarily choose to reduce or suspend fees, which may result in more favorable performance compared to STIF.

Fund Snapshot
Inception January 1, 2019
Exp. Ratio 0.19% for 2023
Benchmark Bank of America Merrill Lynch 3-Month Treasury Bill Index
Fund Assets $50 Million as of February 29, 2024
Holdings Holdings as of December 31, 2023
Unit Price History I Series Price History
For More Information Investment Funds Description - I Series

Performance

Fund1,2 Performance, Net-of-Fees (as of 12/31/2023)

  3 mo YTD 1 yr 3 yr 5 yr 10 yr
Short Term Investment Fund-I Series 1.48% 5.21% 5.21% 2.05% 1.78% -
STIF-I Benchmark3 1.38% 5.05% 5.05% 2.17% 1.89% -

Composite1,4 Performance, Net-of-Fees (as of 12/31/2023)

  3 mo YTD 1 yr 3 yr 5 yr 10 yr
Short Term Investment (STIF) Composite 1.45% 5.17% 5.17% 2.06% 1.85% 1.23%
STIF Composite Benchmark3 1.38% 5.05% 5.05% 2.17% 1.89% 1.26%

Footnotes

Wespath Benefits and Investments (“Wespath”) is a general agency of The United Methodist Church, a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization. Wespath administers benefit plans and together with its subsidiaries, UMC Benefit Board, Inc. (“UMCBB”) and Wespath Institutional Investments, LLC (“WII”) invests (or provides back-office services for) assets on behalf of benefit plan participants and beneficiaries, plan sponsors and other institutions controlled by, affiliated with or related to The United Methodist Church (the “Church”). For GIPS compliance purposes, the Firm referenced herein is defined to include Wespath, UMCBB and WII (“Firm”). Wespath claims compliance with the Global Investment Performance Standards (GIPS®). GIPS is a registered trademark of CFA Institute. CFA Institute does not endorse or promote this organization, nor does it warrant the accuracy or quality of the content contained herein. To obtain a copy of Wespath’s GIPS Report, please call us at 1-847-866-4100 or e-mail us at [email protected].

1 The performance shown is for the stated time period only and computed in U.S. Dollars (USD). Historical returns are not indicative of future performance. Investment performance is presented net-of-fees. See Risks and Disclosures for more information regarding fees, including how fees are reflected in performance. The investments of the funds and composites may vary substantially from those in the applicable benchmark. The benchmarks are based on broad-based securities market indices, which are unmanaged, cannot be invested in and are not subject to fees and expenses typically associated with investment funds. Investments cannot be made directly in an index. This chart was produced using data from sources believed to be accurate. The bar chart and table assume reinvestment of distributions.

2 Please refer to the Investment Funds Description - I Series for more information about each Fund. This information is for informational purposes only and is not an offer to purchase securities. The investment funds are neither insured nor guaranteed by the government.

3 Benchmark descriptions can be found here.

4 The performance presented reflects the historical performance record of the composite employed by: (a) Wespath Institutional Investments (WII) through funds called the I Series funds available as of January 1, 2019; and (2) UMC Benefit Board, Inc.an affiliated entity, through funds called the P Series funds and available to certain Institutional Investors (as defined below) prior to January 1, 2019. The composite includes the applicable P Series fund before January 1, 2019. After January 1, 2019 the composite includes both the applicable P Series fund and I Series fund (asset-weighted). The composite for the applicable P Series fund and I Series fund have substantially similar investment objectives and investment strategies and are referred to collectively as “the Composite.” The P Series funds are not available to Institutional Investors other than in exceptional circumstances agreed to by the P Series funds adviser.

Historical returns are not indicative of future performance. Returns presented are time‐weighted returns. Net returns are presented net of actual fees and expenses, including transaction costs, custody fees, sub‐advisory fees, and administrative/overhead expenses and are net of withholding taxes. The portfolios in the Composite do not pay any investment management fees to Wespath. Administrative/overhead expenses are paid by the portfolios in the Composite to Wespath.

Units of the I Series funds are available to organizations related to the Church and organized and operated exclusively for religious, educational, benevolent, fraternal, charitable, or reformatory purpose: (1) no part of the net earnings of which inures to the benefit of any private shareholder or individual; or (2) which is or maintains certain pooled income funds, collective trust funds, collective investment vehicles or similar funds for the collective investment and reinvestment of assets of certain designated vehicles available for charitable investments. All such organizations shall qualify as permissible investors in a fund excepted from the definition of “investment company” contained in Section 3(c) (10) of the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (and are referred to as “Institutional Investors”). Certain, but not all, Institutional Investors were eligible to invest in the P Series prior to January 1, 2019.

Allocations


Holdings-Based Sector Allocations as of December 31, 2023
  STIF-I
U.S. Treasuries 37.3%
U.S. Government 2.8%
U.S. Corporate 34.3%
Mortgage-Backed Securities (MB) 0.0%
Asset-Backed Securities (ABS) 22.3%
Other 3.3%

 

* Other includes primarily cash, repurchase agreements, and CD's as of 12/31/2020.

Characteristics

Fund Characteristics as of December 31, 2023
  STIF-I
Effective Duration 0.25
Effective Convexity -0.01
Yield to Worst (%) 5.42%
Effective Maturity 0.48
Average Rating P-1

Credit Quality Distribution as of December 31, 2023
  STIF-I
P-1 97.7%
P-2 2.1%
P-3 0.2%

Maturity Distribution as of Dectember 31, 2023
  STIF-I
0-7 Days 3.2%
8-30 Days 13.1%
31-60 Days 15.2%
61-90 Days 17.2%
91-180 Days 34.0%
> 180 Days 17.3%

Risks & Disclosures

All investments carry some degree of risk that will affect the value of the Fund’s holdings, its investment performance and the price of its units. As a result, loss of money is a risk of investing in the Fund. STIF-I is subject to the following principal investment risks: market risk, investment style risk, security specific risk, credit risk, interest rate risk, liquidity risk and prepayment risk.

Historical returns are not indicative of future performance. For further discussion of the Fund’s investments strategies and risks, please refer to "Principal Investment Strategies — Short Term Investment Fund-I Series" in the Investment Funds Description – I Series. This is not an offer to purchase securities.

Lending of Portfolio Securities

The Fund seeks to earn additional income by lending a portion of its portfolio securities to brokers, dealers and other financial institutions. The loans are secured at all times by cash and liquid high-grade debt obligations. As with any extension of credit, there are risks of delay in recovery and in some cases even loss of rights in the collateral should the borrower fail financially. In addition, losses could result from the reinvestment of the cash collateral received on loaned securities.

The Fund generally does not invest in companies that derive more than 10% of their revenue from gambling or from the manufacture, sale or distribution of alcoholic beverages, tobacco-related products, adult entertainment, weapons, or the management or operation of prison facilities.


Expense Ratio

The expense ratio is a measure of the annual fund operating expenses paid by the Fund expressed as a percentage of the average fair value of the Fund’s assets for the applicable year. The annual fund operating expenses consist of fees paid to subadvisor(s), and the Fund’s pro rata portion of custody fees and administrative and overhead expenses incurred by the overall Wespath Benefits and Investments organization in connection with providing investment, operating and administrative support to the Fund and the other funds available through Wespath Institutional Investments.

The Fund’s actual annual fund operating expenses and the related expense ratio can differ from year to year. Actual annual fund operating expenses may vary depending on, among other things, market events, Fund size, transaction costs, timing of Fund inflows and outflows, and applicable internal costs and third-party fees. 2023 Expense Ratios reflect a recent change to the fee calculation methodology. The methodology for calculating the funds’ Administrative and Overhead Expenses—one component of overall Expense Ratios—was changed (effective July 1, 2023) to better align with the level of resources required by WII and the overall Wespath organization to administer each I Series fund. This methodology is applicable for the entire year beginning January 1, 2024.

The Fund may also pay transaction costs, performance fees, interest expenses, taxes and fees on uninvested cash held in sweep accounts, which are in addition to the annual fund operating expenses. The annual fund operating expenses and these additional expenses are reflected in the Fund’s unit price and reduce the Fund’s rate of return. For further information about the Fund’s fees and expenses, including the fee calculation methodology change, please refer to the Investment Funds Description – I Series.