Strategy. Under normal circumstances, the Portfolio seeks to invest at least 80% of its net assets (plus borrowings for investment purposes, if any) in non-U.S. equity securities and equity-like instruments of companies that are components of, or have characteristics similar to, the companies included in the MSCI EAFE Index (Net-USD). The MSCI EAFE Index (Net-USD) is a capitalization-weighted index from a broad range of industries located in developed markets outside of the U.S. and Canada, chosen for market size, liquidity and industry group representation, generally consisting of large- and mid-capitalization companies. Equity securities include common stock, preferred stock and convertible securities. The Portfolio primarily seeks to buy common stock and may also invest in preferred stock and convertible securities. From time … Show more… Under normal circumstances, the Portfolio seeks to invest at least 80% of its net assets (plus borrowings for investment purposes, if any) in non-U.S. equity securities and equity-like instruments of companies that are components of, or have characteristics similar to, the companies included in the MSCI EAFE Index (Net-USD). The MSCI EAFE Index (Net-USD) is a capitalization-weighted index from a broad range of industries located in developed markets outside of the U.S. and Canada, chosen for market size, liquidity and industry group representation, generally consisting of large- and mid-capitalization companies. Equity securities include common stock, preferred stock and convertible securities. The Portfolio primarily seeks to buy common stock and may also invest in preferred stock and convertible securities. From time to time, the Portfolio may invest in shares of companies through new issues or initial public offerings (IPOs). The Portfolio invests in securities of non-U.S. issuers that can be U.S. dollar based or non-U.S. dollar based on a hedged or unhedged basis. The Portfolio may enter into currency transactions on a hedged or unhedged basis in order to seek total return. The Portfolio is actively managed by BlackRock Investment Management, LLC (BlackRock) under a sub-advisory agreement with the Adviser. BlackRock began managing the Portfolio in December 2019. BlackRock seeks to pursue the Portfolios investment objective by investing in non-U.S. securities in a disciplined manner, by using proprietary return forecast models that incorporate quantitative analysis. These forecast models are designed to identify aspects of mispricing across stocks that the Portfolio can seek to capture by over- and under-weighting particular equities while seeking to control incremental risk. BlackRock then constructs and rebalances the Portfolio by integrating its investment insights with the model-based optimization process. BlackRock has no stated minimum holding period for investments and may buy or sell securities whenever it sees an appropriate opportunity. The portfolio managers consider a variety of factors in determining whether to sell a security, including changes in market conditions, changes in prospects for the security, alternative investment possibilities and other factors they believe to be relevant. Show less