Strategy. Under normal circumstances, the Portfolio invests at least 80% of its net assets, plus any borrowings for investment purposes, in securities of real assets and activities related to real assets, and in derivatives and other instruments that have economic characteristics similar to such securities. Real assets are defined broadly by the Portfolio and may include assets that have physical properties, such as infrastructure, real estate, and natural resources, as well as infrastructure-related, real estate-related, and natural resources-related investments as described below. The Portfolio considers an issuer to be an infrastructure-related issuer if it derives at least 50% of its revenue or profits from the ownership or operation of infrastructure assets, which include physical structures, networks and systems of transportation, energy, … Show more… Under normal circumstances, the Portfolio invests at least 80% of its net assets, plus any borrowings for investment purposes, in securities of real assets and activities related to real assets, and in derivatives and other instruments that have economic characteristics similar to such securities. Real assets are defined broadly by the Portfolio and may include assets that have physical properties, such as infrastructure, real estate, and natural resources, as well as infrastructure-related, real estate-related, and natural resources-related investments as described below. The Portfolio considers an issuer to be an infrastructure-related issuer if it derives at least 50% of its revenue or profits from the ownership or operation of infrastructure assets, which include physical structures, networks and systems of transportation, energy, water and sewage, and communication. Examples of infrastructure assets include transportation assets (such as toll roads, bridges, airports and seaports), utility assets (such as generating stations, gas and electric lines, water and sewer facilities, and communications networks) and social assets (such as hospitals, schools, and subsidized housing). The Portfolio considers an issuer to be a real estate or real estate-related company if at least 50% of its assets, gross income or net profits are attributable to ownership, construction, management or sale of residential, commercial or industrial real estate. These issuers include (i) real estate investment trusts (REITs) or other real estate operating companies that (a) own property, (b) make or invest in short-term construction and development mortgage loans, or (c) invest in long-term mortgages or mortgage pools, (ii) issuers whose products and services are related to the real estate industry, such as manufacturers and distributors of building supplies and financial institutions that issue or service mortgages, and (iii) issuers included in a real estate or real estate-related industry based on any one or more third-party providers, such as the S&P Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS), the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) or the Bloomberg Industry Classification System (BICS). The Portfolio invests primarily in equity securities (including common and preferred stock, and convertible securities) of domestic and foreign issuers. The Portfolio may invest in master limited partnerships (MLPs), including MLPs that are not taxed as regular corporations for U.S. federal income tax purposes. The MLPs in which the Portfolio may invest are publicly traded partnerships or limited liability companies engaged in, among other things, the transportation, storage, processing, refining, marketing, exploration, production and mining of minerals and natural resources. The Portfolio also may invest in debt securities of domestic and foreign issuers. The Portfolio may have significant exposure to natural resources through investments in MLPs or other issuers whose business activities are related to natural resource assets. The Portfolio may invest up to 10% of its net assets in non-investment grade debt securities (commonly known as junk bonds). Under normal circumstances, the Portfolio will provide exposure to investments that are economically tied to at least three different countries (one of which may be the United States), and at least 40%, unless market conditions are not deemed favorable, in which case at least 30%, of the Portfolios net assets will provide exposure to investments that are economically tied to countries other than the United States. An issuer will be considered to be economically tied to a country other than the United States if it is domiciled, has its principal office, derives a significant portion of its revenues from, or primarily trades in a market located outside of the United States and/or its country of risk as determined by a third party service provider such as Bloomberg is outside the United States. The Portfolio may invest up to 20% of its net assets in securities of issuers located in emerging markets countries (that is, those that are in the early stages of their industrial cycles). The Portfolio may invest in securities of issuers of all capitalization sizes, including small- and mid-capitalization issuers. Real asset companies tend to have smaller asset bases compared with other market sectors, therefore, the Portfolio may hold a significant amount of securities of small and mid-capitalization issuers. The Portfolio considers an issuer to be a small-capitalization issuer if it has a market capitalization, at the time of purchase, no larger than the largest capitalized issuer included in the Russell 2000 Index during the most recent 11-month period (based on month-end data) plus the most recent data during the current month. As of December 31, 2024, the capitalization of companies in the Russell 2000 Index ranged from approximately $ 9.12 million to $13.19 billion. The Portfolio considers an issuer to be a mid-capitalization issuer if it has a market capitalization, at the time of purchase, within the range of market capitalizations of the largest and smallest capitalized issuers included in the Russell Midcap Index during the most recent 11-month period (based on month-end data) plus the most recent data during the current month. As of December 31, 2024, the capitalization of companies in the Russell Midcap Index ranged from approximately $355 million to $175 billion. A companys market capitalization is the value of its outstanding shares. The Portfolio may engage in short sales of securities. The Portfolio may engage in short sales with respect to securities it owns or securities it does not own. Generally, the Portfolio will sell a security short (1) to take advantage of an expected decline in the security price in anticipation of purchasing the same security at a later date at a lower price, or (2) to protect a profit in a security that it owns. The Portfolio will not sell a security short if, as a result of such short sale, the aggregate market value of all securities sold short exceeds 10% of the Portfolios net assets. The Portfolio can invest in derivative instruments, including forward foreign currency contracts. The Portfolio can use forward foreign currency contracts to hedge against adverse movements in the foreign currencies in which portfolio securities are denominated, if deemed appropriate by the Sub-Adviser ; however, the Portfolio has not historically done so. The Portfolios investments in derivatives may be deemed to involve the use of leverage because the Portfolio is not required to invest the full market value of the contract upon entering into the contract but participates in gains and losses on the full contract price. The use of derivatives also may be deemed to involve the use of leverage because the heightened price sensitivity of some derivatives to market changes may magnify the Portfolios gain or loss. It is not expected, however, that the Portfolio will be leveraged by borrowing money for investment purposes. When constructing the portfolio, the Sub-Adviser uses a fundamentals-driven investment process, including an evaluation of factors such as market cycle analysis, asset evaluation and management and structure review to identify securities with characteristics including (i) quality underlying assets, (ii) solid management teams with the ability to effectively manage capital structure decisions and execute their stated strategic plan, and (iii) attractive valuations relative to peer investment alternatives. Each qualified security in the investment universe is analyzed using fundamental analysis and valuation review to identify securities that appear to have relatively favorable long-term prospects and attractive values. Some of the fundamental factors that are considered include: forecasted demand and supply of the markets in which a firm may operate, asset locations, physical attributes, management depth and skill, insider ownership, overall debt levels, percentage of variable rate financing and fixed charge coverage ratios. The issuers that are believed to have the most attractive fundamental attributes are then evaluated on the basis of relative value. Some of the valuation factors that are considered include: cash flow consistency and growth, dividend yield, dividend coverage and growth, and cash flow and assets to price multiples. The Sub-Adviser seeks to limit risk through various controls, such as diversifying the portfolio asset types, sectors and geographic areas as well as by considering the relative liquidity of each security and limiting the size of any one holding. The Sub-Adviser may consider selling a security for several reasons, including when (1) its relative valuation has fallen below desired levels, (2) its risk/return profile has changed significantly, (3) its fundamentals have changed, or (4) a more attractive investment opportunity is identified. The Portfolio will concentrate its investments in the securities of domestic and foreign real estate and real estate-related companies. Such investments will consist primarily of REITs. The Portfolio may engage in active and frequent trading. Show less