WV Retirement Plus has 24 different options that participants can choose from.  These options are divided into investment categories and asset classes.  We’d like to give a brief description of each of these to better help you understand how your contributions are invested.

If you have participated in an enrollment meeting or met one on one with a financial representative, you have been encouraged to select how you would like your contributions to be invested.  We try to help you understand the meaning of each of the categories and if it would align with your investing style.  If you have not selected any options, your contributions are being invested in the Stability of Principal fund.

• Stability of Principal – Assets are invested in conservative investment options that try to hold the principal value of an investment stable through all market conditions.  With WV Retirement Plus, your contributions to the Stability of Principal option are guaranteed.  The rate of return is reset each quarter.

• Bonds – By investing in bonds, you are primarily seeking income or growth of income, with less emphasis on capital appreciation.  Bonds can include any of the following: corporate bonds, mortgages, government bonds, preferred stock, foreign or convertible bonds.

• Asset Allocation/Lifecycle – These funds are also known as Target Date funds.  These funds take into consideration your estimated retirement or when you plan to withdraw money from your account.  Lifecycle funds are professionally managed and generally start out more aggressive.  As you move closer to the targeted date, your investments will be gradually become more conservative.

• Balanced – These funds seek to “balance” growth of contributions by investing in a combination of stocks and bonds.  The investment style used with balanced funds is that some funds have fixed asset allocations and others allow managers discretion to allocate between equities and bonds.

• Large Cap Value – Funds seek long-term growth of capital or a combination of growth and income by investing primarily in stocks of larger, mature companies.  Stocks are selected for price appreciation and for the value of the current income provided through dividends.  These funds generally exhibit a lower level of price volatility.

• Large Cap Growth – Overall, these funds invest primarily in stocks of larger U.S. companies.  Funds emphasizing growth stocks will typically have higher price/earnings ratios and make little or no dividend payments.  These companies tend to be more established, with lower relative volatility, than more aggressive small and mid-cap stock funds.

• Small/Mid/Specialty – Investment styles of growth, value or “blend” are employed for small cap, mid cap and specialty funds.  These funds seek capital appreciation by investing primarily in stocks of small and medium sized companies.  Generally, these companies are striving to develop new products or markets and have above-average earnings growth potential.  Specialty funds invest in stocks of companies in a particular industry.

• Global/International – There are three main types of funds in this category.  International funds have an investment style of Foreign Stock.  These funds invest in stocks of companies outside the United States.  Global funds carry an investment style of World Stock.  These funds invest in stocks of companies in the United States and developed countries outside of the United States.  The last is Emerging Market funds.  WV Retirement Plus does not currently have any options in this category.  Foreign investing does involve additional risks not present in U.S. securities.

We hope that we’ve helped you to better understand different types of investment options.  You can view more detailed information regarding the different options for WV Retirement Plus in the Voya Enrollment Guide.  If you have questions regarding any of this information or you would like to change the investment options of your WV Retirement Plus account, please contact our Voya Representatives to discuss your personal situation by calling 1-877-786-2982.

You should consider the investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses of the variable product and its underlying fund options carefully before investing. Fund prospectuses, and an information booklet containing this and other information, can be obtained by contacting your local Voya representative. Please read carefully before investing.