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9 Investors who try to time the market underperform a simple, buy-and-hold strategy by an overwhelming percentage. As you can see in the chart below, the Average Fixed Income Fund Investor significantly underperformed in 2024, losing 1.07%, while the Bloomberg Aggregate Bond Index delivered a positive return of 1.25%. This marks a reversal from 2023, when the average bond investor saw a gain of 2.90%. The move back into negative territory, despite gains in the broader bond market, suggests that fixed income investors may still be struggling with allocation decisions amid ongoing uncertainty around interest rates. Source: "2025 QAIB Report," DALBAR, Inc. www.dalbar.com Equity benchmark performance and equity investing examples are represented by the S&P 500 Composite Index, an unmanaged index of 500 common stocks generally considered representative of the U.S. stock market. Indexes do not take into account the fees and expenses associated with investing, and individuals cannot invest directly in any index. Past performance cannot guarantee future results. Bond benchmark performance and bond investing examples are represented by the BloombergBarclays Aggregate Bond Index, an unmanaged index of bonds generally considered representative of the bond market. Indexes do not take into account the fees and expenses associated with investing, and individuals cannot invest directly in any index. Past performance cannot guarantee future results. Average stock investor, average bond investor, and performance results are based on a DALBAR study, "Quantitative Analysis of Investor Behavior (QAIB), 2025." DALBAR is an independent financial research firm. Using monthly fund data supplied by the Investment Company Institute, QAIB calculates investor returns as the change in assets after excluding sales, redemptions, and exchanges. This method of calculation captures realized and unrealized capital gains, dividends, interest, trading costs, sales charges, fees, expenses, and any other costs. After calculating investor returns in dollar terms, two percentages are calculated for the period examined: Total investor return rate and annualized investor return rate. Total return rate is determined by calculating the investor return dollars as a percentage of the net of the sales, redemptions, and exchanges for the period. Returns vs. market benchmarks Average Investor Returns in 2024 Average Equity Fund Investor S&P Average Fixed Income Fund Investor Bloomberg Aggregate Bond Index -.% .% .% .% .% .% .% .% .% .% -. % .%

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