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1290 VT Low Volatility Global Equity Portfolio

1290 VT Low Volatility Global Equity Portfolio – Class IB and K Shares

Investment Objective:

Seeks long-term capital appreciation with lower absolute volatility than the broad equity markets.

FEES AND EXPENSES OF THE PORTFOLIO

The following table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold, and sell shares of the Portfolio. The table below does not reflect any fees and expenses associated with variable life insurance contracts and variable annuity certificates and contracts (“Contracts”), which would increase overall fees and expenses. See the Contract prospectus for a description of those fees and expenses.

Shareholder Fees (fees paid directly from your investment)

Shareholder Fees - 1290 VT Low Volatility Global Equity Portfolio - USD ($)	Class IB Shares	Class K Shares
Shareholder Fees (fees paid directly from your investment)

Annual Portfolio Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage ofthe value of your investment)

Annual Fund Operating Expenses - 1290 VT Low Volatility Global Equity Portfolio		Class IB Shares	Class K Shares
Management Fee		0.50%	0.50%
Distribution and/or Service Fees (12b-1 fees)		0.25%	none
Other Expenses	[1]	0.81%	0.82%
Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses		0.22%	0.22%
Total Annual Portfolio Operating Expenses		1.78%	1.54%
Fee Waiver and/or Expense Reimbursement	[2]	(0.87%)	(0.88%)
Total Annual Portfolio Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver and/or Expense Reimbursement		0.91%	0.66%

Example

This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Portfolio with the cost of investing in other portfolios. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Portfolio for the periods indicated, that your investment has a 5% return each year, that the Portfolio’s operating expenses remain the same, and that the Expense Limitation Arrangement is not renewed. This Example does not reflect any Contract-related fees and expenses including redemption fees (if any) at the Contract level. If such fees and expenses were reflected, the total expenses would be higher. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions, whether you redeem or hold your shares, your costs would be:

Expense Example - 1290 VT Low Volatility Global Equity Portfolio - USD ($)	1 Year	3 Years	5 Years	10 Years
Class IB Shares	93	475	883	2,023
Class K Shares	67	400	756	1,760

Expense Example, No Redemption - 1290 VT Low Volatility Global Equity Portfolio - USD ($)	1 Year	3 Years	5 Years	10 Years
Class IB Shares	93	475	883	2,023
Class K Shares	67	400	756	1,760

PORTFOLIO TURNOVER

The Portfolio pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the Example, affect the Portfolio’s performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Portfolio’s portfolio turnover rate was 15% of the average value of the Portfolio.

INVESTMENTS, RISKS, AND PERFORMANCEPrincipal Investment Strategy:

Under normal market conditions, the Portfolio invests at least 80% of its net assets, plus borrowings for investment purposes, in equity securities. The Portfolio will invest in equity securities through investments in exchange-traded securities of other investment companies and investment vehicles (“exchange-traded funds” or “ETFs”). The Portfolio invests primarily in ETFs that, in turn, invest substantially all of their assets in equity securities that are believed to have lower absolute volatility than the markets in which the ETF invests. Volatility is one way to measure risk and, in this context, refers to the tendency of investments and markets to fluctuate over time. Stocks that exhibit lower absolute volatility may, over a market cycle, be able to earn investment returns comparable to market returns but with less volatility than the markets. The Portfolio may invest in ETFs that invest in securities of companies of any size in developed and emerging markets throughout the world. Under normal market conditions, the Portfolio expects to invest in ETFs such that no less than approximately 40% (or 30%, if market conditions are not deemed favorable by the Portfolio’s management) of the Portfolio’s net assets will be indirectly invested in foreign securities. Under normal market conditions, the Portfolio will allocate its assets among at least three countries (one of which may be the United States). The

Portfolio invests its assets in ETFs in accordance with weightings determined by Equitable Investment Management Group, LLC (“EIM” or the “Adviser”), the Portfolio’s investment manager.

ETFs are investment companies or other investment vehicles whose shares are listed and traded on U.S. stock exchanges or otherwise traded in the over-the-counter market and may be purchased and sold throughout the trading day based on their market price. Generally, an ETF seeks to track a securities index or a basket of securities that an “index provider” (such as Standard & Poor’s, Dow Jones, Russell or Morgan Stanley Capital International (“MSCI”)) selects as representative of a market, market segment, industry sector, country or geographic region. An index-based ETF generally holds the same stocks or bonds as the index it tracks (or it may hold a representative sample of such securities). Accordingly, an index-based ETF is designed so that its performance, before fees and expenses, will correspond closely with that of the index it tracks. ETFs may also be actively managed. The ETFs in which the Portfolio may invest are referred to herein as the “Underlying ETFs”.

The Adviser uses a two-stage asset allocation process to create an investment portfolio of ETFs for the Portfolio. The first stage involves a strategic asset allocation that is intended to achieve a desired risk/return profile for the Portfolio, while providing broad exposure to U.S. and foreign securities. In this stage, the Adviser decides what portion of the Portfolio’s assets should be invested in various geographic regions and market capitalization segments based on an evaluation of the potential return characteristics and risks of the particular asset classes in which the Portfolio may invest. Currently, the Portfolio intends to invest (through ETFs) approximately 50% of its assets in U.S. securities. Among U.S. securities, the Portfolio intends to maintain approximately 30% exposure to large-cap issuers and 20% to mid- and small-cap issuers. The Portfolio intends to invest (through ETFs) the remaining 50% of its assets in foreign securities, including maintaining approximately 15% exposure to securities of companies in emerging market countries. These percentages can deviate by up to 15% of the Portfolio’s assets. The Adviser may adjust these strategic asset allocations from time to time.

The second stage of this process involves the selection of Underlying ETFs within each of the geographic regions and market capitalization segments identified as a result of the first stage of the investment process. The Adviser seeks to select a combination of Underlying ETFs that together provide the targeted geographic and market capitalization exposure for the Portfolio. In selecting the Underlying ETFs, the Adviser also seeks to construct a diversified portfolio of ETFs that provides exposure to various methodologies used to reduce volatility. Individual ETF weights are based on a variety of factors, including the Underlying ETF’s exposure to the desired geographic region or market cap segment, investment objective(s), total return, portfolio holdings, volatility, expenses and liquidity.

For purposes of complying with the Portfolio’s investment policies, the Adviser will identify Underlying ETFs in which to invest by reference to such Underlying ETFs’ investment policies at the time of investment. An Underlying ETF that changes its investment policies subsequent to the time of the Portfolio’s investment may continue to be considered an appropriate investment for purposes of the policy. The Adviser may add new Underlying ETFs or replace or eliminate existing Underlying ETFs without notice or shareholder approval. The Underlying ETFs have been selected to represent a reasonable spectrum of investment options for the Portfolio. The Adviser may sell the Portfolio’s holdings for a variety of reasons, including to invest in an Underlying ETF believed to offer superior investment opportunities. The Portfolio may hold cash or invest in short-term paper and other short-term investments (instead of allocating investments to an Underlying ETF) as deemed appropriate by the Adviser.

The Portfolio also may lend its portfolio securities to earn additional income.

Principal Risks:

An investment in the Portfolio is not a deposit of a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency. The value of your investment may fall, sometimes sharply, and you could lose money by investing in the Portfolio. There can be no assurance that the Portfolio will achieve its investment objective.

The following risks can negatively affect the Portfolio’s performance. The most significant risks as of the date of this Prospectus are listed first, followed by additional risks in alphabetical order.

In this section, the term “Portfolio” may include the Portfolio, an underlying ETF, or both.

Market Risk: The Portfolio is subject to the risk that the securities markets will move down, sometimes rapidly and unpredictably, based on overall economic conditions and other factors, which may negatively affect Portfolio performance. Securities markets also may experience long periods of decline in value. Changes in the financial condition of a single issuer can impact a market as a whole. Geo-political risks, including terrorism, tensions or open conflict between nations, or political or economic dysfunction within some nations that are major players on the world stage, may lead to instability in world economies and markets, may lead to increased market volatility, and may have adverse long-term effects. Events such as natural disasters, public health crises (such as epidemics and pandemics) and social unrest, and governments’ reactions to such events, could cause uncertainty in the markets and may adversely affect the performance of the global economy. Adverse market conditions may not have the same impact on all types of securities. In addition, markets and market-participants are increasingly reliant on information data systems. Inaccurate data, software or other technology malfunctions, programming inaccuracies, unauthorized use or access, and similar circumstances may impair the performance of these systems and may have an adverse impact upon a single issuer, a group of issuers, or the market at-large.

Equity Risk: In general, the values of stocks and other equity securities fluctuate, and sometimes widely fluctuate, in response to changes in a company’s financial condition as well as general market, economic and political conditions and other factors.

Volatility Risk: The Underlying ETFs selected by the Adviser may be unsuccessful in maintaining portfolios of investments that minimize volatility, and there is a risk that the Portfolio may experience more than minimum volatility. Securities held by the Underlying ETFs may be subject to price volatility and the prices may not be any less volatile than the market as a whole and could be more volatile. In addition, the use of volatility management techniques may limit an Underlying ETF’s and, in turn, the Portfolio’s participation in market gains, particularly during periods when market values are increasing, but market volatility is high.

Foreign Securities Risk: Investments in foreign securities involve risks in addition to those associated with investments in U.S. securities. Foreign markets may be less liquid, more volatile and subject to less government supervision and regulation than U.S. markets, and it may take more time to clear and settle trades involving foreign securities, which could negatively impact the Portfolio’s investments and cause it to lose money. Security values also may be negatively affected by changes in the exchange rates between the U.S. dollar and foreign currencies. Differences between U.S. and foreign legal, political and economic systems, regulatory regimes and market practices, as well as trade barriers and other protectionist trade policies (including those of the U.S.), governmental instability, or other political or economic actions, also may adversely impact security values. World markets, or those in a particular region, may all react in similar fashion to important economic, political or other developments. Events and evolving conditions in certain economies or markets may alter the risks associated with investments tied to countries or regions that historically were perceived as comparatively stable and make such investments riskier and more volatile. Regardless of where a company is organized or its stock is traded, its performance may be significantly affected by events in regions from which it derives its profits or in which it conducts significant operations.

Currency Risk: Investments that are denominated in or that provide exposure to foreign currencies are subject to the risk that those currencies will decline in value relative to the U.S. dollar. Any such decline may erode or reverse any potential gains from an investment in securities denominated in foreign currency or may widen existing loss. In the case of hedging positions, there is the risk that the U.S. dollar will decline in value relative to the currency being hedged. Currency rates may fluctuate significantly over short periods of time.

Emerging Markets Risk: Investments in emerging market countries are more susceptible to loss than investments in more developed foreign countries and may present market, credit, currency, liquidity, legal, political, technical and other risks different from, or greater than, the risks of investing in more developed foreign countries. Emerging market countries may be more likely to experience rapid and significant adverse developments in their political or economic structures, intervene in financial markets, restrict foreign investments, impose high withholding or other taxes on foreign investments, impose restrictive exchange control regulations, or nationalize or expropriate the assets of private companies, which may have negative impacts on transaction costs, market price, investment returns and the legal rights and remedies available to the Portfolio. In addition, the securities markets of emerging market countries generally are smaller, less liquid and more volatile than those of more developed foreign countries, and emerging market countries often have less uniformity in regulatory, accounting, auditing and financial reporting requirements or standards, which may impact the availability and quality of information about issuers, and less reliable clearance and settlement, registration and custodial procedures. Securities of issuers traded on foreign exchanges may be suspended. The likelihood of such suspensions may be higher for securities of issuers in emerging market countries than in countries with more developed markets. The risks associated with investments in emerging market countries often are significant, and vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction and company to company.

Risks Related to Investments in Underlying ETFs: The Portfolio’s shareholders will indirectly bear the fees and expenses paid by the Underlying ETFs in which it invests, in addition to the Portfolio’s direct fees and expenses. The cost of investing in the Portfolio, therefore, may be higher than the cost of investing in a mutual fund that invests directly in individual stocks and bonds. The Portfolio’s performance depends upon a favorable allocation by the Adviser among the Underlying ETFs, as well as the ability of the Underlying ETFs to generate favorable performance. The Underlying ETFs’ investment programs may not be complementary, which could adversely affect the Portfolio’s performance. The Portfolio’s net asset value is subject to fluctuations in the market values of the Underlying ETFs in which it invests. The Portfolio is also subject to the risks associated with the securities or other investments in which the Underlying ETFs invest, and the ability of the Portfolio to meet its investment objective will directly depend on the ability of the Underlying ETFs to meet their investment objectives. An index-based ETF’s performance may not match that of the index it seeks to track. An actively managed ETF’s performance will reflect its adviser’s ability to make investment decisions that are suited to achieving the ETF’s investment objective. It is also possible that an active trading market for an Underlying ETF may not develop or be maintained, in which case the liquidity and value of the Portfolio’s investment in the Underlying ETF could be substantially and adversely affected. The extent to which the investment performance and risks associated with

the Portfolio correlate to those of a particular Underlying ETF will depend upon the extent to which the Portfolio’s assets are allocated from time to time for investment in the Underlying ETF, which will vary.

Portfolio Management Risk: The Portfolio is subject to the risk that strategies used by an investment manager and its securities selections fail to produce the intended results. An investment manager’s judgments or decisions about the quality, relative yield or value of, or market trends affecting, a particular security or issuer, industry, sector, region or market segment, or about the economy or interest rates, may be incorrect or otherwise may not produce the intended results, which may result in losses to the Portfolio. In addition, many processes used in Portfolio management, including security selection, rely, in whole or in part, on the use of various technologies. The Portfolio may suffer losses if there are imperfections, errors or limitations in the quantitative, analytic or other tools, resources, information and data used, or the analyses employed or relied on, by an investment manager, or if such tools, resources, information or data are used incorrectly, fail to produce the desired results, or otherwise do not work as intended. There can be no assurance that the use of these technologies will result in effective investment decisions for the Portfolio.

Mid-Cap, Small-Cap and Micro-Cap Company Risk: Mid-cap, small-cap and micro-cap companies carry additional risks because the operating histories of these companies tend to be more limited, their earnings and revenues less predictable (and some companies may be experiencing significant losses), and their share prices more volatile than those of larger, more established companies, all of which can negatively affect their value. In general, these risks are greater for small-cap and micro-cap companies than for mid-cap companies.

Large-Cap Company Risk: Larger more established companies may be unable to respond quickly to new competitive challenges such as changes in technology and consumer tastes, which may lead to a decline in their market price. Many larger companies also may not be able to attain the high growth rate of successful smaller companies, especially during extended periods of economic expansion.

Large Shareholder Risk: A significant percentage of the Portfolio’s shares may be owned or controlled by the Adviser and its affiliates, other Portfolios advised by the Adviser (including funds of funds), or other large shareholders, including primarily insurance company separate accounts. Accordingly, the Portfolio is subject to the potential for large-scale inflows and outflows as a result of purchases and redemptions of its shares by such shareholders. These inflows and outflows could negatively affect the Portfolio’s net asset value and performance.

Securities Lending Risk: The Portfolio may lend its portfolio securities to seek income. There is a risk that a borrower may default on its obligations to return loaned securities. The Portfolio will be responsible for the risks associated with the investment of cash collateral and may lose money on its investment of cash collateral or may fail to earn sufficient income on its investment to meet obligations to the borrower. Securities lending may introduce leverage into the Portfolio. In addition, delays may occur in the recovery of loaned securities from borrowers, which could interfere with the Portfolio’s ability to vote proxies or to settle transactions.

Risk/Return Bar Chart and Table

The bar chart and table below provide some indication of the risks of investing in the Portfolio by showing changes in the Portfolio’s performance from year to year and by showing how the Portfolio’s average annual total returns for the past one- and five-year and since inception periods through December 31, 2020 compared to the returns of a broad-based securities market index. The additional broad-based securities market index shows how the Portfolio’s performance compared with the returns of another index that has characteristics relevant to the Portfolio’s investment strategies. Past performance is not an indication of future performance.

The performance results do not reflect any Contract-related fees and expenses, which would reduce the performance results.

Calendar Year Annual Total Returns — Class IB

Best quarter (% and time period)	Worst quarter (% and time period)
10.03% (2019 1st Quarter)	–20.64% (2020 1st Quarter)

Average Annual Total Returns

Average Annual Total Returns - 1290 VT Low Volatility Global Equity Portfolio	One Year	Five Years	Since Inception	Inception Date
Class IB Shares	(1.33%)	7.99%	6.63%	Oct. 28, 2013
Class K Shares	(1.10%)	8.25%	6.90%	Oct. 28, 2013
MSCI ACWI Minimum Volatility Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses, or taxes)	2.69%	9.17%	8.27%
MSCI AC World (Net) Index (reflects no deduction for fees or expenses)	16.25%	12.26%	9.06%

[1] Includes Tax Expense of 0.01% for Class IB and Class K shares.

[2] Pursuant to a contract, Equitable Investment Management Group, LLC (the “Adviser”) has agreed to make payments or waive its management, administrative and other fees to limit the expenses of the Portfolio through April 30, 2022 (unless the Board of Trustees consents to an earlier revision or termination of this arrangement) (“Expense Limitation Arrangement”) so that the annual operating expenses (including Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses) of the Portfolio (exclusive of taxes, interest, brokerage commissions, dividend and interest expenses on securities sold short, capitalized expenses, and extraordinary expenses not incurred in the ordinary course of the Portfolio’s business) do not exceed an annual rate of average daily net assets of 0.90% for Class IB shares and 0.65% for Class K shares of the Portfolio. The Expense Limitation Arrangement may be terminated by the Adviser at any time after April 30, 2022. The Adviser may be reimbursed the amount of any such payments or waivers made after June 30, 2020, in the future provided that the payments or waivers are reimbursed within three years of the payments or waivers being recorded and the Portfolio’s expense ratio, after the reimbursement is taken into account, does not exceed the Portfolio’s expense cap at the time of the waiver or the Portfolio’s expense cap at the time of the reimbursement, whichever is lower.