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METROPOLITAN WEST STRATEGIC INCOME FUND
Metropolitan West Strategic Income Fund
Investment Objective
The Strategic Income Fund seeks to maximize long-term total return without tracking any particular markets or indices.
Fees and Expenses of the Fund
The table below describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy and hold shares of the Fund. You may pay additional fees to broker-dealers or other financial intermediaries for the purchase of Class I shares of the Fund.
Shareholder Fees (Fees paid directly from your investment)
Shareholder Fees - METROPOLITAN WEST STRATEGIC INCOME FUND - USD ($)
M Class
I Class
Shareholder Fees (Fees paid directly from your investment) none none
Annual Fund Operating Expenses (Expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
Annual Fund Operating Expenses - METROPOLITAN WEST STRATEGIC INCOME FUND
M Class
I Class
Management Fees [1] 0.99% 0.99%
Distribution (12b-1) Fees 0.25% none
Other Expenses 0.60% 0.54%
Shareholder Servicing Expenses [2] 0.09% 0.10%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses 1.84% 1.53%
[1] The management fee paid to Metropolitan West Asset Management, LLC (the “Adviser”) for providing services to the Fund consists of a basic fee at an annual rate of 1.20% of the Fund’s average daily net assets and a positive or negative performance adjustment of up to an annual rate of 0.70% (applied to the average net assets for the rolling 12-month performance period), resulting in a total minimum fee of 0.50% and a total maximum fee of 1.90%. The average monthly management fee for the period from April 1, 2018 through March 31, 2019 was 0.99% (annual rate) based on average net assets for the year ended March 31, 2019.
[2] The Fund is authorized to compensate broker-dealers and other third-party intermediaries up to 0.10% (10 basis points) of the M and I Class assets serviced by those intermediaries for shareholder services.
Example
This example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds. The example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your shares at the end of those periods. The example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:
Expense Example - METROPOLITAN WEST STRATEGIC INCOME FUND - USD ($)
1 Year
3 Years
5 Years
10 Years
Class M 187 579 995 2,159
Class I 156 483 834 1,824
Portfolio Turnover
The Fund 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 and may result in higher taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the example, affect the Fund’s performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 36% of the average value of its portfolio.
Principal Investment Strategies
The Fund pursues its objective by using techniques intended to provide absolute (positive) returns in all markets and employs a strategy intended to produce high income while exploiting disparities or inefficiencies in markets. The Fund focuses on inefficiencies related to secured or asset-backed debt compared with unsecured and subordinated debt or equity of companies and issuers. Additionally, the Fund focuses on longer-term cyclical anomalies in the fixed income markets to both enhance yield and realize potential price appreciation. These anomalies include shifts in the portfolio’s duration, yield curve anomalies, and sector and issue-specific dislocations.

The major strategies employed by the Adviser include relative value/arbitrage strategies (capital structure arbitrage, commodities/futures arbitrage, convertible arbitrage, and interest rate arbitrage), trading/market timing strategies (interest rate timing, yield curve relationship and arbitrage and sector and issue allocations), income strategies, high yield investment strategies, long-short or market-neutral equity strategies and event driven and special situation strategies.

To implement some or all of these strategies, the Fund’s portfolio investments typically include corporate bonds, mezzanine investments, bank loans, preferred stock, common stock, warrants, convertible bonds, municipal securities, mortgage-related and asset-backed securities (including collateralized debt obligations, which in turn include collateralized bond obligations and collateralized loan obligations), derivatives of asset-backed securities (including those involving net interest margins), other derivatives including credit default swaps and other swaps, currency futures and other futures, and options, foreign securities, U.S. Treasuries and agency securities, cash and cash equivalents, private placements, defaulted debt securities, restricted securities and unrated securities. The Fund’s fixed income investments may have interest rates that are fixed, variable or floating.

Under normal circumstances, the average dollar-weighted credit quality of the Fund’s long-term debt investments is investment grade or unrated and determined by the Adviser to be of comparable quality. The Fund may invest up to 50% of its assets in debt securities rated below investment grade (commonly known as “junk bonds”), or unrated and determined by the Adviser to be of comparable quality.

The Fund invests in the U.S. and abroad, including emerging markets. The Fund may invest up to 25% of its assets in foreign securities that are denominated in U.S. dollars. Investments in securities of foreign issuers that are not denominated in U.S. dollars are limited to a maximum of 30% of the Fund’s assets. The Fund may also invest up to 15% of its assets in emerging market securities. Derivatives are used in an effort to hedge investments, for risk management, or to increase income or gains for the Fund. The Fund may also seek to obtain market exposure to the securities in which it invests by entering into a series of purchase and sale contracts or by using other investment techniques.

The Fund may normally borrow or sell securities short each up to 331/3% of the value of its total assets.
Principal Risks
Because the Fund holds securities with fluctuating market prices, the value of the Fund’s shares will vary as its portfolio securities increase or decrease in value. Therefore, the value of your investment in the Fund could go down as well as up. You can lose money by investing in the Fund.

The principal risks affecting the Fund that can cause a decline in value are:
  • Debt Securities Risk: the risk that the value of a debt security may increase or decrease as a result of various factors, including changes in interest rates, actual or perceived inability or unwillingness of issuers to make principal or interest payments, market fluctuations and illiquidity in the debt securities market.
  • Market Risk: the risk that returns from the securities in which the Fund invests may underperform returns from the general securities markets or other types of securities.
  • Interest Rate Risk: the risk that debt securities may decline in value because of changes in interest rates.
  • Credit Risk: the risk that an issuer may default in the payment of principal and/or interest on a security.
  • Price Volatility Risk: the risk that the value of the Fund’s investment portfolio will change as the prices of its investments go up or down.
  • Issuer Risk: the risk that the value of a security may decline for reasons directly related to the issuer, such as management performance, financial leverage and reduced demand for the issuer’s goods or services.
  • Liquidity Risk: the risk that lack of a ready market or restrictions on resale may limit the ability of the Fund to sell a security at an advantageous time or price. In addition, the Fund, by itself or together with other accounts managed by the Adviser, may hold a position in a security that is large relative to the typical trading volume for that security, which can make it difficult for the Fund to dispose of the position at an advantageous time or price. Over recent years, the fixed-income markets have grown more than the ability of dealers to make markets, which can further constrain liquidity and increase the volatility of portfolio valuations. High levels of redemptions in bond funds in response to market conditions could cause greater losses as a result. Regulations such as the Volcker Rule or future regulations may further constrain the ability of market participants to create liquidity, particularly in times of increased market volatility. The liquidity of the Fund’s assets may change over time.
  • Valuation Risk: the risk that the portfolio instruments may be sold at prices different from the values established by the Fund, particularly for investments that trade in low volume, in volatile markets or over the counter or that are fair valued.
  • Absolute Return Investing Risk: the risk of absolute return investing, which may involve greater risk than investing in a traditional portfolio of stocks or bonds. There is no guarantee that the performance of the Fund will have low correlation with the returns of traditional capital markets, and increased correlation between the Fund’s strategies and the traditional capital markets could result in an increase in the Fund’s overall volatility.
  • Multi-Strategy Investing Risk: the risk that the Adviser may not allocate effectively the Fund’s assets among multiple investment strategies. There is no guarantee that the Adviser’s allocations among different investment strategies will allow the Fund to achieve its investment objective or that a particular investment strategy will produce the expected investment results.
  • Prepayment Risk: the risk that in times of declining interest rates, the Fund’s higher yielding securities may be prepaid and the Fund may have to replace them with securities having a lower yield.
  • Extension Risk: the risk that in times of rising interest rates, borrowers may pay off their debt obligations more slowly, causing securities considered short- or intermediate-term to become longer-term securities that fluctuate more widely in response to changes in interest rates than shorter-term securities.
  • Mortgage-Backed Securities Risk: the risk of investing in mortgage-backed securities, including prepayment risk and extension risk. Mortgage-backed securities react differently to changes in interests rates than other bonds, and some mortgage-backed securities are not backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government.
  • Asset-Backed Securities Risk: the risk of investing in asset-backed securities, including the risk of loss as a result of the impairment of the value of the underlying financial assets, prepayment risk and extension risk. Issuers of asset-backed securities may have limited ability to enforce the security interest in the underlying assets, and credit enhancements provided to support the asset-backed securities, if any, may be inadequate to protect investors in the event of default.
  • U.S. Government Securities Risk: the risk that debt securities issued or guaranteed by certain U.S. government agencies, instrumentalities, and sponsored enterprises are not supported by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government, and as a result, investments in securities or obligations issued by such entities involve credit risk greater than investments in other types of U.S. government securities.
  • Junk Bond Risk: the risk that junk bonds have a higher degree of default risk and may be less liquid and subject to greater price volatility than investment grade securities.
  • Unrated Securities Risk: the risk that unrated securities may be less liquid than comparable rated securities, and the risk that the Adviser may not accurately evaluate the security’s comparative credit rating.
  • Derivatives Risk: the risk of investing in derivative instruments, which includes liquidity, interest rate, market, credit and management risks as well as risks related to mispricing or improper valuation. Changes in the value of a derivative may not correlate perfectly with the underlying asset, reference rate or index, and the Fund could lose more than the principal amount invested. These investments can create investment leverage and may create additional risks that may subject the Fund to greater volatility and less liquidity than investments in more traditional securities.
  • Swap Agreements Risk: the risk of investing in swaps, which, in addition to risks applicable to derivatives generally, includes: (1) the inability to assign a swap contract without the consent of the counterparty; (2) potential default of the counterparty to a swap for those not traded through a central counterparty; (3) absence of a liquid secondary market for any particular swap at any time; and (4) possible inability of the Fund to close out a swap transaction at a time that otherwise would be favorable for it to do so.
  • Event Driven Strategies Risk: the risk of engaging in event driven investing, which involves attempting to predict the outcome of a particular transaction as well as the best time at which to commit capital to such a transaction. The success or failure of this strategy usually depends on whether the Adviser accurately predicts the outcome and timing of the transaction event. Also, major market declines that could cause transactions to be re-priced or fail may have a negative impact on the strategy.
  • Leverage Risk: the risk that leverage may result from certain transactions, including the use of derivatives and borrowing. This may impair the Fund’s liquidity, cause it to liquidate positions at an unfavorable time, increase its volatility or otherwise cause it not to achieve its intended result. To the extent required by applicable law or regulation, the Fund will reduce leverage risk by either segregating an equal amount of liquid assets or “covering” the transactions that introduce such risk.
  • Short Sales Risk: the risk that the use of short sales, which are speculative investments, may cause the Fund to lose money if the value of a security does not go down as the Adviser expects. The risk of loss is theoretically unlimited if the value of the security sold short continues to increase. In addition, the use of borrowing and short sales may cause the Fund to have higher expenses (especially interest and dividend expenses) than those of other mutual funds that do not engage in short sales.
  • Foreign Investing Risk: the risk that Fund share prices will fluctuate with market conditions, currency exchange rates and the economic and political climates of the foreign countries in which the Fund invests or has exposure. Investments in foreign securities may involve greater risks than investing in U.S. securities due to, among other factors, less publicly available information, less stringent and less uniform accounting, auditing and financial reporting standards, less liquid and more volatile markets, higher transaction and custody costs, additional taxes, less investor protection, delayed or less frequent settlement, political or social instability, civil unrest, acts of terrorism, and regional economic volatility.
  • Foreign Currency Risk: the risk that foreign currencies may decline in value relative to the U.S. dollar and affect the Fund’s investments in foreign currencies, in securities that are denominated, trade and/or receive revenues in foreign currencies, or in derivatives that provide exposure to foreign currencies.
  • Emerging Markets Risk: the risk of investing in emerging market countries, which is substantial due to, among other factors, higher brokerage costs in certain countries; different accounting standards; thinner trading markets as compared to those in developed countries; the possibility of currency transfer restrictions; and the risk of expropriation, nationalization or other adverse political, economic or social developments.
  • Sovereign Debt Risk: the risk that investments in debt obligations of sovereign governments may lose value due to the government entity’s unwillingness or inability to repay principal and interest when due in accordance with the terms of the debt or otherwise in a timely manner. The Fund may have limited (or no) recourse in the event of a default because bankruptcy, moratorium and other similar laws applicable to issuers of sovereign debt obligations may be substantially different from those applicable to private issuers and any recourse may be subject to the political climate in the relevant country.
  • Distressed and Defaulted Securities Risk: the risk that the repayment of defaulted securities and obligations of distressed issuers is subject to significant uncertainties.
  • Securities Selection Risk: the risk that the securities held by the Fund may underperform other funds investing in the same asset class or benchmarks that are representative of the asset class because of the portfolio managers’ choice of securities.
  • Portfolio Management Risk: the risk that an investment strategy may fail to produce the intended results.
  • Mezzanine Securities Risk: the risk of investing in mezzanine securities, which generally are rated below investment grade or unrated and present many of the same risks as senior loans, second lien loans and non-investment grade bonds. Mezzanine securities present additional risks because they typically are the most subordinated debt obligation in an issuer’s capital structure and are often unsecured. Mezzanine securities are also expected to be a highly illiquid investment.
Please see “Principal Risks” and “Other Risks” for a more detailed description of the risks of investing in the Fund.

Your investment in the Fund is not a bank deposit and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency, entity, or person.
Performance Information
The following bar chart and table provide some indication of the risks of investing in the Fund. The bar chart shows changes in the Fund’s performance from year to year. The bar chart shows performance of the Fund’s Class M shares. Class M performance is lower than Class I performance because Class I has lower expenses than Class M. The table compares the average annual total returns of the Fund to a broad-based securities market index. Total returns would have been lower if certain fees and expenses had not been waived or reimbursed. The inception dates of Class M shares and Class I shares of the Fund are June 30, 2003 and March 31, 2004, respectively. The Fund’s past performance (before and after taxes) is not necessarily an indication of how the Fund will perform in the future. Updated performance information for the Fund is available on our website at www.tcw.com or by calling (800) 241-4671.
Strategic Income Fund – Class M Shares Annual Total Returns for Years Ended 12/31
Bar Chart
Year-to-Date Total Return of Class M Shares as of June 30, 2019: 4.20%

Highest:        16.40%    (quarter ended September 30, 2009)
Lowest:        -5.72%    (quarter ended March 31, 2009)
Average Annual Total Returns (For Periods Ended December 31, 2018)
Average Annual Total Returns - METROPOLITAN WEST STRATEGIC INCOME FUND
1 Year
5 Years
10 Years
Since Inception
Inception Date
Class M 0.66% 1.99% 7.35% 4.03% Jun. 30, 2003
Class M | After Taxes on Distributions (0.89%) 0.65% 5.34% 1.95% Jun. 30, 2003
Class M | After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares 0.39% 0.92% 4.96% 2.25% Jun. 30, 2003
Class I 0.93% 2.29% 7.65% 3.45% Mar. 31, 2004
BofA Merrill Lynch 3-Month U.S. Treasury Bill Index +2% 3.91% 2.62% 2.38% 3.34%  
After-tax returns are calculated using the historical highest individual federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect the impact of state and local taxes. Actual after-tax returns depend on an investor’s tax situation and may differ from those shown. After-tax returns shown are not relevant to investors who hold their fund shares through tax-deferred arrangements, such as 401(k) plans or individual retirement accounts. After-tax returns are shown for only Class M Shares. After-tax returns for other classes will vary. In some cases, returns after taxes on distributions and sale of Fund shares may be higher than returns before taxes because the calculations assume that the investor received a tax deduction for any loss incurred on the sale of the shares.