XML 45 R77.htm IDEA: XBRL DOCUMENT v3.8.0.1
Bond Fund
Bond Fund May 1, 2018
Investment Objective.
The Fund seeks current income,
with preservation of shareholders’ capital a secondary objective.
Fees and Expenses of the Fund.
The table below describes the fees and expenses you may pay if you buy and hold Fund shares. The expenses shown do not include Separate Account expenses which would increase costs if included.
Shareholder Fees (fees paid directly from your investment)
Shareholder Fees
Bond Fund
Bond Fund Class
USD ($)
Shareholder Fees (fees paid directly from your investment)
Annual Fund Operating Expenses
(expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
Annual Fund Operating Expenses
Bond Fund
Bond Fund Class
Management Fees 0.39%
Other Expenses 0.06%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses 0.45%
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: (a) that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your shares at the end of those periods, (b) a 5% return each year and (c) operating expenses remain the same. The expenses shown do not include Separate Account expenses which would increase costs if included. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, your cost based on these assumptions would be:
Expense Example
1 Year
3 Years
5 Years
10 Years
Bond Fund | Bond Fund Class | USD ($) 46 146 255 580
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 result in higher transaction costs. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the Example, affect the Fund’s performance. During the Fund’s most recently completed fiscal year, the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 10.65% of the average value of its portfolio.
Principal Investment Strategies.
The Fund invests primarily in publicly-traded, investment-grade debt securities.
  • At least 80% of the Fund’s total assets are invested in investment grade securities issued by U.S. corporations or by the U.S. Government or its agencies, such as bonds, notes, debentures, zero coupon securities and mortgage-backed securities. Bonds are debt instruments that can be issued by the federal government, government agencies and subdivisions, states, cities, corporations and other institutions.
  • Although the Fund only purchases investment-grade bonds, the Fund may continue to hold certain corporate bonds in the Fund’s portfolio that are downgraded to below investment grade, commonly referred to as “junk bonds.”
  • The Adviser evaluates each security to be purchased and selects securities based on maturity, credit quality as determined by fundamental analysis and interest income anticipated to be generated.
Principal Investment Risks.
An investment in the Fund is subject to the following risks which are described in more detail in the Prospectus.
  • General risk: The Fund may not achieve its investment objective. An investment in the Fund could decline in value, and you could lose money by investing in the Fund.
  • Market risk: The risk that prices of securities will go down because of the interplay of market forces may affect a single issuer, industry or sector of the economy or may affect the market as a whole.
  • Interest Rate risk: Securities may lose value as the interest rate changes because bonds tend to decrease in value as interest rates rise.
  • Mortgage risk: The duration of mortgage-related securities and interest rates tend to move together. As interest rates rise, the duration of mortgage-related securities extends and as interest rates fall, mortgage-related securities are often prepaid at a faster rate. Because of interest rate changes, it is not possible to predict the realized yield or average life of a mortgage-backed security.
  • Zero Coupon risk: Zero coupon securities and discount notes do not pay interest prior to maturity and therefore may be more difficult to resell during periods of interest rate changes. The market value of debt securities declines as interest rates rise; therefore the Fund may lose value if it sells zero coupon securities prior to their maturity date. The longer the remaining term to maturity, the greater impact interest rate changes will have on the value of the security.
  • Fixed Income risk: The value of your investment will go up or down depending on movements in the bond markets.
  • Investment management risk: The Fund’s investment results may differ from the results of a comparable bond market and from the results of other funds that invest in the same types of securities or particular debt securities.
  • Interest rate risk: Fixed income securities have an inverse relationship to interest rates, such that as interest rates rise, bond values decrease, and the Fund faces a heightened level of interest rate risk under current conditions because interest rates are near historically low levels.
  • Corporate Debt risk: During periods of economic uncertainty, the value of corporate debt securities may decline relative to the value of U.S. government debt securities. Debt obligations are subject to the risk that issuers may not be able to pay off the principal and interest when due.
  • Credit Risk: Debt obligations are generally subject to the risk that the issuer may be unable to make principal and interest payments when they are due.
  • Call Risk: When interest rates decline, an issuer may have an option to call the securities before maturity, resulting in reduced income.
  • Non-investment grade debt risk: Non-investment grade debt obligations, known as “junk bonds,” have a higher risk of default and tend to be less liquid than higher-rated securities.
  • Liquidity risk: The prices of debt securities may be subject to significant volatility, particularly as markets become less liquid due to limited dealer inventory of corporate bonds.
  • Extension risk: Mortgage-related and other asset-backed securities are subject to the risk that the issuer of such a security pays back the principal of such an obligation later than expected. This may occur when interest rates rise, and this may negatively affect fund returns.
Performance/Annual Return.
The bar chart and table below show the annual return and average annual returns of the Fund.

Below the bar chart are the Fund’s highest and lowest total returns for any calendar quarter during the period covered by the chart, showing the volatility of the Fund’s total returns. The numbers in parentheses are negative, representing a loss of principal.

The information indicates some of the risks of investing in the Fund by showing changes in the Fund’s performance from year to year and by showing how the Fund’s average annual returns for one, five, and ten years compare to those of a broad-based, unmanaged index for those periods. A fund’s past performance does not necessarily indicate how it will perform in the future.

The total returns and average annual total returns shown do not include charges against the assets of the Separate Accounts that purchase Fund shares. If these charges were reflected, returns would be less than those shown. Updated performance information is available at no cost online at http://www.mutualofamerica.com or by calling 1-800-468-3785.
Bar Chart
Best and Worst Performing Quarters

     Quarter/Year    Total Return  
Best   
Second quarter 2009
     5.92
Worst   
Second quarter 2013
     (2.68 )% 
Average Annual Total Returns (for periods ended December 31, 2017)
Average Annual Total Returns - Bond Fund
Past One Year
Past Five Years
Past Ten Years
Bond Fund Class 3.62% 2.77% 4.61%
Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index (Index reflects no deduction for fees and expenses) 3.54% 2.10% 4.01%