| Class A | Deutsche Alternative Asset Allocation VIP | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Deutsche Alternative Asset Allocation VIP | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Investment Objective | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The fund seeks capital appreciation. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Fees and Expenses of the Fund | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
This table describes the fees and expenses you may pay if you buy and hold shares of the fund. This information does not reflect fees associated with the separate account that invests in the fund or any variable life insurance policy or variable annuity contract for which the fund is an investment option. These fees will increase expenses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| SHAREHOLDER FEES (paid directly from your investment) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| ANNUAL FUND OPERATING EXPENSES (expenses that you pay each year as a % of the value of your investment) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Advisor has contractually agreed to waive its fees and/or reimburse fund expenses through April 30, 2019 to the extent necessary to maintain the fund's total annual operating expenses (excluding certain expenses such as extraordinary expenses, taxes, brokerage and interest expenses) at a ratio no higher than 0.86% for Class A shares. The agreement may only be terminated with the consent of the fund's Board. Because acquired fund fees and expenses are presented as of the fund's most recent fiscal year end, individual shareholders may experience total operating expenses higher or lower than this expense cap depending upon when shares are redeemed and the fund's actual allocations to acquired funds. In addition, the Advisor has contractually agreed through April 30, 2019 to waive its fees and/or reimburse certain operating expenses of the fund to the extent necessary to maintain the fund's total annual operating expenses (excluding certain expenses such as extraordinary expenses, taxes, brokerage and interest expenses and acquired funds fees and expenses) at a ratio no higher than 0.23% for Class A shares. The agreement may only be terminated with the consent of the fund's Board. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 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 (including one year of capped expenses in each period) remain the same. This example does not reflect any fees or sales charges imposed by a variable contract for which the fund is an investment option. If they were included, your costs would be higher. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 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 may indicate higher transaction costs. These costs are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the expense example, and can affect the fund's performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the fund's portfolio turnover rate was 55% of the average value of its portfolio. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Principal Investment Strategy | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Main Investments. The fund seeks to achieve its objective by investing in alternative (or non-traditional) investment strategies. Investments may be made in other Deutsche funds (i.e., mutual funds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and other pooled investment vehicles managed by Deutsche Investment Management Americas Inc., the fund's investment advisor, or one of its affiliates), or directly in the securities and derivative instruments in which such Deutsche fund could invest. The fund may also invest in securities of unaffiliated mutual funds, ETFs or exchange-traded notes (ETNs) (Deutsche funds and unaffiliated mutual funds, ETFs and ETNs are collectively referred to as "underlying funds"). The fund's allocations among direct investments and underlying funds may vary over time. Management process. Portfolio management utilizes a strategic asset allocation process to determine the non-traditional or alternative investment strategies that should be represented in the fund's portfolio. Investment strategies generally will fall into the following categories: Real Assets, Alternative Fixed Income, Alternative Equity, Absolute Return and Opportunistic. Real Assets investments have a tangible or physical aspect such as real estate or commodities. Alternative Fixed Income investments seek to offer exposure to categories generally not included in investors' allocations, such as bank loans and high yield debt securities (i.e. "junk bonds"), and to foreign investments, many of which are not denominated in US dollars. Alternative Equity investments are investments primarily in convertible and preferred instruments that offer equity exposure. Absolute Return investments include: (1) strategies that seek positive returns in all market environments and (2) cash or cash-like investments. Opportunistic investments are investments outside the other categories that may be identified by portfolio management as representing an opportunity to utilize a new alternative investment strategy. Portfolio management also utilizes a tactical asset allocation process to adjust allocations in response to short-term market changes. Tactical allocations reflect views from DWS's Chief Investment Officer and global research platform. Tactical allocations, which may include derivative instruments, have shorter investment horizons as positions reflect short-term views and are implemented by appropriately changing the existing allocations. As of December 31, 2017, the fund's allocation among investment strategies and underlying funds was:
It is possible that the fund's allocations may be focused in particular industries, asset classes, or sectors of the economy. The fund's allocations among investment strategies and underlying funds will change over time and there should be no expectation that current or past positions will be maintained in the future. Currency and interest rate strategies. In addition to the fund's or an underlying fund's main investment strategy, portfolio management of the fund or certain underlying funds may, from time to time, seek to enhance returns by employing proprietary quantitative currency strategies across developed and emerging market currencies using derivatives (contracts whose values are based on, for example, indices, currencies or securities), in particular forward currency contracts. Three main strategies may be employed: a carry strategy, a momentum strategy and a valuation strategy. In implementing the carry strategy, portfolio management of the fund or certain underlying funds will use a "relative value" analysis, seeking to systematically sell low interest rate currencies and buy high interest rate currencies. In implementing the momentum strategy, portfolio management of the fund or certain underlying funds will use multi-year exchange rate trends, seeking to systematically sell lower returning currencies and buy higher returning currencies. In implementing the valuation strategy, portfolio management of the fund or certain underlying funds will use a "fair value" analysis, seeking to systematically buy "undervalued" currencies and sell "overvalued" currencies. Portfolio management of the fund or certain underlying funds also may, from time to time, seek to enhance returns by employing various strategies to identify interest rate trends across developed markets using derivatives, in particular buying and selling interest rate futures contracts. In implementing these strategies, portfolio management of the fund or certain underlying funds may utilize proprietary rules-based interest rate indices. The notional amount of the fund's or an underlying fund's aggregate currency and interest rate exposure resulting from these strategies may significantly exceed the net assets of the fund or an underlying fund (and at times may exceed two times the fund's or an underlying fund's net assets). Securities Lending. The fund may lend securities (up to one-third of total assets) to approved institutions, such as registered broker-dealers, banks and pooled investment vehicles. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Main Risks | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
There are several risk factors that could hurt the fund's performance, cause you to lose money or cause the fund's performance to trail that of other investments. The fund may not achieve its investment objective, and is not intended to be a complete investment program. An investment in the fund is not a deposit of a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other governmental agency. Because the fund invests in underlying funds, the risks listed here include those of the various underlying funds as well as those of the fund itself. Therefore, in these risk descriptions the term "the fund" may refer to the fund itself, one or more underlying funds, or both. Asset allocation risk. Portfolio management may favor one or more types of investments or assets that underperform other investments, assets, or securities markets as a whole. Anytime portfolio management buys or sells securities in order to adjust the fund's asset allocation this will increase portfolio turnover and generate transaction costs. Security selection risk. The securities in the fund's portfolio may decline in value. Portfolio management could be wrong in its analysis of industries, companies, economic trends, the relative attractiveness of different securities or other matters. Stock market risk. When stock prices fall, you should expect the value of your investment to fall as well. Stock prices can be hurt by poor management on the part of the stock's issuer, shrinking product demand and other business risks. These may affect single companies as well as groups of companies. The market as a whole may not favor the types of investments the fund makes, which could adversely affect a stock's price, regardless of how well the company performs, or the fund's ability to sell a stock at an attractive price. There is a chance that stock prices overall will decline because stock markets tend to move in cycles, with periods of rising and falling prices. Events in the U.S. and global financial markets, including actions taken by the U.S. Federal Reserve or foreign central banks to stimulate or stabilize economic growth, may at times result in unusually high market volatility which could negatively affect performance. To the extent that the fund invests in a particular geographic region, capitalization or sector, the fund's performance may be affected by the general performance of that region, capitalization or sector. Underlying funds risk. Because the fund may invest in underlying funds, the fund's performance will be directly related to the performance of the underlying funds. To the extent that a given underlying fund underperforms its benchmark or its fund peer group, it may contribute to underperformance by the fund. In addition, the fund indirectly pays a portion of the expenses incurred by the underlying funds, which lowers performance. To the extent that the fund's allocations favor underlying funds with higher expenses, the overall cost of investing paid by the fund will be higher. The fund is also subject to the risk that an underlying fund may pay a redemption request made by the fund, wholly or partly, by an in-kind distribution of portfolio securities rather than in cash. The fund may hold such portfolio securities until the Advisor determines to dispose of them, and the fund will bear the market risk of the securities received in the redemption until their disposition. Upon disposing of such portfolio securities, the fund may experience increased brokerage commissions. Concentration risk – underlying funds. Any underlying fund that concentrates in a particular segment of the market (such as commodities, gold-related investments, infrastructure-related companies and real estate securities) will generally be more volatile than a fund that invests more broadly. Any market price movements, regulatory or technological changes, or economic conditions affecting the particular market segment in which the underlying fund concentrates will have a significant impact on the underlying fund's performance. While the fund does not concentrate in a particular industry, it may concentrate in an underlying Deutsche fund, and there is risk for the fund with respect to the aggregation of holdings of underlying funds. The aggregation of holdings of underlying funds may result in the fund having increased exposure to a particular industry or group of industries, or to a single issuer. Such increased exposure to industries or issuers may have the effect of increasing the volatility of the fund's returns. The fund does not control the investments of the underlying funds, and any increased exposure to industries or issuers occurs as a result of the underlying funds following their own investment objectives and strategies. ETF risk. Because ETFs trade on a securities exchange, their shares may trade at a premium or discount to their net asset value. An ETF is subject to the risks of the assets in which it invests as well as those of the investment strategy it follows. The fund incurs brokerage costs when it buys and sells shares of an ETF and also bears its proportionate share of the ETF's fees and expenses, which are passed through to ETF shareholders. ETN risk. Because ETNs are senior, unsecured, unsubordinated debt securities of an issuer (typically a bank or bank holding company), ETNs are subject to the credit risk of the issuer and may lose value due to a downgrade in the issuer's credit rating. The returns of an ETN are linked to the performance of an underlying instrument (typically an index), minus applicable fees. ETNs typically do not make periodic interest payments and principal typically is not protected. The value of an ETN may fluctuate based on factors such as time to maturity, level of supply and demand for the ETN, volatility and lack of liquidity in the underlying assets, changes in the applicable interest rates, and economic, legal, political or geographic events that affect the underlying assets. The fund bears its proportionate share of any fees and expenses borne by the ETN. Because ETNs trade on a securities exchange, their shares may trade at a premium or discount to their net asset value. Foreign investment risk. The fund faces the risks inherent in foreign investing. Adverse political, economic or social developments could undermine the value of the fund's investments or prevent the fund from realizing the full value of its investments. In June 2016, citizens of the United Kingdom approved a referendum to leave the European Union (EU) and in March 2017, the United Kingdom initiated its withdrawal from the EU, which is expected to take place by March 2019. Significant uncertainty exists regarding the United Kingdom's anticipated withdrawal from the EU and any adverse economic and political effects such withdrawal may have on the United Kingdom, other EU countries and the global economy. Financial reporting standards for companies based in foreign markets differ from those in the US. Additionally, foreign securities markets generally are smaller and less liquid than US markets. To the extent that the fund invests in non-US dollar denominated foreign securities, changes in currency exchange rates may affect the US dollar value of foreign securities or the income or gain received on these securities. Emerging markets risk. Foreign investment risks are greater in emerging markets than in developed markets. Investments in emerging markets are often considered speculative. Interest rate strategies risk. The success of the interest rate futures strategies depends, in part, on the effectiveness and implementation of portfolio management's proprietary strategies. If portfolio management's analysis proves to be incorrect, losses to the fund may be significant. The risk of loss is heightened during periods of rapid rises in interest rates. Currency strategies risk. The success of the currency strategies depends, in part, on the effectiveness and implementation of portfolio management's proprietary strategies. If portfolio management's analysis proves to be incorrect, losses to the fund may be significant and may substantially exceed the intended level of market exposure for the currency strategies. As part of the currency strategies, the fund will have substantial exposure to the risks of non-US currency markets. Foreign currency rates may fluctuate significantly over short periods of time for a number of reasons, including changes in interest rates and economic or political developments in the US or abroad. As a result, the fund's exposure to foreign currencies could cause lower returns or even losses to the fund. Although portfolio management seeks to limit these risks through the aggregation of various long and short positions, there can be no assurance that it will be able to do so. Interest rate risk. When interest rates rise, prices of debt securities generally decline. The fund may be subject to a greater risk of rising interest rates due to the current period of historically low rates. The longer the duration of the fund's debt securities, the more sensitive the fund will be to interest rate changes. (As a general rule, a 1% rise in interest rates means a 1% fall in value for every year of duration.) Inflation-indexed bond risk. Any rise in interest rates may cause inflation-indexed bonds to decline in price, hurting fund performance. If interest rates rise due to reasons other than inflation, the fund's investment in these securities may not be fully protected from the effects of rising interest rates. The fund may be subject to a greater risk of rising interest rates due to the current period of historically low rates. The performance of any bonds that are indexed to non-US rates of inflation may be higher or lower than those indexed to US inflation rates. The fund's actual returns could fail to match the real rate of inflation. Credit risk. The fund's performance could be hurt if an issuer of a debt security suffers an adverse change in financial condition that results in the issuer not making timely payments of interest or principal, a security downgrade or an inability to meet a financial obligation. Credit risk is greater for lower-rated securities. Because the issuers of high yield debt securities or junk bonds (debt securities rated below the fourth highest credit rating category) may be in uncertain financial health, the prices of their debt securities can be more vulnerable to bad economic news, or even the expectation of bad news, than investment-grade debt securities. Credit risk for high yield securities is greater than for higher-rated securities. High yield debt securities risk. High yield debt securities or junk bonds are generally regarded as speculative with respect to the issuer's continuing ability to meet principal and interest payments. High yield debt securities' total return and yield may generally be expected to fluctuate more than the total return and yield of investment-grade debt securities. A real or perceived economic downturn or an increase in market interest rates could cause a decline in the value of high yield debt securities, result in increased redemptions and/or result in increased portfolio turnover, which could result in a decline in net asset value of the fund, reduce liquidity for certain investments and/or increase costs. High yield debt securities are often thinly traded and can be more difficult to sell and value accurately than investment-grade debt securities as there may be no established secondary market. Investments in high yield debt securities could increase liquidity risk for the fund. In addition, the market for high yield debt securities can experience sudden and sharp volatility which is generally associated more with investments in stocks. Market risk. The market value of the securities in which the fund invests may be impacted by the prospects of individual issuers, particular sectors or governments and/or general economic conditions throughout the world due to increasingly interconnected global economies and financial markets. Senior loans risk. The fund invests in senior loans that may not be rated by a rating agency, registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission or any state securities commission or listed on any national securities exchange. Therefore, there may be less publicly available information about them than for registered or exchange-listed securities. The Advisor relies on its own evaluation of the creditworthiness of borrowers, but will consider, and may rely in part on, analyses performed by others. As a result, the fund is particularly dependent on the analytical abilities of the Advisor. Senior loans may not be considered "securities," and purchasers, such as the fund, therefore may not be entitled to rely on the anti-fraud and misrepresentation protections of the federal securities laws. Senior loans involve other risks, including credit risk, interest rate risk, liquidity risk, and prepayment and extension risk. Because affiliates of the Advisor may participate in the primary and secondary market for senior loans, limitations under applicable law may restrict the fund's ability to participate in a restructuring of a senior loan or to acquire some senior loans, or affect the timing or price of such acquisition. The fund also may be in possession of material non-public information about a borrower as a result of its ownership of a senior loan. Because of prohibitions on trading in securities of issuers while in possession of such information, the fund might be unable to enter into a transaction in a publicly-traded security of that borrower when it would otherwise be advantageous to do so. If the Advisor wishes to invest in the publicly traded securities of a borrower, it may not have access to material non-public information regarding the borrower to which other lenders have access. Prepayment and extension risk. When interest rates fall, issuers of high interest debt obligations may pay off the debts earlier than expected (prepayment risk), and the fund may have to reinvest the proceeds at lower yields. When interest rates rise, issuers of lower interest debt obligations may pay off the debts later than expected (extension risk), thus keeping the fund's assets tied up in lower interest debt obligations. Ultimately, any unexpected behavior in interest rates could increase the volatility of the fund's share price and yield and could hurt fund performance. Commodities-related investments risk. The commodities-linked derivative instruments in which the fund invests tend to be more volatile than many other types of securities and may subject the fund to special risks that do not apply to all derivatives transactions. For example, the value of commodity-linked derivative instruments may be affected by changes in overall market movements, commodity index volatility, changes in interest rates, or factors affecting a particular industry or commodity, such as drought, floods, weather, livestock disease, changes in storage costs, embargoes, tariffs, policies of commodity cartels and international economic, political and regulatory developments. Real estate securities risk. Real estate companies, including REITs, can be affected by the risks associated with direct ownership of real estate, such as general or local economic conditions, decreases in real estate value, increases in property taxes and operating expenses, liabilities or losses due to environmental problems, delays in completion of construction, falling rents (whether due to poor demand, increased competition, overbuilding, or limitations on rents), zoning changes, rising interest rates, lack of credit, failure of borrowers to repay loans and losses from casualty or condemnation. In addition, many real estate companies, including REITs, utilize leverage (and some may be highly leveraged), which increases investment risk. Further, REITs are dependent upon management skills, may not be diversified and may have relatively small market capitalizations, which can increase volatility. REITs must satisfy certain requirements in order to qualify for favorable tax treatment under applicable tax laws, and a failure to qualify could adversely affect the value of the REIT. By investing in REITs through a fund, a shareholder will bear expenses of the REITs in addition to expenses of the fund. Infrastructure-related companies risk. Infrastructure-related companies can be affected by various factors, including general or local economic conditions and political developments, general changes in market sentiment towards infrastructure assets, high interest costs in connection with capital construction and improvement programs, difficulty in raising capital, costs associated with compliance with changes in regulations, regulation or intervention by various government authorities, including government regulation of rates, inexperience with and potential losses resulting from the deregulation of a particular industry or sector, changes in tax laws, environmental problems, technological changes, surplus capacity, casualty losses, threat of terrorist attacks and changes in interest rates. A company is considered to be an infrastructure-related company if at least 50% of its non-cash assets are infrastructure assets or 50% of its gross income or net profits are derived, directly or indirectly, from the ownership, management, construction, operation, utilization or financing of infrastructure assets. Focus risk. To the extent that the fund focuses its investments in particular industries, asset classes or sectors of the economy, any market price movements, regulatory or technological changes, or economic conditions affecting companies in those industries, asset classes or sectors may have a significant impact on the fund's performance. Counterparty risk. A financial institution or other counterparty with whom the fund does business, or that underwrites, distributes or guarantees any investments or contracts that the fund owns or is otherwise exposed to, may decline in financial health and become unable to honor its commitments. This could cause losses for the fund or could delay the return or delivery of collateral or other assets to the fund. Convertible securities risk. The market value of a convertible security performs like that of a regular debt security; that is, when interest rates rise, the price of a convertible security generally declines. In addition, convertible securities are subject to the risk that the issuer will not be able to pay interest or dividends when due, and their price may change based on changes in the issuer's financial condition. Because a convertible security derives a portion of its value from the common stock into which it may be converted, market and issuer risks that apply to the underlying common stock could impact the price of the convertible security. Preferred stock risk. Preferred stock generally has a preference as to dividends and liquidation over an issuer's common stock but ranks junior to debt securities in an issuer's capital structure. Preferred stock is subject to many of the risks associated with debt securities, including interest rate risk. In addition, preferred stock may not pay a dividend, an issuer may suspend payment of dividends on preferred stock at any time, and in certain situations an issuer may call or redeem its preferred stock or convert it to common stock. Liquidity risk. In certain situations, it may be difficult or impossible to sell an investment and/or the fund may sell certain investments at a price or time that is not advantageous in order to meet redemption requests or other cash needs. Unusual market conditions, such as an unusually high volume of redemptions or other similar conditions could increase liquidity risk for the fund. Pricing risk. If market conditions make it difficult to value some investments, the fund may value these investments using more subjective methods, such as fair value pricing. In such cases, the value determined for an investment could be different from the value realized upon such investment's sale. As a result, you could pay more than the market value when buying fund shares or receive less than the market value when selling fund shares. Tax status risk. Income and gains from commodities or certain commodity-linked derivatives do not constitute "qualifying income" to the fund for purposes of qualification as a "regulated investment company" for federal income tax purposes. If such income were determined to cause the fund's nonqualifying income to exceed 10% of the fund's gross income, the fund would be subject to a tax at the fund level. Securities lending risk. Any decline in the value of a portfolio security that occurs while the security is out on loan is borne by the fund and will adversely affect performance. Also, there may be delays in recovery of securities loaned or even a loss of rights in the collateral should the borrower of the securities fail financially while holding the security. Subsidiary risk. Certain underlying funds may invest in a wholly-owned subsidiary of the underlying fund formed under the laws of the Cayman Islands (the Subsidiary) that is not registered as an investment company under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, and therefore it is not subject to all of the investor protections of the Investment Company Act of 1940. A regulatory change in the US or the Cayman Islands that impacts the Subsidiary or how the underlying fund invests in the Subsidiary, such as a change in tax law, could adversely affect the underlying fund and the fund. By investing in the Subsidiary, the underlying funds and the fund are exposed to the risks associated with the Subsidiary's investments, which generally include the risks of investing in derivatives and commodities-related investments. Operational and technology risk. Cyber-attacks, disruptions, or failures that affect the fund's service providers or counterparties, issuers of securities held by the fund, or other market participants may adversely affect the fund and its shareholders, including by causing losses for the fund or impairing fund operations. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Past Performance | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
How a fund's returns vary from year to year can give an idea of its risk; so can comparing fund performance to overall market performance (as measured by an appropriate market index). Past performance may not indicate future results. All performance figures below assume that dividends and distributions were reinvested. For more recent performance figures, go to dws.com (the Web site does not form a part of this prospectus) or call the phone number included in this prospectus. This information doesn't reflect fees associated with the separate account that invests in the fund or any variable life insurance policy or variable annuity contract for which the fund is an investment option. These fees will reduce returns. Prior to July 12, 2013, the fund had a subadvisor and a different investment management team that operated with a different investment strategy. Performance would have been different if the fund's current investment strategy had been in effect. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
CALENDAR YEAR TOTAL RETURNS (%) (CLASS A) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Average Annual Total Returns (For periods ended 12/31/2017 expressed as a %) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Blended Index consists of 70% MSCI World Index and 30% Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index. The Advisor believes that the MSCI World Index, Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index, and the blend of each of these indexes, reflect the different components of the fund's typical asset allocations. |
