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Voya Retirement Moderate Growth Portfolio
Voya Retirement Moderate Growth Portfolio
INVESTMENT OBJECTIVE
The Portfolio seeks a high level of total return (consisting of capital appreciation and income) consistent with a level of risk that can be expected to be greater than that of Voya Retirement Moderate Portfolio but less than that of Voya Retirement Growth Portfolio.
FEES AND EXPENSES OF THE PORTFOLIO
The table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy and hold shares of the Portfolio. The table and expense example do not reflect fees or expenses that are, or may be, imposed under your variable annuity contracts or variable life insurance policies (“Variable Contract”) or a qualified pension or retirement plan (“Qualified Plan”). If these fees or expenses were included in the table, the Portfolio’s expenses would be higher. For more information on these charges, please refer to the documents governing your Variable Contract or consult your plan administrator.
Annual Portfolio Operating Expenses Expenses you pay each year as a % of the value of your investment
Annual Portfolio Operating Expenses - Voya Retirement Moderate Growth Portfolio
Class ADV
Class I
Management Fees [1] 0.24% 0.24%
Distribution and/or Shareholder Services (12b-1) Fees 0.50% none
Other Expenses 0.02% 0.02%
Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses 0.33% 0.33%
Total Annual Portfolio Operating Expenses [2] 1.09% 0.59%
Waivers and Reimbursements [3] (0.11%) none
Total Annual Portfolio Operating Expenses After Waivers and Reimbursements 0.98% 0.59%
[1] The Management Fee is computed at a rate of 0.24% of average daily net assets invested in affiliated Underlying Funds and 0.34% of average daily net assets invested in unaffiliated Underlying Funds and/or other investments.
[2] Total Annual Portfolio Operating Expenses shown may be higher than the Portfolio's ratio of expenses to average net assets shown in the Financial Highlights, which reflect the operating expenses of the Portfolio and do not include Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses.
[3] The adviser is contractually obligated to limit expenses to 1.04% and 0.79% for Class ADV and Class I shares, respectively, through May 1, 2021. The limitation does not extend to interest, taxes, investment-related costs, leverage expenses, and extraordinary expenses. This limitation is subject to possible recoupment by the adviser within 36 months of the waiver or reimbursement. The distributor is contractually obligated to waive 0.1106% of the distribution fee for Class ADV shares through May 1, 2021. Termination or modification of these obligations requires approval by the Portfolio’s board.
Expense Example
The Example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in shares of the Portfolio with the costs of investing in other mutual funds. The Example does not reflect expenses and charges which are, or may be, imposed under your Variable Contract or Qualified Plan. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Portfolio for the time periods indicated. The Example also assumes that your investment had a 5% return each year and that the Portfolio's operating expenses remain the same. The Example reflects applicable expense limitation agreements and/or waivers in effect, if any, for the one-year period and the first year of the three-, five-, and ten-year periods.

Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:
Expense Example - Voya Retirement Moderate Growth Portfolio - USD ($)
1 Yr
3 Yrs
5 Yrs
10 Yrs
Class ADV 100 336 590 1,319
Class I 60 189 329 738
Expense Example, No Redemption - Voya Retirement Moderate Growth Portfolio - USD ($)
1 Yr
3 Yrs
5 Yrs
10 Yrs
Class ADV 100 336 590 1,319
Class I 60 189 329 738
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 Portfolio Operating Expenses or in the Expense Example, affect the Portfolio's performance.

During the most recent fiscal year, the Portfolio's portfolio turnover rate was 39% of the average value of its portfolio.
PRINCIPAL INVESTMENT STRATEGIES
Under normal market conditions, the Portfolio invests in a combination of other funds (“Underlying Funds”) according to a model that is intended to reflect an allocation of approximately 65% of the Portfolio’s assets in equity securities and 35% of the Portfolio’s assets in fixed-income securities. The actual amount of Portfolio assets invested in equity securities may vary at any time and may range from 50% to 80% of its assets in equity securities and from 20% to 50% of its assets in fixed-income securities. The amount of Portfolio assets invested in equity securities and fixed-income securities are measured with reference to the primary investment strategies of the Underlying Funds; actual exposure to these asset classes will vary from these amounts if an Underlying Fund is not substantially invested in accordance with its primary investment strategy. Generally, most of the Underlying Funds in which the Portfolio invests will be passively managed index funds. The Underlying Funds may or may not be affiliated with the investment adviser.

Underlying Funds in which the Portfolio may invest for its exposure to equity securities hold a wide range of equity type securities which may include stocks of companies of any market capitalization and domestic and foreign securities, including emerging market securities. Underlying Funds in which the Portfolio may invest for its exposure to fixed-income securities hold debt instruments of varying maturities which may include corporate debt instruments of U.S. and non-U.S. issuers; securities issued or guaranteed by the U.S. government, its agencies or governmental-sponsored enterprises; and inflation-indexed bonds issued both by governments and corporations.

The Portfolio may also invest in derivative instruments including futures and swaps (including interest rate swaps, total return swaps, and credit default swaps) to make tactical allocations and to assist in managing cash.

The Portfolio may invest in exchange-traded funds to the extent permitted under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, and the rules, regulations, and exemptive orders thereunder (“1940 Act”).

In seeking the Portfolio's investment objective, the sub-adviser (“Sub-Adviser”) uses a proprietary investment model to determine the Portfolio's asset allocation between equity securities and fixed-income securities. The investment model generally seeks to manage the risk of the Portfolio's returns and may consider such factors as: (i) the investment objective of the Portfolio and each of the Underlying Funds; (ii) economic and market forecasts; (iii) proprietary and third-party reports and analysis; (iv) the risk/return characteristics and volatility of the Underlying Funds; (v) the correlation and covariance among the Underlying Funds; and (vi) Voya affiliated insurance companies' ability to hedge their risk in issuing guarantees on products offering guaranteed lifetime income or death benefits. The Portfolio's shares are offered to, among others, Separate Accounts of Voya insurance company subsidiaries as an investment option under variable annuity contracts which contain certain financial guarantees by those subsidiaries. The investment model will take into account the effect of the investment risk of the Portfolio on the Voya affiliated insurance companies' guarantee obligations and the companies’ ability to hedge their risks under those guarantees.

The Sub-Adviser may change the Portfolio's asset allocations, investments in particular Underlying Funds (including any Underlying Funds organized in the future), target allocations or other investment policies without prior approval of shareholders as it determines necessary to pursue the Portfolio's investment objective.
PRINCIPAL RISKS
You could lose money on an investment in the Portfolio. The value of your investment in the Portfolio changes with the values of the Underlying Funds and their investments. The Portfolio is subject to the following principal risks (either directly or through investments in one or more Underlying Funds). Any of these risks, among others, could affect the Portfolio's or an Underlying Fund's performance or cause the Portfolio or an Underlying Fund to lose money or to underperform market averages of other funds.

Affiliated Underlying Funds: The manager’s selection of Underlying Funds presents conflicts of interest. The net management fee revenue received by the manager and its affiliates will vary depending on the Underlying Funds it selects for the Portfolio, and the manager will have an incentive to select the Underlying Funds (whether or not affiliated with the manager) that will result in the greatest net management fee revenue to the manager and its affiliates, even if that results in increased expenses for the Portfolio. In many cases, investments in affiliated Underlying Funds will afford the manager greater net management fee revenue than would investments in unaffiliated Underlying Funds. In addition, the manager may prefer to invest in an affiliated Underlying Fund over an unaffiliated fund because the investment may be beneficial to the manager in managing the affiliated Underlying Fund, by helping the affiliated Underlying Fund achieve economies of scale or by enhancing cash flows to the affiliated Underlying Fund. In certain circumstances, the manager would have an incentive to delay or decide against the sale of interests held by the Portfolio in affiliated Underlying Funds and may implement portfolio changes in a manner intended to minimize the disruptive effects and added costs of those changes to affiliated Underlying Funds. Although the Portfolio may invest a portion of its assets in unaffiliated Underlying Funds, there is no assurance that it will do so even in cases where the unaffiliated Underlying Funds incur lower fees than the comparable affiliated Underlying Funds. If the Portfolio invests in an Underlying Fund with higher expenses, the Portfolio’s performance would be lower than if the Portfolio had invested in an Underlying Fund with comparable performance but lower expenses (although any expense limitation arrangements in place at the time might have the effect of limiting or eliminating the amount of that underperformance).

Asset Allocation: Investment performance depends on the manager’s skill in allocating assets among the asset classes in which the Portfolio invests and in choosing investments within those asset classes. There is a risk that the manager may allocate assets or investments to an asset class that underperforms compared to other asset classes or investments.

Company: The price of a company’s stock could decline or underperform for many reasons including, among others, poor management, financial problems, reduced demand for company goods or services, regulatory fines and judgments, or business challenges. If a company declares bankruptcy or becomes insolvent, its stock could become worthless.

Credit: The price of a bond or other debt instrument is likely to fall if the issuer’s actual or perceived financial health deteriorates, whether because of broad economic or issuer-specific reasons. In certain cases, the issuer could be late in paying interest or principal, or could fail to pay its financial obligations altogether.

Credit Default Swaps: The Portfolio may enter into credit default swaps, either as a buyer or a seller of the swap. A buyer of a swap pays a fee to buy protection against the risk that a security will default. If no default occurs, the Portfolio will have paid the fee, but typically will recover nothing under the swap. A seller of a swap receives payment(s) in return for an obligation to pay the counterparty the full notional value of a security in the event of a default of the security issuer. As a seller of a swap, the Portfolio would effectively add leverage to its portfolio because, in addition to its total net assets, the Portfolio would be subject to investment exposure on the full notional value of the swap. Credit default swaps are particularly subject to counterparty, credit, valuation, liquidity and leveraging risks and the risk that the swap may not correlate with its underlying asset as expected. Certain standardized swaps are subject to mandatory central clearing. Central clearing is expected to reduce counterparty credit risk and increase liquidity; however, there is no assurance that central clearing will achieve that result, and in the meantime, central clearing and related requirements expose the Portfolio to new kinds of costs and risks. In addition, credit default swaps expose the Portfolio to the risk of improper valuation.

Currency: To the extent that the Portfolio invests directly or indirectly in foreign (non-U.S.) currencies or in securities denominated in, or that trade in, foreign (non-U.S.) currencies, it is subject to the risk that those foreign (non-U.S.) currencies will decline in value relative to the U.S. dollar or, in the case of hedging positions, that the U.S. dollar will decline in value relative to the currency being hedged by the Portfolio through foreign currency exchange transactions.

Deflation: Deflation occurs when prices throughout the economy decline over time - the opposite of inflation. When there is deflation, the principal and income of an inflation-protected bond will decline and could result in losses.

Derivative Instruments: Derivative instruments are subject to a number of risks, including the risk of changes in the market price of the underlying securities, credit risk with respect to the counterparty, risk of loss due to changes in market interest rates and liquidity and volatility risk. The amounts required to purchase certain derivatives may be small relative to the magnitude of exposure assumed by the Portfolio. Therefore, the purchase of certain derivatives may have an economic leveraging effect on the Portfolio and exaggerate any increase or decrease in the net asset value. Derivatives may not perform as expected, so the Portfolio may not realize the intended benefits. When used for hedging purposes, the change in value of a derivative may not correlate as expected with the currency, security or other risk being hedged. When used as an alternative or substitute for direct cash investment, the return provided by the derivative may not provide the same return as direct cash investment. In addition, given their complexity, derivatives expose the Portfolio to the risk of improper valuation.

Foreign Investments/Developing and Emerging Markets:
Investing in foreign (non-U.S.) securities may result in the Portfolio experiencing more rapid and extreme changes in value than a fund that invests exclusively in securities of U.S. companies due to: smaller markets; differing reporting, accounting, and auditing standards; nationalization, expropriation, or confiscatory taxation; foreign currency fluctuations, currency blockage, or replacement; potential for default on sovereign debt; or political changes or diplomatic developments, which may include the imposition of economic sanctions or other measures by the United States or other governments and supranational organizations. Markets and economies throughout the world are becoming increasingly interconnected, and conditions or events in one market, country or region may adversely impact investments or issuers in another market, country or region.
Foreign investment risks may be greater in developing and emerging markets than in developed markets.

Growth Investing: Prices of growth stocks are more sensitive to investor perceptions of the issuing company’s growth potential and may fall quickly and significantly if investors suspect that actual growth may be less than expected. There is a risk that funds that invest in growth-oriented stocks may underperform other funds that invest more broadly. Growth stocks tend to be more volatile than value stocks, and may underperform the market as a whole over any given time period.

Index Strategy: An Underlying Fund that seeks to track an index’s performance and does not use defensive strategies or attempt to reduce its exposure to poor performing securities in an index may underperform the overall market. To the extent an Underlying Fund’s investments track its target index, such Underlying Index Fund may underperform other funds that invest more broadly. The correlation between an Underlying Index Fund’s performance and index performance will be reduced by the Underlying Index Fund’s expenses and could be reduced by the timing of purchases and redemptions of the Underlying Index Fund’s shares. In addition, an Underlying Index Fund’s actual holdings might not match the index and an Underlying Index Fund’s effective exposure to index securities at any given time may not precisely correlate. When deciding between Underlying Index Funds benchmarked to the same index, the manager may not select the Underlying Index Fund with the lowest expenses. In particular, when deciding between Underlying Index Funds benchmarked to the same index, the manager will generally select an affiliated Underlying Index Fund, even when the affiliated Underlying Index Fund has higher expenses than an unaffiliated Underlying Index Fund. When the Portfolio invests in an affiliated Underlying Index Fund with higher expenses, the Portfolio’s performance will be lower than if the Portfolio had invested in an Underlying Fund with comparable performance but lower expenses (although any expense limitation arrangements in place at the time might have the effect of limiting or eliminating the amount of that underperformance). The manager may select an unaffiliated Underlying Index Fund, including an exchange-traded fund, over an affiliated Underlying Fund benchmarked to the same index when the manager believes making an investment in the affiliated Underlying Index Fund would be disadvantageous to the affiliated Underlying Index Fund, such as when the Portfolio is investing on a short term basis.

Inflation-Indexed Bonds: If the index measuring inflation falls, the principal value of inflation-indexed bonds will be adjusted downward, and consequently the interest payable on these securities (calculated with respect to a smaller principal amount) will be reduced. In addition, inflation-indexed bonds are subject to the usual risks associated with debt instruments, such as interest rate and credit risk. Repayment of the original bond principal upon maturity (as adjusted for inflation) is guaranteed in the case of U.S. Treasury inflation-indexed bonds. For bonds that do not provide a similar guarantee, the adjusted principal value of the bond repaid at maturity may be less than the original principal.

Interest Rate: With bonds and other fixed rate debt instruments, a rise in market interest rates generally causes values to fall; conversely, values generally rise as market interest rates fall. The higher the credit quality of the instrument, and the longer its maturity or duration, the more sensitive it is likely to be to interest rate risk. In the case of inverse securities, the interest rate paid by the securities is a floating rate, which generally will decrease when the market rate of interest to which the inverse security is indexed increases and will increase when the market rate of interest to which the inverse security is indexed decreases. As of the date of this Prospectus, the United States experiences a low interest rate environment, which may increase the Portfolio’s exposure to risks associated with rising market interest rates. Rising market interest rates could have unpredictable effects on the markets and may expose fixed-income and related markets to heightened volatility. To the extent that the Portfolio invests in fixed-income securities, an increase in market interest rates may lead to increased redemptions and increased portfolio turnover, which could reduce liquidity for certain investments, adversely affect values, and increase costs. Increased redemptions may cause the Portfolio to liquidate portfolio positions when it may not be advantageous to do so and may lower returns. If dealer capacity in fixed-income markets is insufficient for market conditions, it may further inhibit liquidity and increase volatility in the fixed-income markets. Further, recent and potential future changes in government policy may affect interest rates.

Investing through Stock Connect: Shares in mainland China-based companies that trade on Chinese stock exchanges such as the Shanghai Stock Exchange and the Shenzhen Stock Exchange (“China A-Shares”) may be purchased directly or indirectly through the Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect (“Stock Connect”), a mutual market access program designed to, among other things, enable foreign investment in the People’s Republic of China (“PRC”) via brokers in Hong Kong. There are significant risks inherent in investing in China A-Shares through Stock Connect. The underdeveloped state of PRC’s investment and banking systems subjects the settlement, clearing, and registration of China A-Shares transactions to heightened risks. Stock Connect can only operate when both PRC and Hong Kong markets are open for trading and when banking services are available in both markets on the corresponding settlement days. As such, if either or both markets are closed on a U.S. trading day, the Portfolio may not be able to dispose of its China A-Shares in a timely manner, which could adversely affect the Portfolio’s performance.

Investment Model: A manager’s proprietary model may not adequately allow for existing or unforeseen market factors or the interplay between such factors. Portfolios that are actively managed, in whole or in part, according to a quantitative investment model can perform differently from the market as a whole based on the investment model and the factors used in the analysis, the weight placed on each factor, and changes from the factors’ historical trends. Mistakes in the construction and implementation of the investment models (including, for example, data problems and/or software issues) may create errors or limitations that might go undetected or are discovered only after the errors or limitations have negatively impacted performance. There is no guarantee that the use of these investment models will result in effective investment decisions for the Portfolio.

Liquidity: If a security is illiquid, the Portfolio might be unable to sell the security at a time when the Portfolio’s manager might wish to sell, or at all. Further, the lack of an established secondary market may make it more difficult to value illiquid securities, exposing the Portfolio to the risk that the price at which it sells illiquid securities will be less than the price at which they were valued when held by the Portfolio. The prices of illiquid securities may be more volatile than more liquid investments. The risks associated with illiquid securities may be greater in times of financial stress. The Portfolio could lose money if it cannot sell a security at the time and price that would be most beneficial to the Portfolio.

Market: Stock prices may be volatile or have reduced liquidity in response to real or perceived impacts of factors including, but not limited to, economic conditions, changes in market interest rates, and political events. Stock markets tend to be cyclical, with periods when stock prices generally rise and periods when stock prices generally decline. Any given stock market segment may remain out of favor with investors for a short or long period of time, and stocks as an asset class may underperform bonds or other asset classes during some periods. Additionally, legislative, regulatory or tax policies or developments in these areas may adversely impact the investment techniques available to a manager, add to costs and impair the ability of the Portfolio to achieve its investment objectives.

Market Capitalization: Stocks fall into three broad market capitalization categories - large, mid, and small. Investing primarily in one category carries the risk that, due to current market conditions, that category may be out of favor with investors. If valuations of large-capitalization companies appear to be greatly out of proportion to the valuations of mid- or small-capitalization companies, investors may migrate to the stocks of mid- and small-sized companies causing a fund that invests in these companies to increase in value more rapidly than a fund that invests in larger companies. Investing in mid- and small-capitalization companies may be subject to special risks associated with narrower product lines, more limited financial resources, smaller management groups, more limited publicly available information, and a more limited trading market for their stocks as compared with larger companies. As a result, stocks of mid- and small-capitalization companies may be more volatile and may decline significantly in market downturns.

Market Disruption and Geopolitical: The Portfolio is subject to the risk that geopolitical events will disrupt securities markets and adversely affect global economies and markets. Due to the increasing interdependence among global economies and markets, conditions in one country, market, or region might adversely impact markets, issuers and/or foreign exchange rates in other countries, including the U.S. War, terrorism, global health crises and pandemics, and other geopolitical events have led, and in the future may lead, to increased market volatility and may have adverse short- or long-term effects on U.S. and world economies and markets generally. For example, the recent COVID-19 pandemic has resulted, and may continue to result, in significant market volatility, exchange trading suspensions and closures, declines in global financial markets, higher default rates, and a substantial economic downturn in economies throughout the world. Natural and environmental disasters and systemic market dislocations are also highly disruptive to economies and markets. Those events as well as other changes in non-U.S. and domestic economic, social, and political conditions also could adversely affect individual issuers or related groups of issuers, securities markets, interest rates, credit ratings, inflation, investor sentiment, and other factors affecting the value of the investments of the Portfolio and the Portfolio. Any of these occurrences could disrupt the operations of the Portfolio and of the Portfolio’s service providers.

Other Investment Companies: The main risk of investing in other investment companies, including exchange-traded funds (“ETFs”), is the risk that the value of the securities underlying an investment company might decrease. Shares of investment companies that are listed on an exchange may trade at a discount or premium from their net asset value. You will pay a proportionate share of the expenses of those other investment companies (including management fees, administration fees, and custodial fees) in addition to the expenses of the Portfolio. The investment policies of the other investment companies may not be the same as those of the Portfolio; as a result, an investment in the other investment companies may be subject to additional or different risks than those to which the Portfolio is typically subject.

Prepayment and Extension: Many types of debt instruments are subject to prepayment and extension risk. Prepayment risk is the risk that the issuer of a debt instrument will pay back the principal earlier than expected. This may occur when interest rates decline. Prepayment may expose the Portfolio to a lower rate of return upon reinvestment of principal. Also, if a debt instrument subject to prepayment has been purchased at a premium, the value of the premium would be lost in the event of prepayment. Extension risk is the risk that the issuer of a debt instrument will pay back the principal later than expected. This may occur when interest rates rise. This may negatively affect performance, as the value of the debt instrument decreases when principal payments are made later than expected. Additionally, the Portfolio may be prevented from investing proceeds it would have received at a given time at the higher prevailing interest rates.

U.S. Government Securities and Obligations: U.S. government securities are obligations of, or guaranteed by, the U.S. government, its agencies or government-sponsored enterprises. U.S. government securities are subject to market and interest rate risk, and may be subject to varying degrees of credit risk.

An investment in the Portfolio is not a bank deposit and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Federal Reserve Board or any other government agency.
PERFORMANCE INFORMATION
The following information is intended to help you understand the risks of investing in the Portfolio. The following bar chart shows the changes in the Portfolio's performance from year to year, and the table compares the Portfolio's performance to the performance of a broad-based securities market index/indices for the same period. The Portfolio's performance information reflects applicable fee waivers and/or expense limitations in effect during the period presented. Absent such fee waivers/expense limitations, if any, performance would have been lower. The bar chart shows the performance of the Portfolio's Class ADV shares. Performance for other share classes would differ to the extent they have differences in their fees and expenses.

Performance shown in the bar chart and in the Average Annual Total Returns table does not include insurance-related charges imposed under a Variable Contract or expenses related to a Qualified Plan. If these charges or expenses were included, performance would be lower. Thus, you should not compare the Portfolio's performance directly with the performance information of other investment products without taking into account all insurance-related charges and expenses payable under your Variable Contract or Qualified Plan. The Portfolio's past performance is no guarantee of future results.
Calendar Year Total Returns Class ADV (as of December 31 of each year)
Bar Chart
Best quarter: 3rd 2010, 9.26% and Worst quarter: 3rd 2011, -10.37%
Average Annual Total Returns % (for the periods ended December 31, 2019)
Average Annual Total Returns - Voya Retirement Moderate Growth Portfolio
1 Yr
5 Yrs
10 Yrs
Since Inception
Inception Date
Class ADV 20.02% 6.25% 7.46% Apr. 28, 2006
Class ADV | S&P Target Risk® Growth Index TR [1] 19.20% 6.63% 7.87%  
Class ADV | Russell 3000® Index [2] 31.02% 11.24% 13.42%  
Class ADV | MSCI EAFE® Index [1] 22.01% 5.67% 5.50%  
Class ADV | Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index [2] 8.72% 3.05% 3.75%  
Class I 20.40% 6.66% 7.87% Apr. 28, 2006
Class I | S&P Target Risk® Growth Index TR [1] 19.20% 6.63% 7.87%  
Class I | Russell 3000® Index [2] 31.02% 11.24% 13.42%  
Class I | MSCI EAFE® Index [1] 22.01% 5.67% 5.50%  
Class I | Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index [2] 8.72% 3.05% 3.75%  
[1] The index returns include the reinvestment of dividends and distributions net of withholding taxes, but do not reflect fees, brokerage commissions, or other expenses.
[2] The index returns do not reflect deductions for fees, expenses, or taxes.