Short Duration Income Portfolio

Short Duration Income Portfolio

INVESTMENT OBJECTIVE

The Fund’s investment objective is to seek a high level of income consistent with preservation of capital.

FEES AND EXPENSES

This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy and hold shares of the Fund. The table does not reflect the fees and expenses of variable annuity contracts or variable life insurance policies (together, “Variable Contracts”). If such fees and expenses were reflected, expenses shown would be higher.

Annual Fund Operating Expenses (Expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)

Annual Fund Operating Expenses		Short Duration Income Portfolio VC
Management Fees		0.35%
Other Expenses	[1]	0.71%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses		1.06%
Fee Waiver and/or Expense Reimbursement	[2]	(0.26%)
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver and/or Expense Reimbursement	[2]	0.80%

Example

The following 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, that dividends and distributions are reinvested, and that the Fund’s operating expenses remain the same (except that the example takes into account the expense limitation agreement between the Fund and Lord, Abbett & Co. LLC for the term of the agreement). The example does not reflect variable contract expenses, fees, and charges. If these expenses, fees, and charges were included, your costs would be higher. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:

Expense Example (USD $)	1 Year	3 Years	5 Years	10 Years
Short Duration Income Portfolio VC	82	311	560	1,271

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. These costs, which are not reflected in the annual fund operating expenses or in the example, affect the Fund’s performance. The Fund does not show any portfolio turnover because the Fund is newly organized and has not commenced operations as of the date of this prospectus.

PRINCIPAL INVESTMENT STRATEGIES

The Fund invests primarily in various types of short duration debt (or fixed income) securities. Under normal conditions, the Fund pursues its investment objective by investing at least 65% of its net assets in investment grade debt securities. Such investments primarily include:

• Corporate debt securities of U.S. issuers;

• Corporate debt securities of non-U.S. (including emerging market) issuers that are denominated in U.S. dollars;

• Mortgage-backed and other asset-backed securities, including privately issued mortgage-related securities and commercial mortgage-backed securities; and

• Securities issued or guaranteed by the U.S. government, its agencies or government-sponsored enterprises; and

• Inflation-linked investments.

The Fund may invest up to 35% of its net assets in any one or a combination of the following types of fixed income securities and other instruments:

• High-yield debt securities (commonly referred to as “lower-rated” or “junk” bonds);

• Debt securities of non-U.S. (including emerging market) issuers that are denominated in foreign currencies;

• Senior loans, including bridge loans, novations, assignments, and participations; and

• Convertible securities, including convertible bonds and preferred stocks.

The Fund will not invest 25% or more of its total assets in any industry; however, this limitation does not apply to mortgage-backed securities, privately issued mortgage-related securities, or securities issued by the U.S. government or its agencies and instrumentalities. The Fund may, and typically does, invest substantially in commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS), including lower rated CMBS.

The Fund attempts to manage interest rate risk through its management of the average duration of the securities it holds in its portfolio. Duration is a mathematical concept that measures a portfolio’s exposure to interest rate changes. The longer a portfolio’s duration, the more sensitive it is to interest rate risk; the shorter a portfolio’s duration, the less sensitive it is to interest rate risk. The Fund expects to maintain its average duration range between one and three years.

In addition, the Fund may invest in derivatives. Currently, the Fund expects to invest in derivatives consisting principally of futures, forwards, options, and swaps. The Fund may use derivatives in order to seek to enhance returns, to attempt to hedge some of its investment risk, to manage portfolio duration, or as a substitute position for holding the underlying asset on which the derivative instrument is based. For example, the Fund may invest in U.S. Treasury futures or sell U.S. Treasury futures short to adjust the Fund’s exposure to the direction of interest rates, or for other portfolio management reasons.

The Fund buys and sells securities using a relative value-oriented investment process and combines top-down and bottom-up analysis to construct its portfolio. The Fund uses a blend of fundamental research and quantitative tools to evaluate both potential opportunities and potential risks across different segments of the fixed income market. The Fund applies proprietary filters to this analysis to determine security selection, sector exposure, and term structure. The Fund engages in active and frequent trading of its portfolio securities.

The Fund generally will sell a security when the Fund believes the security is less likely to benefit from the current market and economic environment, shows signs of deteriorating fundamentals, or has reached its valuation target, among other reasons. The Fund seeks to remain fully invested in accordance with its investment objective; however, in response to adverse economic, market or other unfavorable conditions, the Fund may invest its assets in a temporary defensive manner.

PRINCIPAL RISKS

As with any investment in a mutual fund, investing in the Fund involves risk, including the risk that you may receive little or no return on your investment. When you redeem your shares, they may be worth more or less than what you paid for them, which means that you may lose a portion or all of the money you invested in the Fund. The principal risks of investing in the Fund, which could adversely affect its performance, include:

• Portfolio Management Risk: If the strategies used and securities selected by the Fund’s portfolio management fail to produce the intended result, the Fund may suffer losses or underperform other funds with the same investment objective or strategies, even in a rising market.

• Market Risk: The market values of securities will fluctuate, sometimes sharply and unpredictably, based on overall economic conditions and other factors. Although prices of debt securities tend to rise and fall less dramatically than those of equity securities, they may be subject to periods of heightened volatility, for example, if interest rates rise or the U.S. Federal Reserve continues to curb its bond buying program.

• Fixed Income Securities Risk: The Fund is subject to the general risks and considerations associated with investing in debt securities, including the risk that issuers will fail to make timely payments of principal or interest. Typically, shorter-term bonds are less volatile than longer-term bonds; however, longer-term bonds typically offer higher yields and more stable interest income than shorter-term bonds. Fixed income securities are subject to risks including interest rate risk, credit risk, and liquidity risk, all of which are described more fully below.

• Credit Risk and High-Yield Securities Risk: The issuer of a debt security owned by the Fund may fail to make timely payments of principal or interest, or may default on such payments. A debt security may decline in value if the issuer becomes less creditworthy, even when interest rates are falling, potentially making the security less liquid. These risks are greatest for high-yield debt securities, which have lower credit ratings. The prices of high-yield bonds in general may decline during periods of uncertainty or market turmoil, and the market for high-yield bonds generally is less liquid than the market for higher-rated securities. The Fund typically invests a greater percentage of its assets in high-yield securities and lower rated commercial mortgage-backed securities than other funds that invest in short duration fixed income securities. To the extent that the Fund invests in this manner, it will be subject to a greater amount of credit risk, including the risk of default, as compared to other short-term bond funds.

• Liquidity Risk: There may be few available buyers or sellers for a security, preventing the Fund from transacting in a timely manner or at an advantageous price, and subjecting the security to greater price fluctuations.

• Interest Rate Risk: A rise in prevailing interest rates generally will cause the price of a fixed rate debt security to fall. Generally, the longer the maturity of a security or weighted average maturity of the Fund, the more sensitive its price or value is to a rise in interest rates. Typically, periods of volatility and rising interest rates may lead to increased redemptions and decreased liquidity in the fixed income markets, making it more difficult to sell fixed income holdings to satisfy redemptions.

• Commercial Mortgage-Backed Securities Risk: Commercial mortgage-backed securities include securities that reflect an interest in, and are secured by, mortgage loans on commercial real property. Many of the risks of investing in commercial mortgage-backed securities reflect the risks of investing in the real estate securing the underlying mortgage loans. These risks reflect the effects of local and other economic conditions on real estate markets, the ability of tenants to make loan payments, and the ability of a property to attract and retain tenants. Commercial mortgage-backed securities may be less liquid and exhibit greater price volatility than other types of mortgage- or asset-backed securities.

• Government Securities Risk and Mortgage-Related Securities Risk: The Fund invests in securities issued or guaranteed by the U.S. government or its agencies and instrumentalities (such as the Government National Mortgage Association (“Ginnie Mae”), the Federal National Mortgage Association (“Fannie Mae”), or the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (“Freddie Mac”)). Unlike Ginnie Mae securities, securities issued or guaranteed by U.S. government-related organizations such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are not backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government and no assurance can be given that the U.S. government would provide financial support. Mortgage-related securities may be particularly sensitive to changes in economic conditions, including delinquencies and/or defaults. They are subject to prepayment risk (higher than expected prepayment rates of mortgage obligations due to a fall in market interest rates) and extension risk (lower than expected prepayment rates of mortgage obligations due to a rise in market interest rates). These risks increase the Fund’s overall interest rate risk. Some mortgage-related securities receive government or private support, but there is no assurance that such support will remain in place.

• Convertible and Other Equity-Related Securities Risk: Convertible securities are subject to the risks affecting both equity and fixed income securities, including market, credit, liquidity, and interest rate risk. Convertible securities tend to be more volatile than other fixed income securities, and the markets for convertible securities may be less liquid than markets for common stocks or bonds. A significant portion of convertible securities have below investment grade credit ratings and are subject to increased credit and liquidity risks.

• Inflation-Linked Investments Risk: The Fund may invest in Treasury Inflation Protected Securities (“TIPS”), which are U.S. government bonds whose principal automatically is adjusted for inflation as measured by the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (“CPI-U”), and other inflation-indexed securities issued by the U.S. Department of Treasury. Unlike traditional fixed income securities, the principal and interest payments of inflation-linked investments are adjusted periodically based on the inflation rate. The value of the Fund’s inflation-linked investments may be vulnerable to changes in expectations of inflation or interest rates and there is no guarantee that the Fund’s use of these instruments will be successful.

• Foreign Investments Risk: The Fund’s investment exposure to foreign (which may include emerging market) issuers generally is subject to the risk that the value of securities issued by foreign issuers may be adversely affected by political, economic and social volatility, lack of transparency or inadequate regulatory and accounting standards, inadequate exchange control regulations, foreign taxes, higher transaction and other costs, and delays in settlement. Because the Fund’s definition of foreign securities focuses on the currency in which the security is denominated rather than where the issuer is organized and/or operated, the percentage of the Fund’s assets that is exposed to foreign market risks may exceed the percentage of the Fund’s assets that the Fund defines as representing foreign securities. Emerging market securities generally are more volatile than other foreign securities, and are subject to greater liquidity, regulatory, and political risks.

• Senior Loan Risk: The Fund’s investments in floating or adjustable rate senior loans are subject to increased credit and liquidity risks. Senior loan prices also may be adversely affected by supply-demand imbalances caused by conditions in the senior loan market or related markets. Below investment grade senior loans, like high-yield debt securities, or junk bonds, usually are more credit than interest rate sensitive, although the value of these instruments may be affected by interest rate swings in the overall fixed income market.

• Derivatives Risk: Derivatives are subject to certain risks, including the risk that the value of the derivative may not correlate with the value of the underlying security, rate, or index in the manner anticipated by portfolio management. Derivatives may be more sensitive to changes in economic or market conditions and may become illiquid. Derivatives are subject to leverage risk, which may increase the Fund’s volatility, and counterparty risk, which means that the counterparty may fail to perform its obligations under the derivative contract.

• High Portfolio Turnover Risk: High portfolio turnover may result in increased brokerage fees or other transaction costs and reduced investment performance.

An investment in the Fund is not a deposit of any bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency. For more information on the principal risks of the Fund, please see the “More Information About the Fund – Principal Risks” section in the prospectus.

PERFORMANCE

This prospectus does not show performance information for the Fund because the Fund has not commenced investment operations as of the date of this prospectus. Performance for the Fund, which provides some indication of the risks of investing in the Fund, will vary from year to year. After the Fund begins investment operations, updated performance information will be available at www.lordabbett.com or by calling 888-522-2388.

[1] Based on estimated amounts for the current fiscal year.

[2] For the period from April 14, 2014 through April 30, 2015, Lord, Abbett & Co. LLC has contractually agreed to waive its fees and reimburse expenses to the extent necessary to limit total annual operating expenses, excluding any acquired fund fees and expenses, to an annual rate of 0.80%. This agreement may be terminated only by the approval of the Fund's Board of Directors.