Nuveen Investment Funds, Inc.
         
[image]
 
Mutual Funds
 
29 December
2023
           
Fund Name
 
Class A
Class C
Class R6
Class I
Nuveen Credit Income Fund
 
FJSIX
FCSIX
FJSYX
Nuveen Flexible Income Fund
 
NWQAX
NWQCX
NQWFX
NWQIX
Nuveen Floating Rate Income Fund
 
NFRAX
NFFCX
NFRFX
NFRIX
Nuveen High Yield Income Fund
 
NCOAX
NCFCX
NCSRX
NCOIX
Nuveen Preferred Securities and Income Fund
 
NPSAX
NPSCX
NPSFX
NPSRX
Nuveen Strategic Income Fund
 
FCDDX
FCBCX
FSFRX
FCBYX
 
The Securities and Exchange Commission has not approved or disapproved these securities or passed upon the adequacy of this prospectus. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.
Prospectus


   
 
Table of Contents
   
 
Section 1  Fund Summaries
Section 2 How We Manage Your Money
Section 3 How You Can Buy and Sell Shares
Section 4 General Information
Section 5 Financial Highlights
Appendix—Variations in Sales Charge Reductions and
Waivers Available Through Certain Intermediaries A-1
   
 
 NOT FDIC OR GOVERNMENT INSURED MAY LOSE VALUE  NO BANK GUARANTEE

Section 1 Fund Summaries
Nuveen Credit Income Fund
Investment Objective
The investment objective of the Fund is to provide total return, with an emphasis on a high level of current income.
Fees and Expenses of the Fund
The following tables describe the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund. You may qualify for sales charge discounts if you and your family invest, or agree to invest in the future, at least $50,000 in the Fund or in other Nuveen Mutual Funds. More information about these and other discounts, as well as eligibility requirements for each share class, is available from your financial advisor and in “How You Can Buy and Sell Shares” on page 82 of the Fund’s prospectus and “Purchase and Redemption of Fund Shares” on page S-76 of the Fund’s statement of additional information. In addition, more information about sales charge discounts and waivers for purchases of shares through specific financial intermediaries is set forth in the appendix to the Fund’s prospectus entitled “Variations in Sales Charge Reductions and Waivers Available Through Certain Intermediaries.”
The tables and examples below do not reflect any commissions that shareholders may be required to pay directly to their financial intermediaries when buying or selling Class I shares.
Shareholder Fees
(fees paid directly from your investment)
                 
     
Class A
 
Class C
 
Class I
 
Maximum Sales Charge (Load) Imposed on Purchases
(as a percentage of offering price)
   
4.75%
 
None
 
None
 
Maximum Deferred Sales Charge (Load)
(as a percentage of the lesser of purchase price or redemption proceeds)1
   
None
 
1.00%
 
None
 
Maximum Sales Charge (Load) Imposed on Reinvested Dividends
   
None
 
None
 
None
 
Exchange Fee
   
None
 
None
 
None
 
Annual Low Balance Account Fee (for accounts under $1,000)2
   
$15
 
$15
 
$15
 
Annual Fund Operating Expenses
(expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
                                 
     
Class A
 
Class C
 
Class I
 
Management Fees
       
0.60
%
 
0.60
%
 
0.60
%
Distribution and/or Service (12b-1) Fees
       
0.25
%
 
1.00
%
 
0.00
%
Other Expenses
                       
Interest and Related Expenses3
       
0.01
%
 
0.01
%
 
0.01
%
Remainder of Other Expenses
       
0.37
%
 
0.37
%
 
0.37
%
Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses
       
0.02
%
 
0.02
%
 
0.02
%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses
       
1.25
%
 
2.00
%
 
1.00
%
Fee Waivers and/or Expense Reimbursements4
       
(0.22
)%
 
(0.22
)%
 
(0.22
)%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waivers and/or Expense Reimbursements
       
1.03
%
 
1.78
%
 
0.78
%
1 The contingent deferred sales charge on Class C shares applies only to redemptions within 12 months of purchase.
2 Fee applies to the following types of accounts under $1,000 held directly with the Fund: individual retirement accounts (IRAs), Coverdell Education Savings Accounts and accounts established pursuant to the Uniform Transfers to Minors Act (UTMA) or Uniform Gifts to Minors Act (UGMA).
3 Includes interest expense and fees paid on Fund borrowings.
4 The Fund’s investment adviser has agreed to waive fees and/or reimburse expenses through July 31, 2025 so that the total annual operating expenses of the Fund (excluding 12b-1 distribution and/or service fees, interest expenses, taxes, acquired fund fees and expenses, fees incurred in acquiring and disposing of portfolio securities and extraordinary expenses) do not exceed 0.75% of the average daily net assets of any class of Fund shares. This expense limitation may be terminated or modified prior to July 31, 2025 only with the approval of the Board of Directors of the Fund.
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 either redeem or do not redeem your shares at the end of a period. The example also assumes that your investment has a 5%
   
2
Section 1 Fund Summaries

return each year, that the Fund’s operating expenses remain the same and that the fee waivers currently in place are not renewed beyond July 31, 2025. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:
                           
     
Class A
 
Class C
 
Class I
 
1 Year
     
$
575
 
$
181
 
$
80
 
3 Years
     
$
819
 
$
593
 
$
283
 
5 Years
     
$
1,096
 
$
1,045
 
$
518
 
10 Years
     
$
1,885
 
$
2,299
 
$
1,192
 
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 86% of the average value of its portfolio.
Principal Investment Strategies
Under normal circumstances, the Fund invests at least 80% of the sum of its net assets and the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes in credit and credit-related instruments. Credit and credit-related instruments include, but are not limited to:
· domestic and foreign corporate debt obligations, including bonds, notes, debentures, commercial paper and other obligations of corporations to pay interest and repay principal;
· fixed and floating rate loans, including senior loans and secured and unsecured junior loans, in an amount not to exceed 30% of the Fund’s net assets;
· residential and commercial mortgage-backed securities;
· asset-backed securities;
· preferred securities and contingent capital securities (sometimes referred to as “CoCos”) in an aggregate amount not to exceed 20% of the Fund’s net assets;
· interests in senior, mezzanine, and subordinated/equity classes or “tranches” of collateralized loan obligations (“CLOs”);
· U.S. government securities (securities issued or guaranteed by the U.S. government or its agencies or instrumentalities); and
· debt obligations of foreign governments.
The Fund will invest at least 65% of its assets in securities rated lower than investment grade at the time of purchase or in unrated bonds of comparable quality as determined by the Fund’s sub-adviser (securities commonly referred to as “high yield” securities or “junk” bonds). There is no minimum rating requirement and no limitation on the average maturity or average effective duration of securities held by the Fund.
The Fund may invest without limitation in debt obligations of foreign corporations and governments. However, no more than 30% of the Fund’s total assets may be invested in securities of governmental and corporate issuers that are located in emerging market countries.
The Fund may invest in securities that have not been registered under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”) (“restricted securities”), including securities sold in private placement transactions between issuers and their purchasers and securities that meet the requirements of Rule 144A under the Securities Act (“Rule 144A securities”). Rule 144A securities may be resold under certain circumstances only to qualified institutional buyers as defined by the rule.
The Fund may invest in exchange-traded funds (“ETFs”), closed-end funds, and other investment companies (“investment companies”).
The Fund’s sub-adviser makes buy, sell, and hold decisions using a “top-down” approach, which begins with the formulation of the sub-adviser’s general economic outlook. Following this, various sectors and industries are analyzed and selected for investment. Finally, the sub-adviser selects individual securities within these sectors or industries. The sub-adviser also analyzes expected changes to the yield curve under multiple market conditions to help define maturity and duration selection.
   
Section 1 Fund Summaries
3

The Fund may utilize the following derivatives: options; futures contracts; options on futures contracts; foreign currency contracts; options on foreign currencies; swap agreements, including interest rate swaps, currency swaps, total return swaps and credit default swaps; and options on swap agreements. The Fund may use these derivatives in an attempt to manage market risk, currency risk, credit risk and yield curve risk, to manage the effective maturity or duration of securities in the Fund’s portfolio or for speculative purposes in an effort to increase the Fund’s yield or to enhance returns. The use of a derivative is speculative if the Fund is primarily seeking to enhance returns, rather than offset the risk of other positions.
Principal Risks
The value of your investment in this Fund will change daily. You could lose money by investing in the Fund. 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 government agency. The principal risks of investing in the Fund listed below are presented alphabetically to facilitate your ability to find particular risks and compare them with the risks of other funds. The significance of any specific risk to an investment in the Fund will vary over time depending on the composition of the Fund’s portfolio, market conditions and other factors. Each risk summarized below is considered a "principal risk" of investing in the Fund, regardless of the order in which it appears.
Active Management Risk—The Fund’s sub-adviser actively manages the Fund’s investments. Consequently, the Fund is subject to the risk that the investment techniques and risk analyses employed by the Fund’s sub-adviser may not produce the desired results. This could cause the Fund to lose value or its investment results to lag relevant benchmarks or other funds with similar objectives.
Call Risk—If, during periods of falling interest rates, an issuer exercises its right to prepay principal on its higher-yielding debt securities held by the Fund, the Fund may have to reinvest in securities with lower yields or higher risk of default, which may adversely impact the Fund’s performance.
Collateralized Loan Obligations Risk—A CLO is an asset-backed security whose underlying collateral is a pool of loans, which may include, among others, domestic and foreign floating rate and fixed rate senior secured loans, senior unsecured loans, and subordinate corporate loans, including loans that may be rated below investment grade. In addition to the risks associated with loans and high yield securities, CLOs are subject to the risk that distributions from the collateral may not be adequate to make interest or other payments; the quality of the collateral may decline in value or default; the Fund may invest in tranches of CLOs that are subordinate to other tranches; and the CLO’s manager may perform poorly. CLOs may charge management and other administrative fees, which are in addition to those of the Fund.
Contingent Capital Security Risk—CoCos have loss absorption mechanisms benefitting the issuer built into their terms. Upon the occurrence of a specified trigger or event, CoCos may be subject to automatic conversion into the issuer’s common stock, which likely will have declined in value and which will be subordinate to the issuer’s other classes of securities, or to an automatic write-down of the principal amount of the securities, potentially to zero, which could result in the Fund losing a portion or all of its investment in such securities. CoCos are often rated below investment grade and are subject to the risks of high yield securities.
Credit Risk—Credit risk is the risk that an issuer or other obligated party of a security may be, or perceived (whether by market participants, rating agencies, pricing services or otherwise) to be, unable or unwilling to make dividend, interest and principal payments when due and the related risk that the value of a security may decline because of concerns about the issuer’s ability or willingness to make such payments. Because the Fund invests at least 65% of the value of its assets in high yield securities, the Fund's credit risks are greater than those of funds that buy only investment grade securities.
Credit Spread Risk—Credit spread risk is the risk that credit spreads (i.e., the difference in yield between securities that is due to differences in their credit quality) may increase when the market believes that bonds generally have a greater risk of default. Increasing credit spreads may reduce the market values of the Fund’s debt securities. Credit spreads often increase more for lower rated and unrated securities than for investment grade securities. In addition, when credit spreads increase, reductions in market value will generally be greater for longer-maturity securities.
Currency Risk—Changes in currency exchange rates will affect the value of non-U.S. securities, the value of dividends and interest earned from such securities, gains and losses realized on the sale of such securities, and derivative transactions tied to such securities. A strong U.S. dollar relative to these other currencies will adversely affect the value of the Fund’s portfolio.
Cybersecurity Risk—Cybersecurity risk is the risk of an unauthorized breach and access to Fund assets, customer data (including private shareholder information), or proprietary information, or the risk of an incident occurring that causes the
   
4
Section 1 Fund Summaries

Fund, its investment adviser or sub-adviser, custodian, transfer agent, distributor or other service provider, a financial intermediary or the issuers of securities held by the Fund to suffer a data breach, data corruption or lose operational functionality. Successful cyber-attacks or other cyber-failures or events affecting the Fund, its service providers or the issuers of securities held by the Fund may adversely impact the Fund or its shareholders. Additionally, a cybersecurity breach could affect the issuers in which the Fund invests, which may cause the Fund’s investments to lose value.
Derivatives Risk—The use of derivatives involves additional risks and transaction costs which could leave the Fund in a worse position than if it had not used these instruments. Derivative instruments can be used to acquire or to transfer the risk and returns of a security or other asset without buying or selling the security or asset, and the risks associated with investing in such derivatives may be different and greater than the risks associated with directly investing in the underlying securities and other instruments, including leverage risk, market risk, counterparty risk, liquidity risk, operational risk and legal risk. These instruments may entail investment exposures that are greater than their cost would suggest. As a result, a small investment in derivatives can result in losses that greatly exceed the original investment. Derivatives can be highly volatile, illiquid and difficult to value. An over-the-counter derivative transaction between the Fund and a counterparty that is not cleared through a central counterparty also involves the risk that a loss may be sustained as a result of the failure of the counterparty to the contract to make required payments. The payment obligation for a cleared derivative transaction is guaranteed by a central counterparty, which exposes the Fund to the creditworthiness of the central counterparty.
Emerging Markets Risk—The risk of foreign investment often increases in countries with emerging markets or that are otherwise economically tied to emerging market countries. For example, these countries may have more unstable governments than developed countries and their economies may be based on only a few industries. Emerging market countries may also have less stringent regulation of accounting, auditing, financial reporting and recordkeeping requirements, which would affect the Fund’s ability to evaluate potential portfolio companies. As a result, there could be less information about issuers in emerging market countries, which could negatively affect the ability of the Fund’s sub-adviser to evaluate local companies or their potential impact on the Fund’s performance. Because their financial markets may be very small, prices of financial instruments in emerging market countries may be volatile and difficult to determine. Financial instruments of issuers in these countries may have lower overall liquidity than those of issuers in more developed countries. In addition, foreign investors such as the Fund are subject to a variety of special restrictions in many emerging market countries. Shareholder claims and regulatory actions that are available in the U.S. may be difficult or impossible to pursue in emerging market countries.
ETF Risk—An ETF is subject to the risks of the underlying securities that it holds. In addition, for index-based ETFs, the performance of an ETF may diverge from the performance of such index (commonly known as tracking error). ETFs are subject to fees and expenses (like management fees and operating expenses) that do not apply to an index, and the Fund will indirectly bear its proportionate share of any such fees and expenses paid by the ETFs in which it invests. Moreover, ETF shares may trade at a premium or discount to their net asset value. As ETFs trade on an exchange, they are subject to the risks of any exchange-traded instrument, including: (i) an active trading market for its shares may not develop or be maintained, (ii) market makers or authorized participants may decide to reduce their role or step away from these activities in times of market stress, (iii) trading of its shares may be halted by the exchange, and (iv) its shares may be delisted from the exchange.
Foreign Investment Risk—Non-U.S. issuers or U.S. issuers with significant non-U.S. operations may be subject to risks in addition to those of issuers located in or that principally operate in the United States as a result of, among other things, political, social and economic developments abroad, as well as armed conflicts and different legal, regulatory and tax environments. Foreign investments may also have lower liquidity and be more difficult to value than investments in U.S. issuers. To the extent the Fund invests a significant portion of its assets in the securities of companies in a single country or region, it may be more susceptible to adverse conditions affecting that country or region. Foreign investments may also be subject to risk of loss because of more or less foreign government regulation, less public information, less stringent investor protections and less stringent accounting, corporate governance, financial reporting and disclosure standards.
High Yield Securities Risk—High yield securities, which are rated below investment grade and commonly referred to as “junk” bonds, and unrated securities of comparable quality are high risk investments that may cause income and principal losses for the Fund. They generally are considered to be speculative with respect to the ability to pay interest and repay principal, have greater credit risk, are less liquid, are more likely to experience a default and have more volatile prices than investment grade securities.
Illiquid Investments Risk—Certain securities held by the Fund are illiquid investments, which may be difficult to sell for the value at which they are carried, if at all, or at any price within the desired time frame.
   
Section 1 Fund Summaries
5

Income Risk—The Fund's income could decline during periods of falling interest rates or when the Fund experiences defaults on debt securities or defaults or deferrals on preferred securities it holds.
Interest Rate Risk—Interest rate risk is the risk that the value of the Fund’s fixed-rate securities will decline because of rising interest rates. Changing interest rates may have unpredictable effects on markets, result in heightened market volatility and detract from the Fund’s performance to the extent that it is exposed to such interest rates. Fixed-rate securities may be subject to a greater risk of rising interest rates than would normally be the case due to the effect of potential government fiscal policy initiatives and resulting market reaction to those initiatives. Higher periods of inflation could lead to government fiscal policies which raise interest rates. When interest rates change, the values of longer-duration fixed-rate securities usually change more than the values of shorter-duration fixed-rate securities. Conversely, fixed-rate securities with shorter durations or maturities will be less volatile but may provide lower returns than fixed-rate securities with longer durations or maturities. Rising interest rates also may lengthen the duration of securities with call features, since exercise of the call becomes less likely as interest rates rise, which in turn will make the securities more sensitive to changes in interest rates and result in even steeper price declines in the event of further interest rate increases. The Fund is also subject to the risk that the income generated by its investments may not keep pace with inflation.
Loan Risk—The lack of an active trading market for certain loans (including loan participations and assignments) may impair the ability of the Fund to realize full value in the event of the need to sell a loan and may make it difficult to value such loans. Portfolio transactions in loans may settle in as short as seven days but typically can take up to two or three weeks, and in some cases much longer. As a result of these extended settlement periods, the Fund may incur losses if it is required to sell other investments or temporarily borrow to meet its cash needs, including satisfying redemption requests. The risks associated with unsecured loans, which are not backed by a security interest in any specific collateral, are higher than those for comparable loans that are secured by specific collateral. For secured loans, there is a risk that the value of any collateral securing a loan in which the Fund has an interest may decline and that the collateral may not be sufficient to cover the amount owed on the loan. Interests in loans made to finance highly leveraged companies or transactions such as corporate acquisitions may be especially vulnerable to adverse changes in economic or market conditions. Loans may have restrictive covenants limiting the ability of a borrower to further encumber its assets. However, in periods of high demand by lenders like the Fund for loan investments, borrowers may limit these covenants and weaken a lender’s ability to access collateral securing the loan; reprice the credit risk associated with the borrower; and mitigate potential loss. The Fund may experience relatively greater realized or unrealized losses or delays and expenses in enforcing its rights with respect to loans with fewer restrictive covenants. Additionally, loans may not be considered “securities” and, as a result, the Fund may not be entitled to rely on the anti-fraud or other protections of the securities laws. Because junior loans have a lower place in an issuer’s capital structure and may be unsecured, junior loans involve a higher degree of overall risk than senior loans of the issuer. The Fund's investments in floating rate loans that pay interest based on the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) may experience increased volatility and/or illiquidity during the transition away from LIBOR, which was phased out.
Market Risk—The market value of the Fund’s investments may go up or down, sometimes rapidly or unpredictably and for short or extended periods of time, due to the particular circumstances of individual issuers or due to general conditions impacting issuers more broadly. Global economies and financial markets have become highly interconnected, and thus economic, market or political conditions or events in one country or region might adversely impact the value of the Fund’s investments whether or not the Fund invests in such country or region. Events such as war, terrorism, natural and environmental disasters and the spread of infectious illnesses or other public health emergencies may have a severe negative impact on the global economy, could cause financial markets to experience extreme volatility and losses, and could result in the disruption of trading and the reduction of liquidity in many instruments. Additionally, as inflation increases, the value of the Fund’s assets can decline.
Market Liquidity Risk—Reductions in trading activity or dealer inventories of securities such as bonds and preferred securities, which provide an indication of the ability of financial intermediaries to “make markets” in those securities, have the potential to decrease liquidity and increase price volatility in the markets in which the Fund invests, particularly during periods of economic or market stress. In addition, federal banking regulations may cause certain dealers to reduce their inventories of securities, which may further decrease the Fund’s ability to buy or sell securities. As a result of this decreased liquidity, the Fund may have to accept a lower price to sell a security, sell other securities to raise cash, or give up an investment opportunity, any of which could have a negative effect on performance. If the Fund needed to sell large blocks of securities to meet shareholder redemption requests or to raise cash, those sales could further reduce the securities’ prices and hurt performance.
   
6
Section 1 Fund Summaries

Mortgage- and Asset-Backed Securities Risk—These securities generally can be prepaid at any time, and prepayments that occur either more quickly or more slowly than expected can adversely impact the value of such securities. They are also subject to extension risk, which is the risk that rising interest rates could cause mortgages or other obligations underlying the securities to be prepaid more slowly than expected, thereby lengthening the duration of such securities, increasing their sensitivity to interest rate changes and causing their prices to decline. Mortgage-backed securities are particularly sensitive to prepayment risk, given that the term to maturity for mortgage loans is generally substantially longer than the expected lives of those securities. A mortgage-backed security may be negatively affected by the quality of the mortgages underlying such security, the credit quality of its issuer or guarantor, and the nature and structure of its credit support. Mortgage- and asset-backed securities that are not backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government are subject to the risk of default on the underlying mortgage, loan or asset, particularly during periods of economic downturn.
Other Investment Companies Risk—When the Fund invests in other investment companies, including ETFs, you bear both your proportionate share of Fund expenses and, indirectly, the expenses of the other investment companies. Furthermore, the Fund is exposed to the risks to which the other investment companies may be subject.
Preferred Security Risk—Preferred securities generally are subordinated to bonds and other debt instruments in a company’s capital structure and therefore will be subject to greater credit risk than those debt instruments. In addition, preferred securities are subject to other risks, such as having no or limited voting rights, being subject to special redemption rights, having distributions deferred or skipped, having floating interest rates or dividends, which may result in a decline in value in a falling interest rate environment, having fixed interest rates or dividends, which may result in a decline in value in a rising interest rate environment, having limited liquidity, changing or unfavorable tax treatments and possibly being issued by companies in heavily regulated industries.
Restricted Securities Risk—The market for restricted securities, including Rule 144A securities, typically is less active than the market for publicly traded securities. Rule 144A securities and other securities exempt from registration under the Securities Act carry the risk that their liquidity may become impaired and the Fund may be unable to dispose of the securities promptly or at current market value.
Sovereign Debt Risk—Sovereign debt instruments are subject to the risk that a governmental entity may delay or refuse to pay interest or repay principal on its sovereign debt. This may be due to, for example, cash flow problems, insufficient foreign currency reserves, political considerations, the relative size of the governmental entity’s debt position in relation to the economy or the failure to put in place economic reforms required by the International Monetary Fund or other multilateral agencies.
Unrated Security Risk—Unrated securities determined by the Fund’s sub-adviser to be of comparable quality to rated securities which the Fund may purchase may pay a higher interest rate than such rated securities and be subject to a greater risk of illiquidity or price changes. Less public information is typically available about unrated securities or issuers than rated securities or issuers.
U.S. Government Securities Risk—U.S. government securities are guaranteed only as to the timely payment of interest and the payment of principal when held to maturity. Accordingly, the current market values for these securities will fluctuate with changes in interest rates. Securities issued or guaranteed by U.S. government agencies and instrumentalities are supported by varying degrees of credit but generally are not backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government or may be subject to certain limitations. No assurance can be given that the U.S. government will provide financial support to its agencies and instrumentalities if it is not obligated by law to do so, which may increase the risk of loss to the Fund.
Valuation Risk—The sales price the Fund could receive for any particular security may differ from the Fund’s valuation of the investment, particularly for securities that trade in thin or volatile markets or that are valued using a fair value methodology. The debt securities in which the Fund invests typically are valued by a pricing service utilizing a range of market-based inputs and assumptions, including price quotations obtained from broker-dealers making markets in such instruments, cash flows and transactions for comparable instruments. There is no assurance that the Fund will be able to buy or sell a portfolio security at the price established by the pricing service, which could result in a gain or loss to the Fund. Pricing services generally price debt securities assuming orderly transactions of an institutional “round lot” size, but some trades may occur in smaller, “odd lot” sizes, often at lower prices than institutional round lot trades. Over certain time periods, such differences could materially impact the performance of the Fund, which may not be sustainable. Alternative pricing services may incorporate different assumptions and inputs into their valuation methodologies, potentially resulting in different values for the same securities. As a result, if the Fund were to change pricing services, or
   
Section 1 Fund Summaries
7

if the Fund’s pricing service were to change its valuation methodology, there could be a material impact, either positive or negative, on the Fund’s net asset value.
Fund Performance
The following bar chart and table provide some indication of the potential risks of investing in the Fund. The Fund’s performance information prior to July 7, 2020 reflects the Fund’s performance using an investment objective and investment strategies that differed from those currently in place. In view of these changes, the Fund’s performance record prior to this date might be less pertinent for investors considering whether to purchase shares of the Fund. 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 is available at www.nuveen.com/performance or by calling (800) 257-8787.
The bar chart below shows the variability of the Fund’s performance from year to year for Class A shares. The bar chart and highest/lowest quarterly returns that follow do not reflect sales charges, and if these charges were reflected, the returns would be less than those shown.
 
Class A Annual Total Return*
PerformanceBarChartData(2013:8.52,2014:-0.28,2015:-11.95,2016:21.46,2017:7.3,2018:-4.61,2019:16.53,2020:0.94,2021:4.64,2022:-10.61)
*Class A year-to-date total return as of September 30, 2023 was 6.66%. The performance of the other share classes will differ due to their different expense structures.
During the ten-year period ended December 31, 2022, the Fund’s highest and lowest quarterly returns were 10.49%
and -18.29%, respectively, for the quarters ended June 30, 2020 and March 31, 2020.
The table below shows the variability of the Fund’s average annual returns and how they compare over the time periods indicated with those of a broad measure of market performance and an index of funds with similar investment objectives. All 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. After-tax returns are shown for Class A shares only; after-tax returns for other share classes will vary. Your own actual after-tax returns will depend on your specific tax situation and may differ from what is shown here. After-tax returns are not relevant to investors who hold Fund shares in tax-deferred accounts such as IRAs or employer-sponsored retirement plans.
Both the bar chart and the table assume that all distributions have been reinvested. Performance reflects fee waivers, if any, in effect during the periods presented. If any such waivers had not been in place, returns would have been reduced.
   
8
Section 1 Fund Summaries

                     
 
 
Average Annual Total Returns
 
 
for the Periods Ended
 
 
December 31, 2022
 
 
1 Year
5 Years
10 Years
Class A (return before taxes)
 
(14.91
)%
 
(0.01
)%
 
2.19
%
Class A (return after taxes on distributions)
 
(16.63
)%
 
(2.13
)%
 
(0.47
)%
Class A (return after taxes on distributions and sale of Fund shares)
 
(8.77
)%
 
(0.83
)%
 
0.52
%
Class C (return before taxes)
 
(11.31
)%
 
0.21
%
 
2.07
%
Class I (return before taxes)
 
(10.33
)%
 
1.20
%
 
2.94
%
Bloomberg U.S. Corporate High Yield 2% Issuer Capped Bond Index1
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
(reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes)
 
(11.18
)%
 
2.30
%
 
4.03
%
Lipper Global High Yield Funds Category Average2
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
(reflects no deduction for taxes or sales loads)
 
(11.06
)%
 
1.06
%
 
2.85
%
 
                     
1
An issuer-constrained version of the U.S. Corporate High Yield Bond Index, which is an index designed to measure the performance of USD-denominated, fixed-rate corporate high yield bond market that limits each issuer to 2% of the index.
2
Represents the average annualized total return for all reporting funds in the Lipper Global High Yield Funds Category.
Management
Investment Adviser
Nuveen Fund Advisors, LLC
Sub-Adviser
Nuveen Asset Management, LLC
Portfolio Managers
     
Name
Title
Portfolio Manager of Fund Since
Jean C. Lin, CFA
Managing Director
January 2019
Karina Bubeck, CFA
Managing Director
July 2020
Aashh Parekh, CFA
Managing Director
July 2020
Brenda A. Langenfeld, CFA
Managing Director
August 2020
Mark Zheng, CFA
Senior Director
March 2023
Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares
You may purchase, redeem or exchange shares of the Fund on any business day through a financial advisor or other financial intermediary. The Fund’s initial and subsequent investment minimums generally are as follows, although certain financial intermediaries may impose their own investment minimums and the Fund may reduce or waive the minimums in some cases:
     
 
Class A and Class C
Class I
Eligibility and
Minimum Initial
Investment
$3,000 for all accounts except:
 $2,500 for Traditional/
Roth IRA accounts.
 $2,000 for Coverdell
Education Savings
Accounts.
 $250 for accounts opened through fee-based programs.
 No minimum for retirement plans.
Available only through fee-based programs and certain retirement plans, and to other limited categories of investors as described in the prospectus.
$100,000 for all accounts except:
 $250 for clients of financial intermediaries and family offices that have accounts holding Class I shares with an aggregate value of at least $100,000 (or that are expected to reach this level).
 No minimum for eligible retirement plans and certain other categories of eligible investors as described in the prospectus.
Minimum
Additional
Investment
$100
No minimum.
Tax Information
The Fund’s distributions are taxable and will generally be taxed as ordinary income or capital gains, unless you are investing through a tax-deferred account, such as an IRA or 401(k) plan (in which case you may be taxed upon withdrawal of your investment from such account).
   
Section 1 Fund Summaries
9

Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries
If you purchase shares of the Fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank or financial advisor), the Fund, its distributor or its investment adviser may pay the intermediary for the sale of Fund shares and related services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other financial intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your financial advisor or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.
   
10
Section 1 Fund Summaries

Nuveen Flexible Income Fund
Investment Objective
The Fund seeks to provide current income and capital appreciation.
Fees and Expenses of the Fund
The following tables describe the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund. You may qualify for sales charge discounts if you and your family invest, or agree to invest in the future, at least $50,000 in the Fund or in other Nuveen Mutual Funds. More information about these and other discounts, as well as eligibility requirements for each share class, is available from your financial advisor and in “How You Can Buy and Sell Shares” on page 82 of the Fund’s prospectus and “Purchase and Redemption of Fund Shares” on page S-71 of the Fund’s statement of additional information. In addition, more information about sales charge discounts and waivers for purchases of shares through specific financial intermediaries is set forth in the appendix to the Fund’s prospectus entitled “Variations in Sales Charge Reductions and Waivers Available Through Certain Intermediaries.”
The tables and examples below do not reflect any commissions that shareholders may be required to pay directly to their financial intermediaries when buying or selling Class I shares.
Shareholder Fees
(fees paid directly from your investment)
                 
 
Class A
 
Class C
 
Class R6
 
Class I
 
Maximum Sales Charge (Load) Imposed on Purchases
(as a percentage of offering price)
4.75%
 
None
 
None
 
None
 
Maximum Deferred Sales Charge (Load)
(as a percentage of the lesser of purchase price or redemption proceeds)1
None
 
1.00%
 
None
 
None
 
Maximum Sales Charge (Load) Imposed on Reinvested Dividends
None
 
None
 
None
 
None
 
Exchange Fee
None
 
None
 
None
 
None
 
Annual Low Balance Account Fee (for accounts under $1,000)2
$15
 
$15
 
None
 
$15
 
Annual Fund Operating Expenses
(expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
                                 
 
Class A
 
Class C
 
Class R6
 
Class I
 
Management Fees
 
0.68
%
 
0.68
%
 
0.68
%
 
0.68
%
Distribution and/or Service (12b-1) Fees
 
0.25
%
 
1.00
%
 
0.00
%
 
0.00
%
Other Expenses
 
0.10
%
 
0.10
%
 
0.04
%
 
0.10
%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses
 
1.03
%
 
1.78
%
 
0.72
%
 
0.78
%
Fee Waivers and/or Expense Reimbursements3
 
(0.07
)%
 
(0.07
)%
 
(0.07
)%
 
(0.07
)%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waivers and/or Expense Reimbursements
 
0.96
%
 
1.71
%
 
0.65
%
 
0.71
%
1 The contingent deferred sales charge on Class C shares applies only to redemptions within 12 months of purchase.
2 Fee applies to the following types of accounts under $1,000 held directly with the Fund: individual retirement accounts (IRAs), Coverdell Education Savings Accounts and accounts established pursuant to the Uniform Transfers to Minors Act (UTMA) or Uniform Gifts to Minors Act (UGMA).
3 The Fund’s investment adviser has agreed to waive fees and/or reimburse expenses so that the total annual operating expenses of the Fund (excluding 12b-1 distribution and/or service fees, interest expenses, taxes, acquired fund fees and expenses, fees incurred in acquiring and disposing of portfolio securities and extraordinary expenses) do not exceed 0.75% through July 31, 2025 or 1.25% after July 31, 2025 of the average daily net assets of any class of Fund shares. However, because Class R6 shares are not subject to sub-transfer agent and similar fees, the total annual operating expenses for the Class R6 shares will be less than the expense limitation. The expense limitation expiring July 31, 2025 may be terminated or modified prior to that date only with the approval of the Board of Trustees of the Fund. The expense limitation in effect thereafter may be terminated or modified only with the approval of shareholders of the Fund.
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 either redeem or do not redeem your shares at the end of a period. The example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses are at the lesser of Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses or the applicable expense limitation. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:
   
Section 1 Fund Summaries
11

                           
 
Class A
 
Class C
 
Class R6
 
Class I
 
1 Year
$
568
 
$
174
 
$
66
 
$
73
 
3 Years
$
777
 
$
549
 
$
219
 
$
238
 
5 Years
$
1,006
 
$
954
 
$
389
 
$
422
 
10 Years
$
1,665
 
$
2,085
 
$
884
 
$
956
 
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 26% of the average value of its portfolio.
Principal Investment Strategies
Under normal market conditions, the Fund invests at least 80% of its net assets in income producing debt, preferred and convertible securities. Debt securities in which the Fund invests include corporate debt securities, mortgage-backed securities, taxable municipal securities and U.S. government and agency debt securities.
The Fund may invest without limit in below-investment-grade securities, commonly referred to as “high yield” securities or “junk” bonds.
The Fund may invest up to 10% of its net assets in equity securities other than preferred securities, including common stocks, real estate investment trusts (“REITs”), depositary receipts and other types of securities with equity characteristics. The Fund may write covered call options on equity securities to generate additional income. To manage market risk and credit risk in its portfolio, the Fund may make short sales of equity securities and may utilize derivatives, including credit default swap agreements. The Fund’s short sales may equal up to 10% of the value of the Fund’s net assets. The Fund may use all or a portion of the proceeds of its short sales to purchase additional portfolio securities.
The Fund’s investments may include debt securities, preferred units and common units issued by master limited partnerships (“MLPs”), provided that the Fund may not invest more than 10% of its net assets in common units of MLPs.
The Fund may invest in securities that have not been registered under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”) (“restricted securities”), including securities sold in private placement transactions between issuers and their purchasers and securities that meet the requirements of Rule 144A under the Securities Act (“Rule 144A securities”). Rule 144A securities may be resold under certain circumstances only to qualified institutional buyers as defined by the rule.
The Fund may invest up to 50% of its net assets in dollar-denominated securities issued by non-U.S. companies.
The Fund’s sub-adviser employs a rigorous, bottom-up research-focused investment process that seeks to identify undervalued companies with positive risk/reward characteristics and the potential for downside protection. The sub-adviser’s investment process focuses on the attractiveness of a particular security within a company’s capital structure. The sub-adviser may choose to sell securities or reduce positions if it feels that a company no longer possesses favorable risk/reward characteristics, attractive valuations or catalysts, if it identifies better alternatives within a company’s capital structure, or if a company suspends or is projected to suspend its dividend or interest payments.
Principal Risks
The value of your investment in this Fund will change daily. You could lose money by investing in the Fund. 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 government agency. The principal risks of investing in the Fund listed below are presented alphabetically to facilitate your ability to find particular risks and compare them with the risks of other funds. The significance of any specific risk to an investment in the Fund will vary over time depending on the composition of the Fund’s portfolio, market conditions and other factors. Each risk summarized below is considered a "principal risk" of investing in the Fund, regardless of the order in which it appears.
Active Management Risk—The Fund’s sub-adviser actively manages the Fund’s investments. Consequently, the Fund is subject to the risk that the investment techniques and risk analyses employed by the Fund’s sub-adviser may not produce the desired results. This could cause the Fund to lose value or its investment results to lag relevant benchmarks or other funds with similar objectives.
   
12
Section 1 Fund Summaries

Call Risk—If, during periods of falling interest rates, an issuer exercises its right to prepay principal on its higher-yielding debt securities held by the Fund, the Fund may have to reinvest in securities with lower yields or higher risk of default, which may adversely impact the Fund’s performance.
Convertible Security Risk—Convertible securities are subject to certain risks of both equity and debt securities. The value of convertible securities may decline in response to such factors as rising interest rates and fluctuations in the market price of the common stock underlying the convertible securities.
Covered Call Risk—Covered call risk includes the risk that the Fund, as a writer of covered call options, will forgo during an option’s life the opportunity to profit from increases in the market value of the security covering the call option.
Credit Risk—Credit risk is the risk that an issuer or other obligated party of a security may be, or perceived (whether by market participants, rating agencies, pricing services or otherwise) to be, unable or unwilling to make dividend, interest and principal payments when due and the related risk that the value of a security may decline because of concerns about the issuer’s ability or willingness to make such payments.
Credit Spread Risk—Credit spread risk is the risk that credit spreads (i.e., the difference in yield between securities that is due to differences in their credit quality) may increase when the market believes that bonds generally have a greater risk of default. Increasing credit spreads may reduce the market values of the Fund’s debt securities. Credit spreads often increase more for lower rated and unrated securities than for investment grade securities. In addition, when credit spreads increase, reductions in market value will generally be greater for longer-maturity securities.
Currency Risk—Even though the non-U.S. securities held by the Fund are traded in U.S. dollars, their prices are typically indirectly influenced by currency fluctuations. Changes in currency exchange rates may affect the Fund’s net asset value, the value of dividends and interest earned, gains or losses realized on the sale of securities, and derivative transactions tied to such securities.
Cybersecurity Risk—Cybersecurity risk is the risk of an unauthorized breach and access to Fund assets, customer data (including private shareholder information), or proprietary information, or the risk of an incident occurring that causes the Fund, its investment adviser or sub-adviser, custodian, transfer agent, distributor or other service provider, a financial intermediary or the issuers of securities held by the Fund to suffer a data breach, data corruption or lose operational functionality. Successful cyber-attacks or other cyber-failures or events affecting the Fund, its service providers or the issuers of securities held by the Fund may adversely impact the Fund or its shareholders. Additionally, a cybersecurity breach could affect the issuers in which the Fund invests, which may cause the Fund’s investments to lose value.
Derivatives Risk—The use of derivatives involves additional risks and transaction costs which could leave the Fund in a worse position than if it had not used these instruments. Derivative instruments can be used to acquire or to transfer the risk and returns of a security or other asset without buying or selling the security or asset, and the risks associated with investing in such derivatives may be different and greater than the risks associated with directly investing in the underlying securities and other instruments, including leverage risk, market risk, counterparty risk, liquidity risk, operational risk and legal risk. These instruments may entail investment exposures that are greater than their cost would suggest. As a result, a small investment in derivatives can result in losses that greatly exceed the original investment. Derivatives can be highly volatile, illiquid and difficult to value. An over-the-counter derivative transaction between the Fund and a counterparty that is not cleared through a central counterparty also involves the risk that a loss may be sustained as a result of the failure of the counterparty to the contract to make required payments. The payment obligation for a cleared derivative transaction is guaranteed by a central counterparty, which exposes the Fund to the creditworthiness of the central counterparty.
Equity Security Risk—Equity securities in the Fund’s portfolio may decline significantly in price over short or extended periods of time, and such declines may occur because of declines in the equity market as a whole, or because of declines in only a particular country, company, industry, or sector of the market. From time to time, the Fund may invest a significant portion of its assets in companies in one or more related sectors or industries which would make the Fund more vulnerable to adverse developments affecting such sectors or industries.
Foreign Investment Risk—Non-U.S. issuers or U.S. issuers with significant non-U.S. operations may be subject to risks in addition to those of issuers located in or that principally operate in the United States as a result of, among other things, political, social and economic developments abroad, as well as armed conflicts and different legal, regulatory and tax environments. Foreign investments may also have lower liquidity and be more difficult to value than investments in U.S. issuers. To the extent the Fund invests a significant portion of its assets in the securities of companies in a single country or region, it may be more susceptible to adverse conditions affecting that country or region. Foreign investments may also be subject to risk of loss because of more or less foreign government regulation, less public information, less stringent investor protections and less stringent accounting, corporate governance, financial reporting and disclosure standards.
   
Section 1 Fund Summaries
13

High Yield Securities Risk—High yield securities, which are rated below investment grade and commonly referred to as “junk” bonds, and unrated securities of comparable quality are high risk investments that may cause income and principal losses for the Fund. They generally are considered to be speculative with respect to the ability to pay interest and repay principal, have greater credit risk, are less liquid, are more likely to experience a default and have more volatile prices than investment grade securities.
Income Risk—The Fund's income could decline during periods of falling interest rates or when the Fund experiences defaults on debt securities or defaults or deferrals on preferred securities it holds.
Interest Rate Risk—Interest rate risk is the risk that the value of the Fund’s fixed-rate securities will decline because of rising interest rates. Changing interest rates may have unpredictable effects on markets, result in heightened market volatility and detract from the Fund’s performance to the extent that it is exposed to such interest rates. Fixed-rate securities may be subject to a greater risk of rising interest rates than would normally be the case due to the effect of potential government fiscal policy initiatives and resulting market reaction to those initiatives. Higher periods of inflation could lead to government fiscal policies which raise interest rates. When interest rates change, the values of longer-duration fixed-rate securities usually change more than the values of shorter-duration fixed-rate securities. Conversely, fixed-rate securities with shorter durations or maturities will be less volatile but may provide lower returns than fixed-rate securities with longer durations or maturities. Rising interest rates also may lengthen the duration of securities with call features, since exercise of the call becomes less likely as interest rates rise, which in turn will make the securities more sensitive to changes in interest rates and result in even steeper price declines in the event of further interest rate increases. The Fund is also subject to the risk that the income generated by its investments may not keep pace with inflation.
Market Risk—The market value of the Fund’s investments may go up or down, sometimes rapidly or unpredictably and for short or extended periods of time, due to the particular circumstances of individual issuers or due to general conditions impacting issuers more broadly. Global economies and financial markets have become highly interconnected, and thus economic, market or political conditions or events in one country or region might adversely impact the value of the Fund’s investments whether or not the Fund invests in such country or region. Events such as war, terrorism, natural and environmental disasters and the spread of infectious illnesses or other public health emergencies may have a severe negative impact on the global economy, could cause financial markets to experience extreme volatility and losses, and could result in the disruption of trading and the reduction of liquidity in many instruments. Additionally, as inflation increases, the value of the Fund’s assets can decline.
Market Liquidity Risk—Reductions in trading activity or dealer inventories of securities such as bonds and preferred securities, which provide an indication of the ability of financial intermediaries to “make markets” in those securities, have the potential to decrease liquidity and increase price volatility in the markets in which the Fund invests, particularly during periods of economic or market stress. In addition, federal banking regulations may cause certain dealers to reduce their inventories of securities, which may further decrease the Fund’s ability to buy or sell securities. As a result of this decreased liquidity, the Fund may have to accept a lower price to sell a security, sell other securities to raise cash, or give up an investment opportunity, any of which could have a negative effect on performance. If the Fund needed to sell large blocks of securities to meet shareholder redemption requests or to raise cash, those sales could further reduce the securities’ prices and hurt performance.
Master Limited Partnership Risk—Investments in common units of MLPs involve risks that differ from investments in common stock, including risks related to limited control and limited rights to vote. An investment in an MLP also exposes the Fund to the legal and tax risks associated with investing in partnerships. MLPs may have limited financial resources, their securities may be relatively illiquid, and they may be subject to more erratic price movements because of the underlying assets they hold.
Mortgage-Backed Securities Risk—These securities generally can be prepaid at any time, and prepayments that occur either more quickly or more slowly than expected can adversely impact the value of such securities. They are also subject to extension risk, which is the risk that rising interest rates could cause mortgages underlying the securities to be prepaid more slowly than expected, thereby lengthening the duration of such securities, increasing their sensitivity to interest rate changes and causing their prices to decline. Mortgage-backed securities are particularly sensitive to prepayment risk, given that the term to maturity for mortgage loans is generally substantially longer than the expected lives of those securities. A mortgage-backed security may be negatively affected by the quality of the mortgages underlying such security, the credit quality of its issuer or guarantor, and the nature and structure of its credit support. Mortgage-backed securities that are not backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government are subject to the risk of default on the underlying mortgage, particularly during periods of economic downturn.
   
14
Section 1 Fund Summaries

Municipal Securities Risk—The values of municipal securities held by the Fund may be adversely affected by local political and economic conditions and developments. Adverse conditions in an industry significant to a local economy could have a correspondingly adverse effect on the financial condition of local issuers. The amount of public information available about municipal bonds is generally less than for certain corporate equities or bonds, meaning that the investment performance of the Fund may be more dependent on the analytical abilities of the Fund’s sub-adviser than funds that invest in stock or other corporate investments.
Preferred Security Risk—Preferred securities generally are subordinated to bonds and other debt instruments in a company’s capital structure and therefore will be subject to greater credit risk than those debt instruments. In addition, preferred securities are subject to other risks, such as having no or limited voting rights, being subject to special redemption rights, having distributions deferred or skipped, having floating interest rates or dividends, which may result in a decline in value in a falling interest rate environment, having fixed interest rates or dividends, which may result in a decline in value in a rising interest rate environment, having limited liquidity, changing or unfavorable tax treatments and possibly being issued by companies in heavily regulated industries.
Restricted Securities Risk—The market for restricted securities, including Rule 144A securities, typically is less active than the market for publicly traded securities. Rule 144A securities and other securities exempt from registration under the Securities Act carry the risk that their liquidity may become impaired and the Fund may be unable to dispose of the securities promptly or at current market value.
Short Sales Risk—Short sales involve the sale of a security the Fund has borrowed, with the expectation that the security will underperform the market. Short sales expose the Fund to the risk that it will be required to buy the security sold short (also known as “covering” the short position) at a time when the security has appreciated in value, thus resulting in a loss to the Fund. Although the gain is limited by the price at which the security was sold short, the loss is potentially unlimited. To the extent the Fund invests the proceeds received from selling securities short in additional portfolio securities, the Fund is engaging in a form of leverage. The use of leverage may increase the Fund’s exposure to long positions and make any change in the Fund’s net asset value greater than it would be without the use of leverage. This could result in increased volatility of returns. The use of short sales may also cause the Fund to have higher expenses than other funds.
Unrated Security Risk—Unrated securities determined by the Fund’s sub-adviser to be of comparable quality to rated securities which the Fund may purchase may pay a higher interest rate than such rated securities and be subject to a greater risk of illiquidity or price changes. Less public information is typically available about unrated securities or issuers than rated securities or issuers.
U.S. Government Securities Risk—U.S. government securities are guaranteed only as to the timely payment of interest and the payment of principal when held to maturity. Accordingly, the current market values for these securities will fluctuate with changes in interest rates. Securities issued or guaranteed by U.S. government agencies and instrumentalities are supported by varying degrees of credit but generally are not backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government or may be subject to certain limitations. No assurance can be given that the U.S. government will provide financial support to its agencies and instrumentalities if it is not obligated by law to do so, which may increase the risk of loss to the Fund.
Valuation Risk—The sales price the Fund could receive for any particular security may differ from the Fund’s valuation of the investment, particularly for securities that trade in thin or volatile markets or that are valued using a fair value methodology. The debt securities in which the Fund invests typically are valued by a pricing service utilizing a range of market-based inputs and assumptions, including price quotations obtained from broker-dealers making markets in such instruments, cash flows and transactions for comparable instruments. There is no assurance that the Fund will be able to buy or sell a portfolio security at the price established by the pricing service, which could result in a gain or loss to the Fund. Pricing services generally price debt securities assuming orderly transactions of an institutional “round lot” size, but some trades may occur in smaller, “odd lot” sizes, often at lower prices than institutional round lot trades. Over certain time periods, such differences could materially impact the performance of the Fund, which may not be sustainable. Alternative pricing services may incorporate different assumptions and inputs into their valuation methodologies, potentially resulting in different values for the same securities. As a result, if the Fund were to change pricing services, or if the Fund’s pricing service were to change its valuation methodology, there could be a material impact, either positive or negative, on the Fund’s net asset value.
   
Section 1 Fund Summaries
15

Fund Performance
The following bar chart and table provide some indication of the potential risks of investing in the Fund. 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 is available at www.nuveen.com/performance or by calling (800) 257-8787.
The bar chart below shows the variability of the Fund’s performance from year to year for Class A shares. The bar chart and highest/lowest quarterly returns that follow do not reflect sales charges, and if these charges were reflected, the returns would be less than those shown.
 
Class A Annual Total Return*
PerformanceBarChartData(2013:-0.02,2014:9.89,2015:0.48,2016:9.99,2017:8.84,2018:-4.36,2019:18.19,2020:5.26,2021:4.89,2022:-14.11)
*Class A year-to-date total return as of September 30, 2023 was 1.65%. The performance of the other share classes will differ due to their different expense structures.
During the ten-year period ended December 31, 2022, the Fund’s highest and lowest quarterly returns were 9.56%
and -12.66%, respectively, for the quarters ended June 30, 2020 and March 31, 2020.
The table below shows the variability of the Fund’s average annual returns and how they compare over the time periods indicated with those of broad measures of market performance and an index of funds with similar investment objectives. All 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. After-tax returns are shown for Class A shares only; after-tax returns for other share classes will vary. Your own actual after-tax returns will depend on your specific tax situation and may differ from what is shown here. After-tax returns are not relevant to investors who hold Fund shares in tax-deferred accounts such as IRAs or employer-sponsored retirement plans.
Both the bar chart and the table assume that all distributions have been reinvested. Performance reflects fee waivers, if any, in effect during the periods presented. If any such waivers had not been in place, returns would have been reduced.
   
16
Section 1 Fund Summaries

                                 
 
 
 
 
 
Average Annual Total Returns
 
 
 
 
 
for the Periods Ended
 
 
 
 
 
December 31, 2022
 
 
Inception
Date
1 Year
5 Years
10 Years
Since
Inception
(Class R6)
Class A (return before taxes)
 
12/9/09
 
 
(18.19
)%
 
0.42
%
 
3.04
%
 
N/A
 
Class A (return after taxes on distributions)
 
 
 
 
(19.93
)%
 
(1.47
)%
 
1.08
%
 
N/A
 
Class A (return after taxes on distributions and sale of Fund shares)
 
 
 
 
(10.48
)%
 
(0.29
)%
 
1.63
%
 
N/A
 
Class C (return before taxes)
 
12/9/09
 
 
(14.74
)%
 
0.65
%
 
2.93
%
 
N/A
 
Class R6 (return before taxes)
 
6/30/16
 
 
(13.85
)%
 
1.78
%
 
N/A
 
 
3.32
%
Class I (return before taxes)
 
12/9/09
 
 
(13.91
)%
 
1.65
%
 
3.81
%
 
N/A
 
Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index1
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
(reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes)
 
 
 
 
(13.01
)%
 
0.02
%
 
1.06
%
 
0.16
%
Flexible Income Blended Benchmark2
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
(reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes)
 
 
 
 
(13.29
)%
 
1.37
%
 
3.01
%
 
2.56
%
Lipper Flexible Income Funds Category Average3
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
(reflects no deduction for taxes or sales loads)
 
 
 
 
(11.73
)%
 
1.50
%
 
3.18
%
 
2.66
%
   
                                 
1
An index designed to measure the performance of the USD-denominated, fixed-rate, U.S. investment grade taxable bond market. The index includes Treasuries, government-related and corporate securities, mortgage-backed securities (MBS), asset-backed securities (ABS) and commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS).
2
An index comprised of a 50% weighting in ICE BofA US Corporate Index and a 50% weighting in ICE BofA High Yield Index.
3
Represents the average annualized total return for all reporting funds in the Lipper Flexible Income Funds Category.
Management
Investment Adviser
Nuveen Fund Advisors, LLC
Sub-Adviser
Nuveen Asset Management, LLC
Portfolio Managers
     
Name
Title
Portfolio Manager of Fund Since
Thomas J. Ray, CFA
Managing Director
January 2015
Susi Budiman, CFA
Managing Director
January 2015
Stephen T. Peña
Managing Director
October 2022
   
Section 1 Fund Summaries
17

Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares
You may purchase, redeem or exchange shares of the Fund on any business day through a financial advisor or other financial intermediary. The Fund’s initial and subsequent investment minimums generally are as follows, although certain financial intermediaries may impose their own investment minimums and the Fund may reduce or waive the minimums in some cases:
       
 
Class A and Class C
Class R6
Class I
Eligibility and Minimum Initial Investment
$3,000 for all accounts except:
 $2,500 for Traditional/
Roth IRA accounts.
 $2,000 for Coverdell
Education Savings
Accounts.
 $250 for accounts opened through fee-based programs.
 No minimum for retirement plans.
Available only to certain qualified retirement plans and other investors as described in the prospectus and through fee-based programs.
$1 million for all accounts except:
 $100,000 for clients of financial intermediaries who charge such clients an ongoing fee for advisory, investment, consulting or related services.
 No minimum for certain qualified retirement plans and certain other categories of eligible investors as described in the prospectus.
Available only through fee-based programs and certain retirement plans, and to other limited categories of investors as described in the prospectus.
$100,000 for all accounts except:
 $250 for clients of financial intermediaries and family offices that have accounts holding Class I shares with an aggregate value of at least $100,000 (or that are expected to reach this level).
 No minimum for eligible retirement plans and certain other categories of eligible investors as described in the prospectus.
Minimum
Additional
Investment
$100
No minimum.
No minimum.
Tax Information
The Fund’s distributions are taxable and will generally be taxed as ordinary income or capital gains, unless you are investing through a tax-deferred account, such as an IRA or 401(k) plan (in which case you may be taxed upon withdrawal of your investment from such account).
Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries
If you purchase shares of the Fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank or financial advisor), the Fund, its distributor or its investment adviser may pay the intermediary for the sale of Fund shares and related services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other financial intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your financial advisor or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.
   
18
Section 1 Fund Summaries

Nuveen Floating Rate Income Fund
Investment Objective
The principal investment objective of the Fund is to seek a high level of current income and the secondary investment objective of the Fund is to seek capital appreciation.
Fees and Expenses of the Fund
The following tables describe the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund. You may qualify for sales charge discounts if you and your family invest, or agree to invest in the future, at least $50,000 in the Fund or in other Nuveen Mutual Funds. More information about these and other discounts, as well as eligibility requirements for each share class, is available from your financial advisor and in “How You Can Buy and Sell Shares” on page 82 of the Fund’s prospectus and “Purchase and Redemption of Fund Shares” on page S-62 of the Fund’s statement of additional information. In addition, more information about sales charge discounts and waivers for purchases of shares through specific financial intermediaries is set forth in the appendix to the Fund’s prospectus entitled “Variations in Sales Charge Reductions and Waivers Available Through Certain Intermediaries.”
The tables and examples below do not reflect any commissions that shareholders may be required to pay directly to their financial intermediaries when buying or selling Class I shares.
Shareholder Fees
(fees paid directly from your investment)
                 
 
Class A
 
Class C
 
Class R6
 
Class I
 
Maximum Sales Charge (Load) Imposed on Purchases
(as a percentage of offering price)
3.00%
 
None
 
None
 
None
 
Maximum Deferred Sales Charge (Load)
(as a percentage of the lesser of purchase price or redemption proceeds)1
None
 
1.00%
 
None
 
None
 
Maximum Sales Charge (Load) Imposed on Reinvested Dividends
None
 
None
 
None
 
None
 
Exchange Fee
None
 
None
 
None
 
None
 
Annual Low Balance Account Fee (for accounts under $1,000)2
$15
 
$15
 
None
 
$15
 
Annual Fund Operating Expenses
(expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
                                 
 
Class A
 
Class C
 
Class R6
 
Class I
 
Management Fees
 
0.57
%
 
0.57
%
 
0.57
%
 
0.57
%
Distribution and/or Service (12b-1) Fees
 
0.25
%
 
1.00
%
 
0.00
%
 
0.00
%
Other Expenses
                       
Interest and Related Expenses3
 
0.06
%
 
0.06
%
 
0.06
%
 
0.06
%
Remainder of Other Expenses
 
0.14
%
 
0.14
%
 
0.07
%
 
0.14
%
Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses
 
0.01
%
 
0.01
%
 
0.01
%
 
0.01
%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses
 
1.03
%
 
1.78
%
 
0.71
%
 
0.78
%
1 The contingent deferred sales charge on Class C shares applies only to redemptions within 12 months of purchase.
2 Fee applies to the following types of accounts under $1,000 held directly with the Fund: individual retirement accounts (IRAs), Coverdell Education Savings Accounts and accounts established pursuant to the Uniform Transfers to Minors Act (UTMA) or Uniform Gifts to Minors Act (UGMA).
3 Includes interest expense and fees paid on Fund borrowings.
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 either redeem or do not redeem your shares at the end of a period. 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:
                           
 
Class A
 
Class C
 
Class R6
 
Class I
 
1 Year
$
402
 
$
181
 
$
73
 
$
80
 
3 Years
$
618
 
$
560
 
$
227
 
$
249
 
5 Years
$
852
 
$
964
 
$
395
 
$
433
 
10 Years
$
1,522
 
$
2,095
 
$
883
 
$
966
 
   
Section 1 Fund Summaries
19

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 24% of the average value of its portfolio.
Principal Investment Strategies
Under normal market conditions, the Fund invests at least 80% of the sum of its net assets and the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes in floating rate securities. Floating rate securities are defined to include floating rate loans, other floating rate debt securities including corporate debt securities and U.S. government securities, money market securities and shares of money market and short-term bond funds. The Fund may invest up to 20% of its net assets in other securities, which would primarily be fixed rate debt securities of any maturity, convertible securities and equity securities received as a result of the restructuring of an issuer’s debt. A substantial portion of the Fund’s assets generally will be invested in securities rated below investment grade or, if unrated, deemed by the Fund’s portfolio managers to be of comparable quality. Below investment-grade securities are commonly referred to as “high yield” securities or “junk” bonds. The Fund invests both in securities issued by U.S. companies and in U.S. dollar-denominated securities issued by non-U.S. companies that are traded over-the-counter or listed on an exchange. Under normal market conditions, the average effective duration of the Fund’s portfolio will not be longer than one year. Effective duration is an estimate of how much the value of a debt security will change with a given change in interest rates.
The Fund may invest in securities that have not been registered under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”) (“restricted securities”), including securities sold in private placement transactions between issuers and their purchasers and securities that meet the requirements of Rule 144A under the Securities Act (“Rule 144A securities”). Rule 144A securities may be resold under certain circumstances only to qualified institutional buyers as defined by the rule.
The Fund may utilize the following derivatives: options; futures contracts; options on futures contracts; swap agreements, including interest rate swaps, total return swaps, and credit default swaps; and options on swap agreements. The Fund may use these derivatives in an attempt to manage market risk, credit risk and yield curve risk, to manage the effective maturity or duration of securities in the Fund’s portfolio, including the use of interest rate derivatives to convert fixed-rate securities to floating rate securities, or for speculative purposes in an effort to increase the Fund’s yield or to enhance returns. The use of a derivative is speculative if the Fund is primarily seeking to enhance returns, rather than offset the risk of other positions.
The Fund’s sub-adviser bases its investment process on fundamental, bottom-up credit analysis. Analysts assess sector dynamics, company business models and asset quality. Inherent in the sub-adviser’s credit analysis process is the evaluation of potential upside and downside to any credit. As such, the sub-adviser concentrates its efforts on sectors where there is sufficient transparency to assess the downside risk and where firms have assets to support meaningful recovery in case of default. In its focus on downside protection, the sub-adviser favors opportunities where valuations can be quantified and risks assessed.
Principal Risks
The value of your investment in this Fund will change daily. You could lose money by investing in the Fund. 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 government agency. The principal risks of investing in the Fund listed below are presented alphabetically to facilitate your ability to find particular risks and compare them with the risks of other funds. The significance of any specific risk to an investment in the Fund will vary over time depending on the composition of the Fund’s portfolio, market conditions and other factors. Each risk summarized below is considered a "principal risk" of investing in the Fund, regardless of the order in which it appears.
Active Management Risk—The Fund’s sub-adviser actively manages the Fund’s investments. Consequently, the Fund is subject to the risk that the investment techniques and risk analyses employed by the Fund’s sub-adviser may not produce the desired results. This could cause the Fund to lose value or its investment results to lag relevant benchmarks or other funds with similar objectives.
Call Risk—If, during periods of falling interest rates, an issuer exercises its right to prepay principal on its higher-yielding debt securities held by the Fund, the Fund may have to reinvest in securities with lower yields or higher risk of default, which may adversely impact the Fund’s performance.
   
20
Section 1 Fund Summaries

Convertible Security Risk—Convertible securities are subject to certain risks of both equity and debt securities. The value of convertible securities may decline in response to such factors as rising interest rates and fluctuations in the market price of the common stock underlying the convertible securities.
Credit Risk—Credit risk is the risk that an issuer or other obligated party of a debt security may be, or perceived (whether by market participants, rating agencies, pricing services or otherwise) to be, unable or unwilling to make interest and principal payments when due and the related risk that the value of a debt security may decline because of concerns about the issuer’s ability or willingness to make such payments.
Credit Spread Risk—Credit spread risk is the risk that credit spreads (i.e., the difference in yield between securities that is due to differences in their credit quality) may increase when the market believes that bonds generally have a greater risk of default. Increasing credit spreads may reduce the market values of the Fund’s debt securities. Credit spreads often increase more for lower rated and unrated securities than for investment grade securities. In addition, when credit spreads increase, reductions in market value will generally be greater for longer-maturity securities.
Currency Risk—Even though the non-U.S. securities held by the Fund are traded in U.S. dollars, their prices are typically indirectly influenced by currency fluctuations. Changes in currency exchange rates may affect the Fund’s net asset value, the value of dividends and interest earned, gains or losses realized on the sale of securities, and derivative transactions tied to such securities.
Cybersecurity Risk—Cybersecurity risk is the risk of an unauthorized breach and access to Fund assets, customer data (including private shareholder information), or proprietary information, or the risk of an incident occurring that causes the Fund, its investment adviser or sub-adviser, custodian, transfer agent, distributor or other service provider, a financial intermediary or the issuers of securities held by the Fund to suffer a data breach, data corruption or lose operational functionality. Successful cyber-attacks or other cyber-failures or events affecting the Fund, its service providers or the issuers of securities held by the Fund may adversely impact the Fund or its shareholders. Additionally, a cybersecurity breach could affect the issuers in which the Fund invests, which may cause the Fund’s investments to lose value.
Derivatives Risk—The use of derivatives involves additional risks and transaction costs which could leave the Fund in a worse position than if it had not used these instruments. Derivative instruments can be used to acquire or to transfer the risk and returns of a security or other asset without buying or selling the security or asset, and the risks associated with investing in such derivatives may be different and greater than the risks associated with directly investing in the underlying securities and other instruments, including leverage risk, market risk, counterparty risk, liquidity risk, operational risk and legal risk. These instruments may entail investment exposures that are greater than their cost would suggest. As a result, a small investment in derivatives can result in losses that greatly exceed the original investment. Derivatives can be highly volatile, illiquid and difficult to value. An over-the-counter derivative transaction between the Fund and a counterparty that is not cleared through a central counterparty also involves the risk that a loss may be sustained as a result of the failure of the counterparty to the contract to make required payments. The payment obligation for a cleared derivative transaction is guaranteed by a central counterparty, which exposes the Fund to the creditworthiness of the central counterparty.
Equity Security Risk—Equity securities in the Fund’s portfolio may decline significantly in price over short or extended periods of time, and such declines may occur because of declines in the equity market as a whole, or because of declines in only a particular country, company, industry, or sector of the market. From time to time, the Fund may invest a significant portion of its assets in companies in one or more related sectors or industries which would make the Fund more vulnerable to adverse developments affecting such sectors or industries.
Foreign Investment Risk—Non-U.S. issuers or U.S. issuers with significant non-U.S. operations may be subject to risks in addition to those of issuers located in or that principally operate in the United States as a result of, among other things, political, social and economic developments abroad, as well as armed conflicts and different legal, regulatory and tax environments. Foreign investments may also have lower liquidity and be more difficult to value than investments in U.S. issuers. To the extent the Fund invests a significant portion of its assets in the securities of companies in a single country or region, it may be more susceptible to adverse conditions affecting that country or region. Foreign investments may also be subject to risk of loss because of more or less foreign government regulation, less public information, less stringent investor protections and less stringent accounting, corporate governance, financial reporting and disclosure standards.
High Yield Securities Risk—High yield securities, which are rated below investment grade and commonly referred to as “junk” bonds, and unrated securities of comparable quality are high risk investments that may cause income and principal losses for the Fund. They generally are considered to be speculative with respect to the ability to pay interest and repay principal, have greater credit risk, are less liquid, are more likely to experience a default and have more volatile prices than investment grade securities.
   
Section 1 Fund Summaries
21

Income Risk—The Fund's income could decline during periods of falling interest rates or when the Fund experiences defaults on debt securities it holds. Income risk is generally higher for limited-term bonds so investors may experience a fluctuation in the monthly income from the Fund.
Interest Rate Risk—Interest rate risk is the risk that the value of the Fund’s fixed-rate securities will decline because of rising interest rates. Changing interest rates may have unpredictable effects on markets, result in heightened market volatility and detract from the Fund’s performance to the extent that it is exposed to such interest rates. Fixed-rate securities may be subject to a greater risk of rising interest rates than would normally be the case due to the effect of potential government fiscal policy initiatives and resulting market reaction to those initiatives. Higher periods of inflation could lead to government fiscal policies which raise interest rates. When interest rates change, the values of longer-duration fixed-rate securities usually change more than the values of shorter-duration fixed-rate securities. Conversely, fixed-rate securities with shorter durations or maturities will be less volatile but may provide lower returns than fixed-rate securities with longer durations or maturities. Rising interest rates also may lengthen the duration of securities with call features, since exercise of the call becomes less likely as interest rates rise, which in turn will make the securities more sensitive to changes in interest rates and result in even steeper price declines in the event of further interest rate increases. Because the Fund primarily invests in floating rate loans, interest rate risk may be reduced. However, floating rate loans are still subject to interest rate risk, and their values may decrease, if their interest rates do not reset as quickly as a general rise in interest rates. The Fund is also subject to the risk that the income generated by its investments may not keep pace with inflation.
Loan Risk—The lack of an active trading market for certain loans (including loan participations and assignments) may impair the ability of the Fund to realize full value in the event of the need to sell a loan and may make it difficult to value such loans. Portfolio transactions in loans may settle in as short as seven days but typically can take up to two or three weeks, and in some cases much longer. As a result of these extended settlement periods, the Fund may incur losses if it is required to sell other investments or temporarily borrow to meet its cash needs, including satisfying redemption requests. The risks associated with unsecured loans, which are not backed by a security interest in any specific collateral, are higher than those for comparable loans that are secured by specific collateral. For secured loans, there is a risk that the value of any collateral securing a loan in which the Fund has an interest may decline and that the collateral may not be sufficient to cover the amount owed on the loan. Interests in loans made to finance highly leveraged companies or transactions such as corporate acquisitions may be especially vulnerable to adverse changes in economic or market conditions. Loans may have restrictive covenants limiting the ability of a borrower to further encumber its assets. However, in periods of high demand by lenders like the Fund for loan investments, borrowers may limit these covenants and weaken a lender’s ability to access collateral securing the loan; reprice the credit risk associated with the borrower; and mitigate potential loss. The Fund may experience relatively greater realized or unrealized losses or delays and expenses in enforcing its rights with respect to loans with fewer restrictive covenants. Additionally, loans may not be considered “securities” and, as a result, the Fund may not be entitled to rely on the anti-fraud or other protections of the securities laws. Because junior loans have a lower place in an issuer’s capital structure and may be unsecured, junior loans involve a higher degree of overall risk than senior loans of the issuer. The Fund’s investments in floating rate loans that pay interest based on the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) may experience increased volatility and/or illiquidity during the transition away from LIBOR, which was phased out.
Market Risk—The market value of the Fund’s investments may go up or down, sometimes rapidly or unpredictably and for short or extended periods of time, due to the particular circumstances of individual issuers or due to general conditions impacting issuers more broadly. Global economies and financial markets have become highly interconnected, and thus economic, market or political conditions or events in one country or region might adversely impact the value of the Fund’s investments whether or not the Fund invests in such country or region. Events such as war, terrorism, natural and environmental disasters and the spread of infectious illnesses or other public health emergencies may have a severe negative impact on the global economy, could cause financial markets to experience extreme volatility and losses, and could result in the disruption of trading and the reduction of liquidity in many instruments. Additionally, as inflation increases, the value of the Fund’s assets can decline.
Market Liquidity Risk—Reductions in trading activity or dealer inventories of securities such as bonds and preferred securities, which provide an indication of the ability of financial intermediaries to “make markets” in those securities, have the potential to decrease liquidity and increase price volatility in the markets in which the Fund invests, particularly during periods of economic or market stress. In addition, federal banking regulations may cause certain dealers to reduce their inventories of securities, which may further decrease the Fund’s ability to buy or sell securities. As a result of this decreased liquidity, the Fund may have to accept a lower price to sell a security, sell other securities to raise cash, or give up an investment opportunity, any of which could have a negative effect on performance. If the Fund needed to sell large
   
22
Section 1 Fund Summaries

blocks of securities to meet shareholder redemption requests or to raise cash, those sales could further reduce the securities’ prices and hurt performance.
Money Market Fund Risk—An investment in a money market fund is not a bank deposit and is not insured or guaranteed by any bank, the FDIC or any other government agency. It is possible for the Fund to lose money by investing in money market funds. If the liquidity of a money market fund’s portfolio deteriorates below certain levels, the money market fund may suspend redemptions or impose a fee of up to 2% on amounts the Fund redeems from the money market fund. These measures may result in an investment loss or prohibit the Fund from redeeming shares. Additionally, the Fund indirectly bears the fees and expenses of any money market funds in which it invests.
Restricted Securities Risk—The market for restricted securities, including Rule 144A securities, typically is less active than the market for publicly traded securities. Rule 144A securities and other securities exempt from registration under the Securities Act carry the risk that their liquidity may become impaired and the Fund may be unable to dispose of the securities promptly or at current market value.
Unrated Security Risk—Unrated securities determined by the Fund’s sub-adviser to be of comparable quality to rated securities which the Fund may purchase may pay a higher interest rate than such rated securities and be subject to a greater risk of illiquidity or price changes. Less public information is typically available about unrated securities or issuers than rated securities or issuers.
U.S. Government Securities Risk—U.S. government securities are guaranteed only as to the timely payment of interest and the payment of principal when held to maturity. Accordingly, the current market values for these securities will fluctuate with changes in interest rates. Securities issued or guaranteed by U.S. government agencies and instrumentalities are supported by varying degrees of credit but generally are not backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government or may be subject to certain limitations. No assurance can be given that the U.S. government will provide financial support to its agencies and instrumentalities if it is not obligated by law to do so, which may increase the risk of loss to the Fund.
Valuation Risk—The sales price the Fund could receive for any particular security may differ from the Fund’s valuation of the investment, particularly for securities that trade in thin or volatile markets or that are valued using a fair value methodology. The debt securities in which the Fund invests typically are valued by a pricing service utilizing a range of market-based inputs and assumptions, including price quotations obtained from broker-dealers making markets in such instruments, cash flows and transactions for comparable instruments. There is no assurance that the Fund will be able to buy or sell a portfolio security at the price established by the pricing service, which could result in a gain or loss to the Fund. Pricing services generally price debt securities assuming orderly transactions of an institutional “round lot” size, but some trades may occur in smaller, “odd lot” sizes, often at lower prices than institutional round lot trades. Over certain time periods, such differences could materially impact the performance of the Fund, which may not be sustainable. Alternative pricing services may incorporate different assumptions and inputs into their valuation methodologies, potentially resulting in different values for the same securities. As a result, if the Fund were to change pricing services, or if the Fund’s pricing service were to change its valuation methodology, there could be a material impact, either positive or negative, on the Fund’s net asset value.
Fund Performance
The following bar chart and table provide some indication of the potential risks of investing in the Fund. 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 is available at www.nuveen.com/performance or by calling (800) 257-8787.
   
Section 1 Fund Summaries
23

The bar chart below shows the variability of the Fund’s performance from year to year for Class A shares. The bar chart and highest/lowest quarterly returns that follow do not reflect sales charges, and if these charges were reflected, the returns would be less than those shown.
 
Class A Annual Total Return*
PerformanceBarChartData(2013:8.04,2014:1.22,2015:-2.01,2016:10.03,2017:3.08,2018:-0.32,2019:7.74,2020:1.64,2021:6.77,2022:-1.84)
*Class A year-to-date total return as of September 30, 2023 was 7.68%. The performance of the other share classes will differ due to their different expense structures.
During the ten-year period ended December 31, 2022, the Fund’s highest and lowest quarterly returns were 6.79%
and -12.30%, respectively, for the quarters ended June 30, 2020 and March 31, 2020.
The table below shows the variability of the Fund’s average annual returns and how they compare over the time periods indicated with those of a broad measure of market performance and an index of funds with similar investment objectives. All 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. After-tax returns are shown for Class A shares only; after-tax returns for other share classes will vary. Your own actual after-tax returns will depend on your specific tax situation and may differ from what is shown here. After-tax returns are not relevant to investors who hold Fund shares in tax-deferred accounts such as IRAs or employer-sponsored retirement plans.
Both the bar chart and the table assume that all distributions have been reinvested. Performance reflects fee waivers, if any, in effect during the periods presented. If any such waivers had not been in place, returns would have been reduced.
                                 
 
 
 
 
 
Average Annual Total Returns
 
 
 
 
 
for the Periods Ended
 
 
 
 
 
December 31, 2022
 
 
Inception
Date
1 Year
5 Years
10 Years
Since
Inception
(Class R6)
Class A (return before taxes)
 
5/2/11
 
 
(4.78
)%
 
2.10
%
 
3.04
%
 
N/A
 
Class A (return after taxes on distributions)
 
 
 
 
(6.64
)%
 
0.19
%
 
1.06
%
 
N/A
 
Class A (return after taxes on distributions and sale of Fund shares)
 
 
 
 
(2.84
)%
 
0.79
%
 
1.43
%
 
N/A
 
Class C (return before taxes)
 
5/2/11
 
 
(2.58
)%
 
1.97
%
 
2.73
%
 
N/A
 
Class R6 (return before taxes)
 
1/28/15
 
 
(1.54
)%
 
3.09
%
 
N/A
 
 
3.36
%
Class I (return before taxes)
 
5/2/11
 
 
(1.63
)%
 
2.99
%
 
3.62
%
 
N/A
 
Credit Suisse Leveraged Loan Index1
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
(reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes)
 
 
 
 
(1.06
)%
 
3.24
%
 
3.78
%
 
3.71
%
Lipper Loan Participation Funds Category Average2
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
(reflects no deduction for taxes or sales loads)
 
 
 
 
(2.51
)%
 
1.95
%
 
2.64
%
 
2.64
%
                                 
                                 
1
An index designed to measure the performance of the USD-denominated leveraged loan market. The index includes issuers from developed countries; issuers from developing countries are excluded.
2
Represents the average annualized total return for all reporting funds in the Lipper Loan Participation Funds Category.
   
24
Section 1 Fund Summaries

Management
Investment Adviser
Nuveen Fund Advisors, LLC
Sub-Adviser
Nuveen Asset Management, LLC
Portfolio Managers
     
Name
Title
Portfolio Manager of Fund Since
Scott Caraher
Senior Managing Director
May 2011
Kevin R. Lorenz, CFA
Senior Managing Director
August 2020
Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares
You may purchase, redeem or exchange shares of the Fund on any business day through a financial advisor or other financial intermediary. The Fund’s initial and subsequent investment minimums generally are as follows, although certain financial intermediaries may impose their own investment minimums and the Fund may reduce or waive the minimums in some cases:
       
 
Class A and Class C
Class R6
Class I
Eligibility and Minimum Initial Investment
$3,000 for all accounts except:
 $2,500 for Traditional/
Roth IRA accounts.
 $2,000 for Coverdell
Education Savings
Accounts.
 $250 for accounts opened through fee-based programs.
 No minimum for retirement plans.
Available only to certain qualified retirement plans and other investors as described in the prospectus and through fee-based programs.
$1 million for all accounts except:
 $100,000 for clients of financial intermediaries who charge such clients an ongoing fee for advisory, investment, consulting or related services.
 No minimum for certain qualified retirement plans and certain other categories of eligible investors as described in the prospectus.
Available only through fee-based programs and certain retirement plans, and to other limited categories of investors as described in the prospectus.
$100,000 for all accounts except:
 $250 for clients of financial intermediaries and family offices that have accounts holding Class I shares with an aggregate value of at least $100,000 (or that are expected to reach this level).
 No minimum for eligible retirement plans and certain other categories of eligible investors as described in the prospectus.
Minimum
Additional
Investment
$100
No minimum.
No minimum.
Tax Information
The Fund’s distributions are taxable and will generally be taxed as ordinary income or capital gains, unless you are investing through a tax-deferred account, such as an IRA or 401(k) plan (in which case you may be taxed upon withdrawal of your investment from such account).
Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries
If you purchase shares of the Fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank or financial advisor), the Fund, its distributor or its investment adviser may pay the intermediary for the sale of Fund shares and related services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other financial intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your financial advisor or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.
   
Section 1 Fund Summaries
25

Nuveen High Yield Income Fund
Investment Objective
The investment objective of the Fund is to seek current income and capital appreciation.
Fees and Expenses of the Fund
The following tables describe the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund. You may qualify for sales charge discounts if you and your family invest, or agree to invest in the future, at least $50,000 in the Fund or in other Nuveen Mutual Funds. More information about these and other discounts, as well as eligibility requirements for each share class, is available from your financial advisor and in “How You Can Buy and Sell Shares” on page 82 of the Fund’s prospectus and “Purchase and Redemption of Fund Shares” on page S-62 of the Fund’s statement of additional information. In addition, more information about sales charge discounts and waivers for purchases of shares through specific financial intermediaries is set forth in the appendix to the Fund’s prospectus entitled “Variations in Sales Charge Reductions and Waivers Available Through Certain Intermediaries.”
The tables and examples below do not reflect any commissions that shareholders may be required to pay directly to their financial intermediaries when buying or selling Class I shares.
Shareholder Fees
(fees paid directly from your investment)
                 
 
Class A
 
Class C
 
Class R6
 
Class I
 
Maximum Sales Charge (Load) Imposed on Purchases
(as a percentage of offering price)
4.75%
 
None
 
None
 
None
 
Maximum Deferred Sales Charge (Load)
(as a percentage of the lesser of purchase price or redemption proceeds)1
None
 
1.00%
 
None
 
None
 
Maximum Sales Charge (Load) Imposed on Reinvested Dividends
None
 
None
 
None
 
None
 
Exchange Fee
None
 
None
 
None
 
None
 
Annual Low Balance Account Fee (for accounts under $1,000)2
$15
 
$15
 
None
 
$15
 
Annual Fund Operating Expenses
(expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
                                 
 
Class A
 
Class C
 
Class R6
 
Class I
 
Management Fees
 
0.59
%
 
0.59
%
 
0.59
%
 
0.59
%
Distribution and/or Service (12b-1) Fees
 
0.25
%
 
1.00
%
 
0.00
%
 
0.00
%
Other Expenses
                       
Interest and Related Expenses3
 
0.01
%
 
0.01
%
 
0.01
%
 
0.01
%
Remainder of Other Expenses
 
0.22
%
 
0.22
%
 
0.08
%
 
0.22
%
Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses
 
0.02
%
 
0.02
%
 
0.02
%
 
0.02
%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses
 
1.09
%
 
1.84
%
 
0.70
%
 
0.84
%
Fee Waivers and/or Expense Reimbursements4
 
(0.07
)%
 
(0.07
)%
 
(0.07
)%
 
(0.07
)%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waivers and/or Expense Reimbursements
 
1.02
%
 
1.77
%
 
0.63
%
 
0.77
%
1 The contingent deferred sales charge on Class C shares applies only to redemptions within 12 months of purchase.
2 Fee applies to the following types of accounts under $1,000 held directly with the Fund: individual retirement accounts (IRAs), Coverdell Education Savings Accounts and accounts established pursuant to the Uniform Transfers to Minors Act (UTMA) or Uniform Gifts to Minors Act (UGMA).
3 Includes interest expense and fees paid on Fund borrowings.
4 The Fund’s investment adviser has agreed to waive fees and/or reimburse expenses so that the total annual operating expenses of the Fund (excluding 12b-1 distribution and/or service fees, interest expenses, taxes, acquired fund fees and expenses, fees incurred in acquiring and disposing of portfolio securities and extraordinary expenses) do not exceed 0.79% through July 31, 2025 or 1.35% after July 31, 2025 of the average daily net assets of any class of Fund shares. However, because Class R6 shares are not subject to sub-transfer agent and similar fees, the total annual operating expenses for the Class R6 shares will be less than the expense limitation. The expense limitation expiring July 31, 2025 may be terminated or modified prior to that date only with the approval of the Board of Trustees of the Fund. The expense limitation in effect thereafter may be terminated or modified only with the approval of shareholders of the Fund.
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 either redeem or do not redeem your shares at the end of a period. The example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses are at the lesser of Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses or
   
26
Section 1 Fund Summaries

the applicable expense limitation. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:
                           
 
Class A
 
Class C
 
Class R6
 
Class I
 
1 Year
$
574
 
$
180
 
$
64
 
$
79
 
3 Years
$
795
 
$
568
 
$
213
 
$
257
 
5 Years
$
1,037
 
$
985
 
$
379
 
$
455
 
10 Years
$
1,731
 
$
2,149
 
$
860
 
$
1,027
 
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 135% of the average value of its portfolio.
Principal Investment Strategies
Under normal circumstances, the Fund invests at least 80% of the sum of its net assets and the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes in debt instruments (e.g., bonds and loans) rated below investment grade or, if unrated, deemed by the Fund’s portfolio managers to be of comparable quality. Below investment-grade securities are commonly referred to as “high yield” securities or “junk” bonds. The Fund may invest up to 30% of its net assets in loans. The Fund invests both in debt issued by U.S. companies and in U.S. dollar-denominated debt issued by non-U.S. companies that is traded over-the-counter or listed on an exchange.
The Fund may invest in securities that have not been registered under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”) (“restricted securities”), including securities sold in private placement transactions between issuers and their purchasers and securities that meet the requirements of Rule 144A under the Securities Act (“Rule 144A securities”). Rule 144A securities may be resold under certain circumstances only to qualified institutional buyers as defined by the rule.
The Fund may utilize the following derivatives: options; futures contracts; options on futures contracts; swap agreements, including interest rate swaps, total return swaps, and credit default swaps; and options on swap agreements. The Fund may use these derivatives in an attempt to manage market risk, credit risk and yield curve risk, to manage the effective maturity or duration of securities in the Fund’s portfolio or for speculative purposes in an effort to increase the Fund’s yield or to enhance returns. The use of a derivative is speculative if the Fund is primarily seeking to enhance returns, rather than offset the risk of other positions.
The Fund’s sub-adviser bases its investment process on fundamental, bottom-up credit analysis. Analysts assess sector dynamics, company business models and asset quality. Specific recommendations are based on an analysis of the relative value of the various types of debt within a company’s capital structure. Inherent in the sub-adviser’s credit analysis process is the evaluation of potential upside and downside to any credit. As such, the sub-adviser concentrates its efforts on sectors where there is sufficient transparency to assess the downside risk and where firms have assets to support meaningful recovery in case of default. In its focus on downside protection, the sub-adviser favors opportunities where valuations can be quantified and risks assessed.
Principal Risks
The value of your investment in this Fund will change daily. You could lose money by investing in the Fund. 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 government agency. The principal risks of investing in the Fund listed below are presented alphabetically to facilitate your ability to find particular risks and compare them with the risks of other funds. The significance of any specific risk to an investment in the Fund will vary over time depending on the composition of the Fund’s portfolio, market conditions and other factors. Each risk summarized below is considered a "principal risk" of investing in the Fund, regardless of the order in which it appears.
Active Management Risk—The Fund’s sub-adviser actively manages the Fund’s investments. Consequently, the Fund is subject to the risk that the investment techniques and risk analyses employed by the Fund’s sub-adviser may not produce the desired results. This could cause the Fund to lose value or its investment results to lag relevant benchmarks or other funds with similar objectives.
   
Section 1 Fund Summaries
27

Call Risk—If, during periods of falling interest rates, an issuer exercises its right to prepay principal on its higher-yielding debt securities held by the Fund, the Fund may have to reinvest in securities with lower yields or higher risk of default, which may adversely impact the Fund’s performance.
Credit Risk—Credit risk is the risk that an issuer or other obligated party of a debt security may be, or perceived (whether by market participants, rating agencies, pricing services or otherwise) to be, unable or unwilling to make interest and principal payments when due and the related risk that the value of a debt security may decline because of concerns about the issuer’s ability or willingness to make such payments. Because the Fund invests at least 80% of the value of its assets in high yield securities, the Fund’s credit risks are greater than those of funds that buy only investment grade securities.
Credit Spread Risk—Credit spread risk is the risk that credit spreads (i.e., the difference in yield between securities that is due to differences in their credit quality) may increase when the market believes that bonds generally have a greater risk of default. Increasing credit spreads may reduce the market values of the Fund’s debt securities. Credit spreads often increase more for lower rated and unrated securities than for investment grade securities. In addition, when credit spreads increase, reductions in market value will generally be greater for longer-maturity securities.
Currency Risk—Even though the non-U.S. securities held by the Fund are traded in U.S. dollars, their prices are typically indirectly influenced by currency fluctuations. Changes in currency exchange rates may affect the Fund’s net asset value, interest earned, gains or losses realized on the sale of securities, and derivative transactions tied to such securities.
Cybersecurity Risk—Cybersecurity risk is the risk of an unauthorized breach and access to Fund assets, customer data (including private shareholder information), or proprietary information, or the risk of an incident occurring that causes the Fund, its investment adviser or sub-adviser, custodian, transfer agent, distributor or other service provider, a financial intermediary or the issuers of securities held by the Fund to suffer a data breach, data corruption or lose operational functionality. Successful cyber-attacks or other cyber-failures or events affecting the Fund, its service providers or the issuers of securities held by the Fund may adversely impact the Fund or its shareholders. Additionally, a cybersecurity breach could affect the issuers in which the Fund invests, which may cause the Fund’s investments to lose value.
Derivatives Risk—The use of derivatives involves additional risks and transaction costs which could leave the Fund in a worse position than if it had not used these instruments. Derivative instruments can be used to acquire or to transfer the risk and returns of a security or other asset without buying or selling the security or asset, and the risks associated with investing in such derivatives may be different and greater than the risks associated with directly investing in the underlying securities and other instruments, including leverage risk, market risk, counterparty risk, liquidity risk, operational risk and legal risk. These instruments may entail investment exposures that are greater than their cost would suggest. As a result, a small investment in derivatives can result in losses that greatly exceed the original investment. Derivatives can be highly volatile, illiquid and difficult to value. An over-the-counter derivative transaction between the Fund and a counterparty that is not cleared through a central counterparty also involves the risk that a loss may be sustained as a result of the failure of the counterparty to the contract to make required payments. The payment obligation for a cleared derivative transaction is guaranteed by a central counterparty, which exposes the Fund to the creditworthiness of the central counterparty.
Foreign Investment Risk—Non-U.S. issuers or U.S. issuers with significant non-U.S. operations may be subject to risks in addition to those of issuers located in or that principally operate in the United States as a result of, among other things, political, social and economic developments abroad, as well as armed conflicts and different legal, regulatory and tax environments. Foreign investments may also have lower liquidity and be more difficult to value than investments in U.S. issuers. To the extent the Fund invests a significant portion of its assets in the securities of companies in a single country or region, it may be more susceptible to adverse conditions affecting that country or region. Foreign investments may also be subject to risk of loss because of more or less foreign government regulation, less public information, less stringent investor protections and less stringent accounting, corporate governance, financial reporting and disclosure standards.
Frequent Trading Risk—The Fund's portfolio turnover rate may exceed 100%. Frequent trading of portfolio securities may produce capital gains, which are taxable to shareholders when distributed. Frequent trading may also increase the amount of commissions or mark-ups to broker-dealers that the Fund pays when it buys and sells securities, which may detract from the Fund’s performance.
High Yield Securities Risk—High yield securities, which are rated below investment grade and commonly referred to as “junk” bonds, and unrated securities of comparable quality are high risk investments that may cause income and principal losses for the Fund. They generally are considered to be speculative with respect to the ability to pay interest and repay principal, have greater credit risk, are less liquid, are more likely to experience a default and have more volatile prices than investment grade securities.
   
28
Section 1 Fund Summaries

Income Risk—The Fund's income could decline during periods of falling interest rates or when the Fund experiences defaults on debt securities it holds.
Interest Rate Risk—Interest rate risk is the risk that the value of the Fund’s fixed-rate securities will decline because of rising interest rates. Changing interest rates may have unpredictable effects on markets, result in heightened market volatility and detract from the Fund’s performance to the extent that it is exposed to such interest rates. Fixed-rate securities may be subject to a greater risk of rising interest rates than would normally be the case due to the effect of potential government fiscal policy initiatives and resulting market reaction to those initiatives. Higher periods of inflation could lead to government fiscal policies which raise interest rates. When interest rates change, the values of longer-duration fixed-rate securities usually change more than the values of shorter-duration fixed-rate securities. Conversely, fixed-rate securities with shorter durations or maturities will be less volatile but may provide lower returns than fixed-rate securities with longer durations or maturities. Rising interest rates also may lengthen the duration of securities with call features, since exercise of the call becomes less likely as interest rates rise, which in turn will make the securities more sensitive to changes in interest rates and result in even steeper price declines in the event of further interest rate increases. The Fund is also subject to the risk that the income generated by its investments may not keep pace with inflation.
Loan Risk—The lack of an active trading market for certain loans (including loan participations and assignments) may impair the ability of the Fund to realize full value in the event of the need to sell a loan and may make it difficult to value such loans. Portfolio transactions in loans may settle in as short as seven days but typically can take up to two or three weeks, and in some cases much longer. As a result of these extended settlement periods, the Fund may incur losses if it is required to sell other investments or temporarily borrow to meet its cash needs, including satisfying redemption requests. The risks associated with unsecured loans, which are not backed by a security interest in any specific collateral, are higher than those for comparable loans that are secured by specific collateral. For secured loans, there is a risk that the value of any collateral securing a loan in which the Fund has an interest may decline and that the collateral may not be sufficient to cover the amount owed on the loan. Interests in loans made to finance highly leveraged companies or transactions such as corporate acquisitions may be especially vulnerable to adverse changes in economic or market conditions. Loans may have restrictive covenants limiting the ability of a borrower to further encumber its assets. However, in periods of high demand by lenders like the Fund for loan investments, borrowers may limit these covenants and weaken a lender’s ability to access collateral securing the loan; reprice the credit risk associated with the borrower; and mitigate potential loss. The Fund may experience relatively greater realized or unrealized losses or delays and expenses in enforcing its rights with respect to loans with fewer restrictive covenants. Additionally, loans may not be considered “securities” and, as a result, the Fund may not be entitled to rely on the anti-fraud or other protections of the securities laws. Because junior loans have a lower place in an issuer’s capital structure and may be unsecured, junior loans involve a higher degree of overall risk than senior loans of the issuer. The Fund's investments in floating rate loans that pay interest based on the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) may experience increased volatility and/or illiquidity during the transition away from LIBOR, which was phased out.
Market Risk—The market value of the Fund’s investments may go up or down, sometimes rapidly or unpredictably and for short or extended periods of time, due to the particular circumstances of individual issuers or due to general conditions impacting issuers more broadly. Global economies and financial markets have become highly interconnected, and thus economic, market or political conditions or events in one country or region might adversely impact the value of the Fund’s investments whether or not the Fund invests in such country or region. Events such as war, terrorism, natural and environmental disasters and the spread of infectious illnesses or other public health emergencies may have a severe negative impact on the global economy, could cause financial markets to experience extreme volatility and losses, and could result in the disruption of trading and the reduction of liquidity in many instruments. Additionally, as inflation increases, the value of the Fund’s assets can decline.
Market Liquidity Risk—Reductions in trading activity or dealer inventories of securities such as bonds and preferred securities, which provide an indication of the ability of financial intermediaries to “make markets” in those securities, have the potential to decrease liquidity and increase price volatility in the markets in which the Fund invests, particularly during periods of economic or market stress. In addition, federal banking regulations may cause certain dealers to reduce their inventories of securities, which may further decrease the Fund’s ability to buy or sell securities. As a result of this decreased liquidity, the Fund may have to accept a lower price to sell a security, sell other securities to raise cash, or give up an investment opportunity, any of which could have a negative effect on performance. If the Fund needed to sell large blocks of securities to meet shareholder redemption requests or to raise cash, those sales could further reduce the securities’ prices and hurt performance.
   
Section 1 Fund Summaries
29

Restricted Securities Risk—The market for restricted securities, including Rule 144A securities, typically is less active than the market for publicly traded securities. Rule 144A securities and other securities exempt from registration under the Securities Act carry the risk that their liquidity may become impaired and the Fund may be unable to dispose of the securities promptly or at current market value.
Unrated Security Risk—Unrated securities determined by the Fund’s sub-adviser to be of comparable quality to rated securities which the Fund may purchase may pay a higher interest rate than such rated securities and be subject to a greater risk of illiquidity or price changes. Less public information is typically available about unrated securities or issuers than rated securities or issuers.
Valuation Risk—The sales price the Fund could receive for any particular security may differ from the Fund’s valuation of the investment, particularly for securities that trade in thin or volatile markets or that are valued using a fair value methodology. The debt securities in which the Fund invests typically are valued by a pricing service utilizing a range of market-based inputs and assumptions, including price quotations obtained from broker-dealers making markets in such instruments, cash flows and transactions for comparable instruments. There is no assurance that the Fund will be able to buy or sell a portfolio security at the price established by the pricing service, which could result in a gain or loss to the Fund. Pricing services generally price debt securities assuming orderly transactions of an institutional “round lot” size, but some trades may occur in smaller, “odd lot” sizes, often at lower prices than institutional round lot trades. Over certain time periods, such differences could materially impact the performance of the Fund, which may not be sustainable. Alternative pricing services may incorporate different assumptions and inputs into their valuation methodologies, potentially resulting in different values for the same securities. As a result, if the Fund were to change pricing services, or if the Fund’s pricing service were to change its valuation methodology, there could be a material impact, either positive or negative, on the Fund’s net asset value.
Fund Performance
The following bar chart and table provide some indication of the potential risks of investing in the Fund. 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 is available at www.nuveen.com/performance or by calling (800) 257-8787.
The bar chart below shows the variability of the Fund’s performance from year to year for Class A shares. The bar chart and highest/lowest quarterly returns that follow do not reflect sales charges, and if these charges were reflected, the returns would be less than those shown.
 
Class A Annual Total Return*
PerformanceBarChartData(2013:9.68,2014:-0.09,2015:-8.73,2016:20.37,2017:5.81,2018:-0.9,2019:12.98,2020:1.75,2021:6.35,2022:-10.5)
*Class A year-to-date total return as of September 30, 2023 was 5.67%. The performance of the other share classes will differ due to their different expense structures.
During the ten-year period ended December 31, 2022, the Fund’s highest and lowest quarterly returns were 7.93%
and -15.01%, respectively, for the quarters ended June 30, 2020 and March 31, 2020.
   
30
Section 1 Fund Summaries

The table below shows the variability of the Fund’s average annual returns and how they compare over the time periods indicated with those of a broad measure of market performance and an index of funds with similar investment objectives. All 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. After-tax returns are shown for Class A shares only; after-tax returns for other share classes will vary. Your own actual after-tax returns will depend on your specific tax situation and may differ from what is shown here. After-tax returns are not relevant to investors who hold Fund shares in tax-deferred accounts such as IRAs or employer-sponsored retirement plans.
Both the bar chart and the table assume that all distributions have been reinvested. Performance reflects fee waivers, if any, in effect during the periods presented. If any such waivers had not been in place, returns would have been reduced.
                                 
 
 
 
 
 
Average Annual Total Returns
 
 
 
 
 
for the Periods Ended
 
 
 
 
 
December 31, 2022
 
 
Inception
Date
1 Year
5 Years
10 Years
Since
Inception
(Class R6)
Class A (return before taxes)
 
4/28/10
 
 
(14.75
)%
 
0.65
%
 
2.78
%
 
N/A
 
Class A (return after taxes on distributions)
 
 
 
 
(16.45
)%
 
(1.51
)%
 
0.24
%
 
N/A
 
Class A (return after taxes on distributions and sale of Fund shares)
 
 
 
 
(8.70
)%
 
(0.38
)%
 
0.99
%
 
N/A
 
Class C (return before taxes)
 
4/28/10
 
 
(11.20
)%
 
0.87
%
 
2.67
%
 
N/A
 
Class R6 (return before taxes)
 
10/1/14
 
 
(10.11
)%
 
2.01
%
 
N/A
 
 
2.93
%
Class I (return before taxes)
 
4/28/10
 
 
(10.25
)%
 
1.89
%
 
3.54
%
 
N/A
 
ICE BofA U.S. High Yield Index1
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
(reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes)
 
 
 
 
(11.22
)%
 
2.12
%
 
3.94
%
 
3.43
%
Lipper High Yield Funds Category Average2
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
(reflects no deduction for taxes or sales loads)
 
 
 
 
(10.66
)%
 
1.73
%
 
3.23
%
 
2.71
%
                                 
                                 
1
An index designed to measure the performance of USD-denominated below investment grade corporate debt publicly issued in the U.S. domestic market.
2
Represents the average annualized total return for all reporting funds in the Lipper High Yield Funds Category.
Management
Investment Adviser
Nuveen Fund Advisors, LLC
Sub-Adviser
Nuveen Asset Management, LLC
Portfolio Managers
     
Name
Title
Portfolio Manager of Fund Since
Scott Caraher
Senior Managing Director
May 2019
Jean C. Lin, CFA
Managing Director
August 2020
Kristal Y. Seales, CFA
Managing Director
December 2023
 
   
Section 1 Fund Summaries
31

Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares
You may purchase, redeem or exchange shares of the Fund on any business day through a financial advisor or other financial intermediary. The Fund’s initial and subsequent investment minimums generally are as follows, although certain financial intermediaries may impose their own investment minimums and the Fund may reduce or waive the minimums in some cases:
       
 
Class A and Class C
Class R6
Class I
Eligibility and Minimum Initial Investment
$3,000 for all accounts except:
 $2,500 for Traditional/
Roth IRA accounts.
 $2,000 for Coverdell
Education Savings
Accounts.
 $250 for accounts opened through fee-based programs.
 No minimum for retirement plans.
Available only to certain qualified retirement plans and other investors as described in the prospectus and through fee-based programs.
$1 million for all accounts except:
 $100,000 for clients of financial intermediaries who charge such clients an ongoing fee for advisory, investment, consulting or related services.
 No minimum for certain qualified retirement plans and certain other categories of eligible investors as described in the prospectus.
Available only through fee-based programs and certain retirement plans, and to other limited categories of investors as described in the prospectus.
$100,000 for all accounts except:
 $250 for clients of financial intermediaries and family offices that have accounts holding Class I shares with an aggregate value of at least $100,000 (or that are expected to reach this level).
 No minimum for eligible retirement plans and certain other categories of eligible investors as described in the prospectus.
Minimum
Additional
Investment
$100
No minimum.
No minimum.
Tax Information
The Fund’s distributions are taxable and will generally be taxed as ordinary income or capital gains, unless you are investing through a tax-deferred account, such as an IRA or 401(k) plan (in which case you may be taxed upon withdrawal of your investment from such account).
Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries
If you purchase shares of the Fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank or financial advisor), the Fund, its distributor or its investment adviser may pay the intermediary for the sale of Fund shares and related services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other financial intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your financial advisor or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.
   
32
Section 1 Fund Summaries

Nuveen Preferred Securities and Income Fund
Investment Objective
The Fund seeks to provide a high level of current income and total return.
Fees and Expenses of the Fund
The following tables describe the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund. You may qualify for sales charge discounts if you and your family invest, or agree to invest in the future, at least $50,000 in the Fund or in other Nuveen Mutual Funds. More information about these and other discounts, as well as eligibility requirements for each share class, is available from your financial advisor and in “How You Can Buy and Sell Shares” on page 82 of the Fund’s prospectus and “Purchase and Redemption of Fund Shares” on page S-71 of the Fund’s statement of additional information. In addition, more information about sales charge discounts and waivers for purchases of shares through specific financial intermediaries is set forth in the appendix to the Fund’s prospectus entitled “Variations in Sales Charge Reductions and Waivers Available Through Certain Intermediaries.”
The tables and examples below do not reflect any commissions that shareholders may be required to pay directly to their financial intermediaries when buying or selling Class I shares.
Shareholder Fees
(fees paid directly from your investment)
                 
 
Class A
 
Class C
 
Class R6
 
Class I
 
Maximum Sales Charge (Load) Imposed on Purchases
(as a percentage of offering price)
4.75%
 
None
 
None
 
None
 
Maximum Deferred Sales Charge (Load)
(as a percentage of the lesser of purchase price or redemption proceeds)1
None
 
1.00%
 
None
 
None
 
Maximum Sales Charge (Load) Imposed on Reinvested Dividends
None
 
None
 
None
 
None
 
Exchange Fee
None
 
None
 
None
 
None
 
Annual Low Balance Account Fee (for accounts under $1,000)2
$15
 
$15
 
None
 
$15
 
Annual Fund Operating Expenses
(expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
                                 
 
Class A
 
Class C
 
Class R6
 
Class I
 
Management Fees
 
0.65
%
 
0.65
%
 
0.65
%
 
0.65
%
Distribution and/or Service (12b-1) Fees
 
0.25
%
 
1.00
%
 
0.00
%
 
0.00
%
Other Expenses
                       
Interest and Related Expenses3
 
0.01
%
 
0.01
%
 
0.01
%
 
0.01
%
Remainder of Other Expenses
 
0.10
%
 
0.10
%
 
0.03
%
 
0.10
%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses
 
1.01
%
 
1.76
%
 
0.69
%
 
0.76
%
1 The contingent deferred sales charge on Class C shares applies only to redemptions within 12 months of purchase.
2 Fee applies to the following types of accounts under $1,000 held directly with the Fund: individual retirement accounts (IRAs), Coverdell Education Savings Accounts and accounts established pursuant to the Uniform Transfers to Minors Act (UTMA) or Uniform Gifts to Minors Act (UGMA).
3 Includes interest expense and fees paid on Fund borrowings.
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 either redeem or do not redeem your shares at the end of a period. 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:
                           
 
Class A
 
Class C
 
Class R6
 
Class I
 
1 Year
$
573
 
$
179
 
$
70
 
$
78
 
3 Years
$
781
 
$
554
 
$
221
 
$
243
 
5 Years
$
1,006
 
$
954
 
$
384
 
$
422
 
10 Years
$
1,653
 
$
2,073
 
$
859
 
$
942
 
   
Section 1 Fund Summaries
33

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 22% of the average value of its portfolio.
Principal Investment Strategies
Under normal circumstances, the Fund invests at least 80% of the sum of its net assets and the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes in preferred securities and other income producing securities. The Fund may invest in all types of preferred securities, including both perpetual preferred securities and hybrid securities. Perpetual preferred securities are generally equity securities of the issuer that have priority over the issuer’s common shares as to the payment of dividends (i.e., the issuer cannot pay dividends on its common shares until the dividends on the preferred shares are current) and as to the payout of proceeds of a bankruptcy or other liquidation, but are subordinate to an issuer’s senior debt and junior debt as to both types of payments. Additionally, in a bankruptcy or other liquidation, perpetual preferred securities are generally subordinate to an issuer’s trade creditors and other general obligations. Perpetual preferred securities typically have a fixed liquidation (or “par”) value.
The term “preferred securities” also includes hybrid securities and other types of preferred securities that do not have the features described above. Preferred securities that are hybrid securities often behave similarly to investments in perpetual preferred securities and are regarded by market investors as being part of the preferred securities market. Such hybrid securities possess varying combinations of features of both debt and perpetual preferred securities and as such they may constitute senior debt, junior debt or preferred shares in an issuer’s capital structure.
The term “preferred securities” also includes certain forms of debt that are regarded by the investment marketplace to be part of the broader preferred securities market. Among these preferred securities are certain exchange-listed debt issues that historically have several attributes, including trading and investment performance characteristics, in common with exchange-listed perpetual preferred securities and hybrid securities. Generally, these types of preferred securities are senior debt in the capital structure of an issuer.
The Fund may also invest in income producing securities that are not preferred securities. These include contingent capital securities (sometimes referred to as “CoCos”), which are hybrid securities, issued primarily by non-U.S. financial institutions, that have loss absorption mechanisms benefitting the issuer built into their terms. These loss absorption mechanisms may include automatic conversion into the issuer’s common stock or an automatic write down of the security’s principal amount upon the occurrence of a specified trigger or event. In addition, although the Fund will invest primarily in preferred securities and CoCos, it may invest up to 20% of its net assets, in the aggregate, in corporate debt securities, U.S. government securities (including securities issued or guaranteed by U.S. government agencies and instrumentalities) and taxable municipal securities.
The Fund may also invest in preferred securities or CoCos that are convertible into common stock.
The Fund normally invests at least 50% of its net assets in securities rated investment grade (BBB/Baa or higher) at the time of purchase by at least one independent rating agency and unrated securities judged to be of comparable quality by the Fund’s portfolio managers. The Fund may invest up to 50% of its net assets in securities rated below investment grade (BB/Ba or lower) or unrated securities judged to be of comparable quality by the Fund’s portfolio managers at the time of purchase, which are commonly referred to as “high yield” securities or “junk” bonds. The Fund may also invest in U.S. dollar-denominated securities issued by non-U.S. companies.
The Fund may invest in securities that have not been registered under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”) (“restricted securities”), including securities sold in private placement transactions between issuers and their purchasers and securities that meet the requirements of Rule 144A under the Securities Act (“Rule 144A securities”). Rule 144A securities may be resold under certain circumstances only to qualified institutional buyers as defined by the rule.
The Fund intends to invest at least 25% of its assets in the securities of companies principally engaged in financial services.
The Fund’s sub-adviser considers several factors in constructing the Fund’s portfolio of preferred securities, including credit risk, diversification, preferred sub-market analysis, call protection and yield curve analysis. From this analysis, the
   
34
Section 1 Fund Summaries

Fund’s sub-adviser builds a portfolio of securities that it believes offers the most attractive mix of value relative to securities with similar credit ratings, current income and call protection.
Principal Risks
The value of your investment in this Fund will change daily. You could lose money by investing in the Fund. 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 government agency. The principal risks of investing in the Fund listed below are presented alphabetically to facilitate your ability to find particular risks and compare them with the risks of other funds. The significance of any specific risk to an investment in the Fund will vary over time depending on the composition of the Fund’s portfolio, market conditions and other factors. Each risk summarized below is considered a "principal risk" of investing in the Fund, regardless of the order in which it appears.
Active Management Risk—The Fund’s sub-adviser actively manages the Fund’s investments. Consequently, the Fund is subject to the risk that the investment techniques and risk analyses employed by the Fund’s sub-adviser may not produce the desired results. This could cause the Fund to lose value or its investment results to lag relevant benchmarks or other funds with similar objectives.
Call Risk—If, during periods of falling interest rates, an issuer exercises its right to prepay principal on its higher-yielding debt securities held by the Fund, the Fund may have to reinvest in securities with lower yields or higher risk of default, which may adversely impact the Fund’s performance.
Contingent Capital Security Risk—CoCos have loss absorption mechanisms benefitting the issuer built into their terms. Upon the occurrence of a specified trigger or event, CoCos may be subject to automatic conversion into the issuer’s common stock, which likely will have declined in value and which will be subordinate to the issuer’s other classes of securities, or to an automatic write-down of the principal amount of the securities, potentially to zero, which could result in the Fund losing a portion or all of its investment in such securities. CoCos are often rated below investment grade and are subject to the risks of high yield securities.
Convertible Security Risk—Convertible securities are subject to certain risks of both equity and debt securities. The value of convertible securities may decline in response to such factors as rising interest rates and fluctuations in the market price of the common stock underlying the convertible securities.
Credit Risk—Credit risk is the risk that an issuer or other obligated party of a security may be, or perceived (whether by market participants, rating agencies, pricing services or otherwise) to be, unable or unwilling to make dividend, interest and principal payments when due and the related risk that the value of a security may decline because of concerns about the issuer’s ability or willingness to make such payments.
Credit Spread Risk—Credit spread risk is the risk that credit spreads (i.e., the difference in yield between securities that is due to differences in their credit quality) may increase when the market believes that bonds generally have a greater risk of default. Increasing credit spreads may reduce the market values of the Fund’s debt securities. Credit spreads often increase more for lower rated and unrated securities than for investment grade securities. In addition, when credit spreads increase, reductions in market value will generally be greater for longer-maturity securities.
Currency Risk—Even though the non-U.S. securities held by the Fund are traded in U.S. dollars, their prices are typically indirectly influenced by currency fluctuations. Changes in currency exchange rates may affect the Fund’s net asset value, the value of dividends and interest earned, and gains or losses realized on the sale of securities.
Cybersecurity Risk—Cybersecurity risk is the risk of an unauthorized breach and access to Fund assets, customer data (including private shareholder information), or proprietary information, or the risk of an incident occurring that causes the Fund, its investment adviser or sub-adviser, custodian, transfer agent, distributor or other service provider, a financial intermediary or the issuers of securities held by the Fund to suffer a data breach, data corruption or lose operational functionality. Successful cyber-attacks or other cyber-failures or events affecting the Fund, its service providers or the issuers of securities held by the Fund may adversely impact the Fund or its shareholders. Additionally, a cybersecurity breach could affect the issuers in which the Fund invests, which may cause the Fund’s investments to lose value.
Financial Services Sector Risk—The Fund's policy to concentrate in financial services companies makes the Fund more susceptible to adverse economic or regulatory occurrences affecting the financial services sector. Financial services companies are particularly sensitive to the adverse effects of economic recession; changes in government regulation; the availability of capital; volatile interest rates; and the health of the commercial and residential real estate markets.
   
Section 1 Fund Summaries
35

Foreign Investment Risk—Non-U.S. issuers or U.S. issuers with significant non-U.S. operations may be subject to risks in addition to those of issuers located in or that principally operate in the United States as a result of, among other things, political, social and economic developments abroad, as well as armed conflicts and different legal, regulatory and tax environments. Foreign investments may also have lower liquidity and be more difficult to value than investments in U.S. issuers. To the extent the Fund invests a significant portion of its assets in the securities of companies in a single country or region, it may be more susceptible to adverse conditions affecting that country or region. Foreign investments may also be subject to risk of loss because of more or less foreign government regulation, less public information, less stringent investor protections and less stringent accounting, corporate governance, financial reporting and disclosure standards.
High Yield Securities Risk—High yield securities, which are rated below investment grade and commonly referred to as “junk” bonds, and unrated securities of comparable quality are high risk investments that may cause income and principal losses for the Fund. They generally are considered to be speculative with respect to the ability to pay interest and repay principal, have greater credit risk, are less liquid, are more likely to experience a default and have more volatile prices than investment grade securities.
Income Risk—The Fund's income could decline during periods of falling interest rates or when the Fund experiences defaults on debt securities or defaults or deferrals on preferred securities it holds.
Interest Rate Risk—Interest rate risk is the risk that the value of the Fund’s fixed-rate securities will decline because of rising interest rates. Changing interest rates may have unpredictable effects on markets, result in heightened market volatility and detract from the Fund’s performance to the extent that it is exposed to such interest rates. Fixed-rate securities may be subject to a greater risk of rising interest rates than would normally be the case due to the effect of potential government fiscal policy initiatives and resulting market reaction to those initiatives. Higher periods of inflation could lead to government fiscal policies which raise interest rates. When interest rates change, the values of longer-duration fixed-rate securities usually change more than the values of shorter-duration fixed-rate securities. Conversely, fixed-rate securities with shorter durations or maturities will be less volatile but may provide lower returns than fixed-rate securities with longer durations or maturities. Rising interest rates also may lengthen the duration of securities with call features, since exercise of the call becomes less likely as interest rates rise, which in turn will make the securities more sensitive to changes in interest rates and result in even steeper price declines in the event of further interest rate increases. The Fund is also subject to the risk that the income generated by its investments may not keep pace with inflation.
Market Risk—The market value of the Fund’s investments may go up or down, sometimes rapidly or unpredictably and for short or extended periods of time, due to the particular circumstances of individual issuers or due to general conditions impacting issuers more broadly. Global economies and financial markets have become highly interconnected, and thus economic, market or political conditions or events in one country or region might adversely impact the value of the Fund’s investments whether or not the Fund invests in such country or region. Events such as war, terrorism, natural and environmental disasters and the spread of infectious illnesses or other public health emergencies may have a severe negative impact on the global economy, could cause financial markets to experience extreme volatility and losses, and could result in the disruption of trading and the reduction of liquidity in many instruments. Additionally, as inflation increases, the value of the Fund’s assets can decline.
Market Liquidity Risk—Reductions in trading activity or dealer inventories of securities such as bonds and preferred securities, which provide an indication of the ability of financial intermediaries to “make markets” in those securities, have the potential to decrease liquidity and increase price volatility in the markets in which the Fund invests, particularly during periods of economic or market stress. In addition, federal banking regulations may cause certain dealers to reduce their inventories of securities, which may further decrease the Fund’s ability to buy or sell securities. As a result of this decreased liquidity, the Fund may have to accept a lower price to sell a security, sell other securities to raise cash, or give up an investment opportunity, any of which could have a negative effect on performance. If the Fund needed to sell large blocks of securities to meet shareholder redemption requests or to raise cash, those sales could further reduce the securities’ prices and hurt performance.
Municipal Securities Risk—The values of municipal securities held by the Fund may be adversely affected by local political and economic conditions and developments. Adverse conditions in an industry significant to a local economy could have a correspondingly adverse effect on the financial condition of local issuers. The amount of public information available about municipal bonds is generally less than for certain corporate equities or bonds, meaning that the investment performance of the Fund may be more dependent on the analytical abilities of the Fund’s sub-adviser than funds that invest in stock or other corporate investments.
   
36
Section 1 Fund Summaries

Preferred Security Risk—Preferred securities generally are subordinated to bonds and other debt instruments in a company’s capital structure and therefore will be subject to greater credit risk than those debt instruments. In addition, preferred securities are subject to other risks, such as having no or limited voting rights, being subject to special redemption rights, having distributions deferred or skipped, having floating interest rates or dividends, which may result in a decline in value in a falling interest rate environment, having fixed interest rates or dividends, which may result in a decline in value in a rising interest rate environment, having limited liquidity, changing or unfavorable tax treatments and possibly being issued by companies in heavily regulated industries.
Restricted Securities Risk—The market for restricted securities, including Rule 144A securities, typically is less active than the market for publicly traded securities. Rule 144A securities and other securities exempt from registration under the Securities Act carry the risk that their liquidity may become impaired and the Fund may be unable to dispose of the securities promptly or at current market value.
Unrated Security Risk—Unrated securities determined by the Fund’s sub-adviser to be of comparable quality to rated securities which the Fund may purchase may pay a higher interest rate than such rated securities and be subject to a greater risk of illiquidity or price changes. Less public information is typically available about unrated securities or issuers than rated securities or issuers.
U.S. Government Securities Risk—U.S. government securities are guaranteed only as to the timely payment of interest and the payment of principal when held to maturity. Accordingly, the current market values for these securities will fluctuate with changes in interest rates. Securities issued or guaranteed by U.S. government agencies and instrumentalities are supported by varying degrees of credit but generally are not backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government or may be subject to certain limitations. No assurance can be given that the U.S. government will provide financial support to its agencies and instrumentalities if it is not obligated by law to do so, which may increase the risk of loss to the Fund.
Valuation Risk—The sales price the Fund could receive for any particular security may differ from the Fund’s valuation of the investment, particularly for securities that trade in thin or volatile markets or that are valued using a fair value methodology. The debt securities in which the Fund invests typically are valued by a pricing service utilizing a range of market-based inputs and assumptions, including price quotations obtained from broker-dealers making markets in such instruments, cash flows and transactions for comparable instruments. There is no assurance that the Fund will be able to buy or sell a portfolio security at the price established by the pricing service, which could result in a gain or loss to the Fund. Pricing services generally price debt securities assuming orderly transactions of an institutional “round lot” size, but some trades may occur in smaller, “odd lot” sizes, often at lower prices than institutional round lot trades. Over certain time periods, such differences could materially impact the performance of the Fund, which may not be sustainable. Alternative pricing services may incorporate different assumptions and inputs into their valuation methodologies, potentially resulting in different values for the same securities. As a result, if the Fund were to change pricing services, or if the Fund’s pricing service were to change its valuation methodology, there could be a material impact, either positive or negative, on the Fund’s net asset value.
Fund Performance
The following bar chart and table provide some indication of the potential risks of investing in the Fund. 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 is available at www.nuveen.com/performance or by calling (800) 257-8787.
   
Section 1 Fund Summaries
37

The bar chart below shows the variability of the Fund’s performance from year to year for Class A shares. The bar chart and highest/lowest quarterly returns that follow do not reflect sales charges, and if these charges were reflected, the returns would be less than those shown.
 
Class A Annual Total Return*
PerformanceBarChartData(2013:4.46,2014:8.8,2015:4.44,2016:5.01,2017:10.89,2018:-5.9,2019:17.34,2020:5.24,2021:5.11,2022:-10.07)
*Class A year-to-date total return as of September 30, 2023 was -0.48%. The performance of the other share classes will differ due to their different expense structures.
During the ten-year period ended December 31, 2022, the Fund’s highest and lowest quarterly returns were 11.07%
and -15.43%, respectively, for the quarters ended June 30, 2020 and March 31, 2020.
The table below shows the variability of the Fund’s average annual returns and how they compare over the time periods indicated with those of broad measures of market performance and an index of funds with similar investment objectives. All 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. After-tax returns are shown for Class A shares only; after-tax returns for other share classes will vary. Your own actual after-tax returns will depend on your specific tax situation and may differ from what is shown here. After-tax returns are not relevant to investors who hold Fund shares in tax-deferred accounts such as IRAs or employer-sponsored retirement plans.
Both the bar chart and the table assume that all distributions have been reinvested. Performance reflects fee waivers, if any, in effect during the periods presented. If any such waivers had not been in place, returns would have been reduced.
   
38
Section 1 Fund Summaries

                                 
 
 
 
 
 
Average Annual Total Returns
 
 
 
 
 
for the Periods Ended
 
 
 
 
 
December 31, 2022
 
 
Inception
Date
1 Year
5 Years
10 Years
Since
Inception
(Class R6)
Class A (return before taxes)
 
12/19/06
 
 
(14.35
)%
 
0.91
%
 
3.76
%
 
N/A
 
Class A (return after taxes on distributions)
 
 
 
 
(15.39
)%
 
(0.37
)%
 
2.14
%
 
N/A
 
Class A (return after taxes on distributions and sale of Fund shares)
 
 
 
 
(7.72
)%
 
0.63
%
 
2.58
%
 
N/A
 
Class C (return before taxes)
 
12/19/06
 
 
(10.70
)%
 
1.14
%
 
3.64
%
 
N/A
 
Class R6 (return before taxes)
 
6/30/16
 
 
(9.76
)%
 
2.23
%
 
N/A
 
 
3.87
%
Class I (return before taxes)
 
12/19/06
 
 
(9.82
)%
 
2.15
%
 
4.52
%
 
N/A
 
ICE BofA U.S. All Capital Securities Index1
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
(reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes)
 
 
 
 
(14.85
)%
 
1.41
%
 
4.08
%
 
2.60
%
Preferred Securities and Income Blended Benchmark2
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
(reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes)
 
 
 
 
(13.40
)%
 
1.90
%
 
4.12
%
 
3.61
%
Lipper Flexible Income Funds Category Average3
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
(reflects no deduction for taxes or sales loads)
 
 
 
 
(11.73
)%
 
1.50
%
 
3.18
%
 
2.66
%
   
                                 
1
An index designed to measure the performance of investment grade and below investment grade fixed rate and fixed-to-floating rate, USD-denominated hybrid corporate and preferred securities publicly issued in the U.S. domestic market.
2
The index is comprised of a 60% weighting in the ICE BofA U.S. All Capital Securities Index and a 40% weighting in the ICE BofA USD Contingent Capital Index. Benchmark performance is linked. Performance prior to 12/31/13 reflects the Blended Benchmark’s previous composition: a 65% weighting in the ICE BofA Fixed Rate Preferred Index and a 35% weighting in the Bloomberg USD Capital Securities Index.
3
Represents the average annualized total return for all reporting funds in the Lipper Flexible Income Funds Category.
Management
Investment Adviser
Nuveen Fund Advisors, LLC
Sub-Adviser
Nuveen Asset Management, LLC
Portfolio Managers
     
Name
Title
Portfolio Manager of Fund Since
Douglas M. Baker, CFA
Managing Director
December 2006
Brenda A. Langenfeld, CFA
Managing Director
January 2012
   
Section 1 Fund Summaries
39

Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares
You may purchase, redeem or exchange shares of the Fund on any business day through a financial advisor or other financial intermediary. The Fund’s initial and subsequent investment minimums generally are as follows, although certain financial intermediaries may impose their own investment minimums and the Fund may reduce or waive the minimums in some cases:
       
 
Class A and Class C
Class R6
Class I
Eligibility and Minimum Initial Investment
$3,000 for all accounts except:
 $2,500 for Traditional/
Roth IRA accounts.
 $2,000 for Coverdell
Education Savings
Accounts.
 $250 for accounts opened through fee-based programs.
 No minimum for retirement plans.
Available only to certain qualified retirement plans and other investors as described in the prospectus and through fee-based programs.
$1 million for all accounts except:
 $100,000 for clients of financial intermediaries who charge such clients an ongoing fee for advisory, investment, consulting or related services.
 No minimum for certain qualified retirement plans and certain other categories of eligible investors as described in the prospectus.
Available only through fee-based programs and certain retirement plans, and to other limited categories of investors as described in the prospectus.
$100,000 for all accounts except:
 $250 for clients of financial intermediaries and family offices that have accounts holding Class I shares with an aggregate value of at least $100,000 (or that are expected to reach this level).
 No minimum for eligible retirement plans and certain other categories of eligible investors as described in the prospectus.
Minimum
Additional
Investment
$100
No minimum.
No minimum.
Tax Information
The Fund’s distributions are taxable and will generally be taxed as ordinary income or capital gains, unless you are investing through a tax-deferred account, such as an IRA or 401(k) plan (in which case you may be taxed upon withdrawal of your investment from such account).
Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries
If you purchase shares of the Fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank or financial advisor), the Fund, its distributor or its investment adviser may pay the intermediary for the sale of Fund shares and related services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other financial intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your financial advisor or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.
   
40
Section 1 Fund Summaries

Nuveen Strategic Income Fund
Investment Objective
The investment objective of the Fund is to provide investors with total return.
Fees and Expenses of the Fund
The following tables describe the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund. You may qualify for sales charge discounts if you and your family invest, or agree to invest in the future, at least $50,000 in the Fund or in other Nuveen Mutual Funds. More information about these and other discounts, as well as eligibility requirements for each share class, is available from your financial advisor and in “How You Can Buy and Sell Shares” on page 82 of the Fund’s prospectus and “Purchase and Redemption of Fund Shares” on page S-76 of the Fund’s statement of additional information. In addition, more information about sales charge discounts and waivers for purchases of shares through specific financial intermediaries is set forth in the appendix to the Fund’s prospectus entitled “Variations in Sales Charge Reductions and Waivers Available Through Certain Intermediaries.”
The tables and examples below do not reflect any commissions that shareholders may be required to pay directly to their financial intermediaries when buying or selling Class I shares.
Shareholder Fees
(fees paid directly from your investment)
                     
     
Class A
 
Class C
 
Class R6
 
Class I
 
Maximum Sales Charge (Load) Imposed on Purchases
(as a percentage of offering price)
   
4.25%
 
None
 
None
 
None
 
Maximum Deferred Sales Charge (Load)
(as a percentage of the lesser of purchase price or redemption proceeds)1
   
None
 
1.00%
 
None
 
None
 
Maximum Sales Charge (Load) Imposed on Reinvested Dividends
   
None
 
None
 
None
 
None
 
Exchange Fee
   
None
 
None
 
None
 
None
 
Annual Low Balance Account Fee (for accounts under $1,000)2
   
$15
 
$15
 
None
 
$15
 
Annual Fund Operating Expenses
(expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
                                         
     
Class A
 
Class C
 
Class R6
 
Class I
 
Management Fees
       
0.54
%
 
0.54
%
 
0.54
%
 
0.54
%
Distribution and/or Service (12b-1) Fees
       
0.25
%
 
1.00
%
 
0.00
%
 
0.00
%
Other Expenses
       
0.17
%
 
0.17
%
 
0.08
%
 
0.17
%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses
       
0.96
%
 
1.71
%
 
0.62
%
 
0.71
%
Fee Waivers and/or Expense Reimbursements3
       
(0.13
)%
 
(0.12
)%
 
(0.12
)%
 
(0.13
)%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waivers and/or Expense Reimbursements
       
0.83
%
 
1.59
%
 
0.50
%
 
0.58
%
1 The contingent deferred sales charge on Class C shares applies only to redemptions within 12 months of purchase.
2 Fee applies to the following types of accounts under $1,000 held directly with the Fund: individual retirement accounts (IRAs), Coverdell Education Savings Accounts and accounts established pursuant to the Uniform Transfers to Minors Act (UTMA) or Uniform Gifts to Minors Act (UGMA).
3 The Fund’s investment adviser has agreed to waive fees and/or reimburse expenses through July 31, 2025 so that the total annual operating expenses of the Fund (excluding 12b-1 distribution and/or service fees, interest expenses, taxes, acquired fund fees and expenses, fees incurred in acquiring and disposing of portfolio securities and extraordinary expenses) do not exceed 0.59% of the average daily net assets of any class of Fund shares. However, because Class R6 shares are not subject to sub-transfer agent and similar fees, the total annual operating expenses for the Class R6 shares will be less than the expense limitation. This expense limitation may be terminated or modified prior to July 31, 2025 only with the approval of the Board of Directors of the Fund.
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 either redeem or do not redeem your shares at the end of a period. The example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year, that the Fund’s operating expenses remain the same and that the fee waivers currently in place are not renewed beyond July 31, 2025. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:
   
Section 1 Fund Summaries
41

                                     
     
Class A
 
Class C
 
Class R6
 
Class I
 
1 Year
     
$
506
 
$
162
 
$
51
 
$
59
 
3 Years
     
$
698
 
$
520
 
$
179
 
$
206
 
5 Years
     
$
914
 
$
910