PROSPECTUS
Green California Tax-Free Income Fund, Investor Shares:
S&P 500 Index Fund, Investor Shares: , K Shares:
S&P MidCap Index Fund, Investor Shares: , K Shares:
S&P SmallCap Index Fund, Investor Shares: , K Shares:
Shelton Equity Income Fund, Investor Shares: , K Shares:
Nasdaq-100 Index Fund, Investor Shares: , K Shares: , Institutional Shares:
U.S. Government Securities Fund, Investor Shares: , K Shares:
The United States Treasury Trust, Investor Shares:
Shelton Sustainable Equity Fund, Investor Shares: , Institutional Shares:
The Securities and Exchange Commission has not approved or disapproved these securities or passed on whether the information in this prospectus is adequate or accurate. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense. The Funds are not bank deposits and are not guaranteed, endorsed or insured by any financial institution or government entity such as the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). Some Funds or classes in this Prospectus may not be available in your state. Please check with your advisor to determine those funds and classes available for sale in your state. The information contained in this Prospectus relates to Investor Shares, K Shares, and Institutional Shares of the Funds unless otherwise noted.
Table of Contents
2
The Fund’s investment objective is to seek high current tax-free income for California residents.
This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay when you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund. The table and example do not reflect any transaction fees that may be charged by financial intermediaries or commissions that a shareholder may be required to pay directly to its financial intermediary when buying or selling shares.
Sales and redemption charges |
Management fees | |
Distribution (12b-1) fees | |
Other expenses | |
Shareholder Service Fees | |
Total Annual Fund Operating Expense |
A $10 account fee may be charged to accounts with a balance of less than $10,000.
This example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds.
The example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your shares at the end of those periods. This 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:
1 year | 3 years | 5 years | 10 years | |
CFNTX | $ |
$ |
$ |
$ |
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 shares are held in
a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in Annual Fund Operating
expenses or in the Example of Expenses, affect the Fund’s performance. During
the most recent fiscal year ended August 31, 2023, the Fund’s portfolio turnover
rate was
The Fund invests in municipal bonds issued by the State of California and various municipalities located within California. Generally, these bonds are rated in one of the four highest ratings (investment grade) by an independent rating organization such as Standard & Poor’s, Moody’s or Fitch. In some cases, securities are not rated by independent agencies. The Fund will generally purchase an unrated security only if Shelton Capital Management, the investment advisor to the Fund, believes the security is of similar quality to an investment-grade issue. Shelton Capital Management will seek to invest in municipal bonds that meet environmental, social and governance screens so that the Fund may be considered a green municipal bond fund. In evaluating environmental, social and governance considerations, Shelton Capital Management uses criteria including, but not limited to, use of bond proceeds, expected environmental impact, the source of revenues for repayment, and the reputation of the issuer. Generally, the interest on municipal bonds is not subject to federal and California personal income taxes. Under normal market conditions, it is the Fund’s fundamental policy to invest at least 80% of its total assets (which includes the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes) in California municipal bonds, that are exempt from federal and California state income taxes, although generally the percentage is much higher. California municipal bonds include municipal bonds issued by the State of California and various municipalities located within California. This policy with respect to exemption from federal and California state income taxes is a fundamental policy of the Fund and may not be changed without shareholder approval. Under normal market conditions, the Fund invests 80% of the net assets of the Fund (which includes the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes) in municipal bonds that meet environmental, social and governance screens that Shelton Capital Management evaluates as making such investments “green” investments for this purpose. In evaluating environmental, social and governance considerations, Shelton Capital Management uses criteria including, but not limited to, use of bond proceeds, expected environmental impact, the source of revenues for repayment, and the reputation of the issuer. These policies with respect to California and “green” investments may not be changed unless Fund shareholders are given at least 60 days prior notice. The Fund’s duration typically ranges from four to twelve years. Although the Fund is not prevented from holding bonds whose interest is subject to the federal alternative minimum tax (“AMT”), Shelton Capital Management seeks to invest primarily in non-AMT bonds. Shelton Capital Management may sell portfolio securities for a variety of reasons, including when it believes such securities are no longer consistent with the Fund’s investment objective, other securities appear to offer more compelling opportunities, or to meet redemption requests. Changes in the rating of a security will not necessarily result in the sale of that security.
The Fund is non-diversified which means it may invest a large percentage of its assets in the securities of a particular issuer as compared with other types of mutual funds. Accordingly, a chance exists that the Fund’s performance may be hurt disproportionately by poor performance of a relatively few number of securities or by factors that impact a relatively small number of issuers.
Interest Rate Risk. Debt security prices may decline due to rising interest rates. The price of debt securities with longer maturities is typically affected more by rising interest rates than the price of debt securities with shorter maturities.
3
Call Risk. If interest rates fall, issuers of callable bonds may repay securities with higher interest rates before maturity. This could cause the Fund to lose potential price appreciation and reinvest the proceeds in securities with lower interest rates or more credit risk.
Credit Risk. An issuer or guarantor of a debt security may be unable or unwilling to make scheduled payments of interest and principal. Actual or perceived deterioration in an issuer’s or guarantor’s financial condition may affect a security’s value.
Liquidity Risk. The Fund may not be able to purchase or sell a security in a timely manner or at desired prices or achieve its desired weighting in a security. Liquidity risk may result from the lack of an active market or a reduced number and capacity of traditional market participants to make a market in fixed income securities, and may be magnified under circumstances that cause increased supply in the market due to unusually high selling activity.
ESG Risk. The Fund’s consideration of ESG factors as part of its investment strategy may limit the types and number of investment opportunities available to the Fund and, as a result, the Fund may underperform other funds that do not consider ESG factors. The Fund’s consideration of ESG factors may result in the Fund investing in securities or industry sectors that underperform the market as a whole, or forgoing opportunities to invest in securities that might otherwise be advantageous to buy. The Fund may also underperform other funds that apply different ESG standards.
Income Risk. The income you earn from a Fund may decline due to declining interest rates. This is because, in a falling interest rate environment, a Fund generally will have to invest the proceeds from sales of Fund shares, as well as the proceeds from maturing portfolio securities (or portfolio securities that have been called, see “Call Risk” above), into lower-yielding securities.
Manager Risk. Shelton Capital Management’s opinion about the intrinsic worth or creditworthiness of an issuer or security may be incorrect or the market may continue to undervalue an issuer or security. Shelton Capital Management may not make timely purchases or sales of securities for the Fund.
Non-Diversification Risk. To the extent the Fund is managed as a non-diversified investment company, it is subject to the greater risk that the value of a specific security can perform differently from the market as a whole for reasons related to the issuer, such as operational performance, financial leverage and investment- level performance. The value of the Fund may decrease in response to the activities and financial prospects of an individual security in the Fund’s portfolio. Additionally, the Fund may be subject to greater risk, because the Fund’s performance may be more sensitive to any single economic, business, political or regulatory occurrence than the value of shares of a diversified investment company.
U.S. Municipal Bond Risk. Like other bonds, U.S. municipal bonds are subject to credit risk, interest rate risk, liquidity risk, and call risk. However, the obligations of some municipal issuers may not be enforceable through the exercise of traditional creditors’ rights. The reorganization under federal bankruptcy laws of a municipal bond issuer may result in the bonds being cancelled without payment or repaid only in part, or in delays in collecting principal and interest.
State-Specific Risk. Since the Fund only invests in securities issued by entities in the state of California, it is exposed to economic and political developments in California that negatively impact those issuers.
Bankruptcy Risk. The risk that an issuer seeks protection under bankruptcy laws. In such a circumstance, the principal value of the bond would be expected to decline.
Cybersecurity Risk. Cybersecurity incidents may allow an unauthorized party to gain access to Fund assets, customer data (including private shareholder information), or proprietary information, or cause the Fund, the Advisor, and/or other service providers (including custodians, sub-custodians, transfer agents and financial intermediaries) to suffer data breaches, data corruption or loss of operational functionality. In an extreme case, a shareholder’s ability to exchange or redeem Fund shares may be affected.
Recent Market Events Risk: U.S. and international markets have experienced and may continue to experience volatility in recent months and years due to a number of economic, political and global macro factors including uncertainty regarding inflation and central banks’ interest rate increases, the possibility of a national or global recession, trade tensions, political events, the war between Russia and Ukraine, significant conflict between Israel and Hamas in the Middle East, and the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) global pandemic. As a result of continuing political tensions and armed conflicts, including the war between Ukraine and Russia, the U.S. and the European Union imposed sanctions on certain Russian individuals and companies, including certain financial institutions, and have limited certain exports and imports to and from Russia. The war has contributed to recent market volatility and may continue to do so. Continuing market volatility as a result of recent market conditions or other events may have an adverse effect on the performance of the Fund.
The
following bar chart and table are intended to help you understand the risks of
investing in the Fund.
: % ( )
: % ( )
as of : %
Date of inception: 12/4/85
4
Green California Tax-Free Income Fund | 1 year | 5 years | 10 years |
Return Before Taxes | - |
||
Return After Taxes on Distributions | - |
||
Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares | - |
||
Bloomberg U.S. Municipal Index | - |
It is not
possible for individuals to invest directly in an index.
Fund Management
Shelton Capital Management serves as the investment advisor to the Fund. The portfolio management team is comprised of Peter Higgins, Head of Fixed Income and Senior Fixed Income Portfolio Manager, and by Portfolio Managers William Mock, and Stephen C. Rogers. Mr. Higgins joined Shelton Capital Management in October of 2022. Mr. Mock has been the Fund’s lead portfolio manager since 2010. Mr. Rogers has been a portfolio manager of the Fund since 2003.
Other Important Information about Fund Shares
For important information about purchase and sale of Fund shares, tax information, and payments to financial intermediaries please turn to the “Summary of Other Important Information About Fund Shares” section on page 26 of this prospectus.
The Fund’s investment objective is to attempt to replicate the total return of the U.S. stock market as measured by the S&P 500 Composite Stock Price Index.
This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay when you buy hold, and sell shares of the Fund. The table and example do not reflect any transaction fees that may be charged by financial intermediaries or commissions that a shareholder may be required to pay directly to its financial intermediary when buying or selling shares.
SPFIX | SPXKX | |
Sales and redemption charges | ||
Annual Account Fee | $ |
$ |
Management fees | ||
Distribution (12b-1) fees | ||
Other Expenses |
|
|
Shareholder Service Fees | ||
Total annual operating expenses |
A $10 account fee may be charged to accounts.
This example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds.
The example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your shares at the end of those periods. This 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:
1 year | 3 years | 5 years | 10 years | |
SPFIX | $ |
$ |
$ |
$ |
SPXKX | $ |
$ |
$ |
$ |
5
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 shares are held in
a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in Annual Fund Operating
Expenses or in the Example of Expenses, affect the Fund’s performance. During
the most recent fiscal year ended August 31, 2023, the Fund’s portfolio turnover
rate was
The S&P 500 Index Fund seeks to provide investment results that correspond to the total return of common stocks publicly traded in the United States, as represented by the Standard & Poor’s 500 Composite Stock Price Index. The S&P 500 Index includes the common stocks of 500 leading U.S. companies from a broad range of industries. Standard & Poor’s, which maintains the Index, makes all determinations regarding the inclusion of stocks in the Index. Each stock is weighted in proportion to its total market value. The Fund is passively managed. It invests primarily in the stocks that make up the Index so that the weighting of each stock in the portfolio approximates the Index. Shelton Capital Management, the investment advisor to the Fund, seeks to maintain a return correlation of at least 0.95 to the S&P 500 Index (a return correlation of 1.00 is perfect). Under normal market conditions, it is the Fund’s policy to invest at least 80% of its total assets (which includes the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes) in the underlying stocks of the Index. The S&P 500 Index is a well-known stock market index that includes common stocks of companies representing approximately 92% of the total market Index as measured by the S&P Composite 1500. As of November 30, 2023, companies included in the Index range from $4.5 billion to $2,954 billion in market capitalization. The median market capitalization of the stocks in the S&P 500 Index is approximately $31.2 billion. The Fund may invest in futures contracts, which are a type of derivative. The Fund generally maintains some short-term securities and cash equivalents in the portfolio to meet redemptions and needs for liquidity. Shelton will typically buy futures contracts so that the market value of the futures replicates the difference between the net assets of the fund and the equity holdings. This helps minimize the tracking error of the Fund.
The Fund invests in large companies from many sectors. In doing so, the Fund is not as sensitive to the movements of a single company’s stock or a single economic sector. However, during periods where investment alternatives such as MidCap stocks, SmallCap stocks, bonds and money market instruments outperform LargeCap stocks, we expect the performance of the Fund to underperform other mutual funds that invest in these alternatives. The S&P 500 Index is a capitalization-weighted index, meaning companies are weighted based on their size. Thus, poor performance of the largest companies could result in negative performance of the index and the Fund.
Equity Risk. Equity securities can be volatile and may decline in value because of changes in the actual or perceived financial condition of their issuers or other events affecting their issuers. The Fund’s target index may, at times, become focused in stocks of a particular sector, category or group of companies, which could cause Fund to underperform the overall stock market.
Market Exposure Risk. Investment prices may increase or decrease, sometimes suddenly and unpredictably, due to general market conditions. The Fund is primarily invested in the U.S. stock market and is designed to track passively the performance of the large-cap sector. In an attempt to accurately track the performance of the S&P 500 Index, the Fund does not intend to take steps to reduce its market exposure.
Economic and Political Risks. The impact of positive or negative economic and political events could be short-term (by causing a change in the market that is corrected in a year or less) or long-term (by causing a change in the market that may last for many years). Events may affect one sector of the economy or a single stock, but may not have a significant impact on the overall market.
Tracking Error Risk. A Fund may be subject to tracking error, which is the divergence of the Fund’s performance from that of the underlying index. Tracking error may occur because of differences between the securities and other instruments held in the Fund’s portfolio and those included in the underlying index, pricing differences (including, as applicable, differences between a security’s price at the local market close and the Fund’s valuation of a security at the time of calculation of the Fund’s net asset value), differences in transaction costs incurred by the Fund, the Fund’s holding of uninvested cash, differences in timing of the accrual of or the valuation of dividends or other distributions, interest, the requirements to maintain pass-through tax treatment, portfolio transactions carried out to minimize the distribution of capital gains to shareholders, changes to the underlying index or the costs to the Fund of complying with various new or existing regulatory requirements. These risks may be heightened during times of increased market volatility or other unusual market conditions. In addition, tracking error may result because the Fund incurs fees and expenses, while the underlying index does not.
LargeCap Stock Risk. Larger, more established companies may be unable to respond quickly to new competitive challenges like changes in consumer tastes or innovative smaller competitors. In addition, large-cap companies are sometimes unable to attain the high growth rates of successful, smaller companies, especially during extended periods of economic expansion.
Stock Futures Risk. Although the Fund’s primary risks are associated with changes in the stock market, there are other risks associated with the Fund. These risks generally apply to how well the Fund tracks the Index. For example, the Fund invests in futures contracts to the extent that it holds cash in the portfolio. If these futures contracts do not track the Index, the Fund’s performance relative to the Index will change.
Information Technology Sector Risk. Companies in the information technology sector may be adversely affected by the failure to obtain, or delays in obtaining, financing or regulatory approval, intense competition, both domestically and internationally, product compatibility, consumer preferences, corporate capital expenditure, rapid obsolescence and competition for the services of qualified personnel. Companies in the information technology sector also face competition or potential competition with numerous alternative technologies. In addition, the highly competitive information technology sector may cause the prices for these products and services to decline in the future.
6
Cybersecurity Risk. Cybersecurity incidents may allow an unauthorized party to gain access to Fund assets, customer data (including private shareholder information), or proprietary information, or cause the Fund, the Advisor, and/or other service providers (including custodians, sub-custodians, transfer agents and financial intermediaries) to suffer data breaches, data corruption or loss of operational functionality. In an extreme case, a shareholder’s ability to exchange or redeem Fund shares may be affected.
Recent Market Events Risk: U.S. and international markets have experienced and may continue to experience volatility in recent months and years due to a number of economic, political and global macro factors including uncertainty regarding inflation and central banks’ interest rate increases, the possibility of a national or global recession, trade tensions, political events, the war between Russia and Ukraine, significant conflict between Israel and Hamas in the Middle East, and the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) global pandemic. As a result of continuing political tensions and armed conflicts, including the war between Ukraine and Russia, the U.S. and the European Union imposed sanctions on certain Russian individuals and companies, including certain financial institutions, and have limited certain exports and imports to and from Russia. The war has contributed to recent market volatility and may continue to do so. Continuing market volatility as a result of recent market conditions or other events may have an adverse effect on the performance of the Fund.
The
following bar chart and table are intended to help you understand the risks of
investing in the Fund.
: % ( )
: % ( )
as of : %
Date of inception: 4/20/92
The returns above are for the Investor share class of the Fund. The Class K shares would have substantially similar annual returns to the Investor share class because the classes are invested in the same portfolio securities. The Class K shares’ returns will be lower over the long-term when compared to the Investor share class’s returns to the extent that the Investor share class has lower expenses.
S&P 500 Index Fund | 1 year | 5 years | 10 years |
Investor Shares: SPFIX | |||
Return Before Taxes | - |
||
Return After Taxes on Distributions | - |
||
Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares | - |
||
K Shares: SPXKX | |||
Return Before Taxes | |||
S&P 500 Composite Stock Price Index | - |
It is not
possible for individuals to invest directly in an index.
Fund Management
Shelton Capital Management serves as the investment advisor to the Fund. The Fund is managed by a team consisting of Stephen C. Rogers and Anthony Jacoby who have been the Fund’s portfolio managers since 2003, and 2022, respectively.
7
Other Important Information about Fund Shares
For important information about purchase and sale of Fund shares, tax information, and payments to financial intermediaries please turn to the “Summary of Other Important Information About Fund Shares” section on page 26 of this prospectus.
The Fund’s investment objective is to attempt to replicate the performance of medium-sized U.S. companies as measured by the S&P MidCap 400 Index.
This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay when you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund. The table and example do not reflect any transaction fees that may be charged by financial intermediaries or commissions that a shareholder may be required to pay directly to its financial intermediary when buying or selling shares.
SPMIX | MIDKX | |
Sales and redemption charges | ||
Annual Account Fee | $ |
$ |
Management fees | ||
Distribution (12b-1) fees | ||
Other Expenses | ||
Shareholder Service Fees | ||
Total annual operating expenses |
A $10 account fee may be charged to accounts.
This example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds.
The example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your shares at the end of those periods. This 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:
1 year | 3 years | 5 years | 10 years | |
SPMIX | $ |
$ |
$ |
$ |
MIDKX | $ |
$ |
$ |
$ |
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 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 ended August 31, 2023, the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was
The S&P MidCap Index Fund seeks to provide investment results that correspond to the total return of publicly traded common stocks of medium-size domestic companies, as represented by the S&P MidCap 400 Index. The S&P MidCap 400 Index includes the common stocks of 400 medium-sized U.S. companies from a broad range of industries. Standard & Poor’s, which maintains the Index, makes all determinations regarding the inclusion of stocks in the Index. Each stock is weighted in proportion to its total market value. The Fund is passively managed. It invests primarily in the stocks that make up the S&P MidCap 400 Index so that the weighting of each stock in the portfolio approximates the Index. Shelton Capital Management, the investment advisor to the Fund, seeks to maintain a return correlation of at least 0.95 to the S&P MidCap 400 Index (a return correlation of 1.00 is perfect). Under normal market conditions, it is the Fund’s policy to invest at least 80% of its total assets (which includes the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes) in the underlying stocks of the Index. The S&P MidCap 400 Index is a recognized stock market index that includes common stocks of companies, representing approximately 5.6% of the total market index as measured by the S&P Composite 1500. As of November 30, 2023, companies included in the S&P MidCap 400 Index range from $2.2 billion to $33 billion in market capitalization. The median market capitalization of the stocks in the S&P MidCap 400 Index is approximately $5.8 billion. The Fund may invest in futures contracts, which are a type of derivative. The Fund generally maintains some short-term securities and cash equivalents in the portfolio to meet redemptions and needs for liquidity. Shelton will typically buy futures contracts so that the market value of the futures replicates the difference between the net assets of the fund and the equity holdings. This helps minimize the tracking error of the Fund.
The Fund invests in mid-sized companies from many sectors. In doing so, the Fund is not as sensitive to the movements of a single company’s stock or a single economic sector. However, during periods where investment alternatives such as LargeCap stocks, SmallCap stocks, bonds and money market instruments outperform MidCap stocks, we expect the performance of the Fund to underperform other mutual funds that invest in these alternatives. The S&P MidCap 400 Index is a capitalization-weighted index, meaning companies are weighted based on their size. Thus, poor performance of the largest companies could result in negative performance of the Index and the Fund.
8
Equity Risk. Equity securities can be volatile and may decline in value because of changes in the actual or perceived financial condition of their issuers or other events affecting their issuers. The Fund’s target index may, at times, become focused in stocks of a particular sector, category or group of companies, which could cause Fund to underperform the overall stock market.
Tracking Error Risk. A Fund may be subject to tracking error, which is the divergence of the Fund’s performance from that of the underlying index. Tracking error may occur because of differences between the securities and other instruments held in the Fund’s portfolio and those included in the underlying index, pricing differences (including, as applicable, differences between a security’s price at the local market close and the Fund’s valuation of a security at the time of calculation of the Fund’s net asset value), differences in transaction costs incurred by the Fund, the Fund’s holding of uninvested cash, differences in timing of the accrual of or the valuation of dividends or other distributions, interest, the requirements to maintain pass-through tax treatment, portfolio transactions carried out to minimize the distribution of capital gains to shareholders, changes to the underlying index or the costs to the Fund of complying with various new or existing regulatory requirements. These risks may be heightened during times of increased market volatility or other unusual market conditions. In addition, tracking error may result because the Fund incurs fees and expenses, while the underlying index does not.
MidCap Stock Risk. The risk that stocks of relatively smaller capitalization within the midcap range of companies may be subject to more abrupt or erratic market movements than stocks of larger, more established companies. Relatively smaller capitalization companies may have limited product lines or financial resources, or may be dependent upon a small or inexperienced management group, and their securities may trade less frequently and in lower volume than the securities of larger companies, which could lead to higher transaction costs. Generally, the smaller the company size, the greater the risk.
Market Exposure Risk. Investment prices may increase or decrease, sometimes suddenly and unpredictably, due to general market conditions. The Fund is primarily invested in the U.S. stock market and is designed to track passively the performance of the midcap sector. In an attempt to accurately track the performance of the MidCap 400 Index, the Fund does not intend to take steps to reduce its market exposure.
Economic and Political Risks. The impact of positive or negative economic and political events could be short-term (by causing a change in the market that is corrected in a year or less) or long-term (by causing a change in the market that may last for many years). Events may affect one sector of the economy or a single stock, but may not have a significant impact on the overall market.
Stock Futures Risk. Although the Fund’s primary risks are associated with changes in the stock market, there are other risks associated with the Fund. These risks generally apply to how well the Fund tracks the Index. For example, the Fund invests in futures contracts to the extent that it holds cash in the portfolio. If these futures contracts do not track the Index, the Fund’s performance relative to the Index will change.
Cybersecurity Risk. Cybersecurity incidents may allow an unauthorized party to gain access to Fund assets, customer data (including private shareholder information), or proprietary information, or cause the Fund, the Advisor, and/or other service providers (including custodians, sub-custodians, transfer agents and financial intermediaries) to suffer data breaches, data corruption or loss of operational functionality. In an extreme case, a shareholder’s ability to exchange or redeem Fund shares may be affected.
Recent Market Events Risk: U.S. and international markets have experienced and may continue to experience volatility in recent months and years due to a number of economic, political and global macro factors including uncertainty regarding inflation and central banks’ interest rate increases, the possibility of a national or global recession, trade tensions, political events, the war between Russia and Ukraine, significant conflict between Israel and Hamas in the Middle East, and the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) global pandemic. As a result of continuing political tensions and armed conflicts, including the war between Ukraine and Russia, the U.S. and the European Union imposed sanctions on certain Russian individuals and companies, including certain financial institutions, and have limited certain exports and imports to and from Russia. The war has contributed to recent market volatility and may continue to do so. Continuing market volatility as a result of recent market conditions or other events may have an adverse effect on the performance of the Fund.
The
following bar chart and table are intended to help you understand the risks of
investing in the Fund.
9
: % ( )
: % ( )
as of : %
Date of inception: 4/20/92
The returns above are for the Investor share class of the Fund. The Class K shares would have substantially similar annual returns to the Investor share class because the classes are invested in the same portfolio securities. The Class K shares’ returns will be lower over the long-term when compared to the Investor share class’s returns to the extent that the Investor share class has lower expenses.
S&P MidCap Index Fund | 1 year | 5 years | 10 years |
Investor Shares: SPMIX |
|||
Return Before Taxes | - |
||
Return After Taxes on Distributions | - |
||
Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares | - |
||
K Shares: MIDKX |
|||
Return Before Taxes | - |
||
S&P MidCap 400 Index | - |
It is not
possible for individuals to invest directly in an index.
Fund Management
Shelton Capital Management serves as the investment advisor to the Fund. The Fund is managed by a team consisting of Stephen C. Rogers and Anthony Jacoby who have been the Fund’s portfolio managers since 2003, and 2022, respectively.
Other Important Information about Fund Shares
For important information about purchase and sale of Fund shares, tax information, and payments to financial intermediaries please turn to the “Summary of Other Important Information About Fund Shares” section on page 27 of this prospectus.
The Fund’s investment objective is to attempt to replicate the performance of small-sized U.S. companies as measured by the S&P SmallCap 600 Stock Index.
This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay when you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund. The table and example do not reflect any transaction fees that may be charged by financial intermediaries or commissions that a shareholder may be required to pay directly to its financial intermediary when buying or selling shares.
SMCIX | SMLKX | |
Sales and redemption charges |
Management fees | ||
Distribution (12b-1) fees | ||
Other Expenses | ||
Shareholder Service Fees | ||
Total annual operating expenses |
10
A $10 account fee may be charged to accounts with a balance of less than $10,000.
This example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds.
The example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your shares at the end of those periods. This 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:
1 year | 3 years | 5 years | 10 years | |
SMCIX | $ |
$ |
$ |
$ |
SMLKX | $ |
$ |
$ |
$ |
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 shares are held in
a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in Annual Fund Operating
Expenses or in the Example of Expenses, affect the Fund’s performance. During
the most recent fiscal year ended August 31, 2023, the Fund’s portfolio turnover
rate was
The S&P SmallCap Index Fund seeks to provide investment results that correspond to the total return of publicly traded common stocks of small-sized companies, as represented by the S&P SmallCap 600 Index The S&P SmallCap 600 Index includes common stocks of 600 small U.S. companies from a broad range of industries. Standard & Poor’s, which maintains the Index, makes all determinations regarding the inclusion of stocks in the Index. Each stock is weighted in proportion to its total market value. The Fund is passively managed. It invests primarily in the stocks that make up the S&P SmallCap 600 Index so that the weighting of each stock in the portfolio approximates the Index. Shelton Capital Management, the investment advisor to the Fund “Shelton”, seeks to maintain a return correlation of at least 0.95 to the S&P SmallCap 600 Index (a return correlation of 1.00 is perfect). Under normal market conditions, it is the Fund’s policy to invest at least 80% of its total assets (which includes the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes) in the underlying stocks. The S&P SmallCap 600 Index is a well-known stock market index that includes common stocks of companies representing approximately 2.4% of the total market index as measured by the S&P Composite 1500. As of November 30, 2023, companies included in the S&P SmallCap 600 Index range from $225 million to $7.3 billion in market capitalization. The median market capitalization of the stocks in the S&P SmallCap 600 Index is approximately $1.6 billion. The Fund may invest in futures contracts, which are a type of derivative. The Fund generally maintains some short-term securities and cash equivalents in the portfolio to meet redemptions and needs for liquidity. Shelton will typically buy futures contracts so that the market value of the futures replicates the difference between the net assets of the fund and the equity holdings. This helps minimize the tracking error of the Fund.
The Fund invests in relatively smaller companies from many sectors. In doing so, the Fund is not as sensitive to the movements of a single company’s stock or a single economic sector. However, during periods where investment alternatives such as LargeCap stocks, SmallCap stocks, bonds and money market instruments outperform SmallCap stocks, we expect the performance of the Fund to underperform other mutual funds that invest in these alternatives. The S&P SmallCap 600 Index is a capitalization-weighted index, meaning companies are weighted based on their size. Thus, poor performance of the largest companies could result in negative performance of the Index and the Fund.
Equity Risk. Equity securities can be volatile and may decline in value because of changes in the actual or perceived financial condition of their issuers or other events affecting their issuers. The Fund’s target index may, at times, become focused in stocks of a particular sector, category or group of companies, which could cause Fund to underperform the overall stock market.
Tracking Error Risk. A Fund may be subject to tracking error, which is the divergence of the Fund’s performance from that of the underlying index. Tracking error may occur because of differences between the securities and other instruments held in the Fund’s portfolio and those included in the underlying index, pricing differences (including, as applicable, differences between a security’s price at the local market close and the Fund’s valuation of a security at the time of calculation of the Fund’s net asset value), differences in transaction costs incurred by the Fund, the Fund’s holding of uninvested cash, differences in timing of the accrual of or the valuation of dividends or other distributions, interest, the requirements to maintain pass-through tax treatment, portfolio transactions carried out to minimize the distribution of capital gains to shareholders, changes to the underlying index or the costs to the Fund of complying with various new or existing regulatory requirements. These risks may be heightened during times of increased market volatility or other unusual market conditions. In addition, tracking error may result because the Fund incurs fees and expenses, while the underlying index does not.
SmallCap Stock Risk. The risk that stocks of smaller capitalization companies may be subject to more abrupt or erratic market movements than stocks of larger, more established companies. Small capitalization companies may have limited product lines or financial resources, or may be dependent upon a small or inexperienced management group, and their securities may trade less frequently and in lower volume than the securities of larger companies, which could lead to higher transaction costs. Generally, the smaller the company size, the greater the risk.
11
Market Exposure Risk. Investment prices may increase or decrease, sometimes suddenly and unpredictably, due to general market conditions. The Fund is primarily invested in the U.S. stock market and is designed to track passively the performance of the small-cap sector. In an attempt to accurately track the performance of the SmallCap 600 Index, the Fund does not intend to take steps to reduce its market exposure.
Economic and Political Risks. The impact of positive or negative economic and political events could be short-term (by causing a change in the market that is corrected in a year or less) or long-term (by causing a change in the market that may last for many years). Events may affect one sector of the economy or a single stock, but may not have a significant impact on the overall market.
Stock Futures Risk. Although the Fund’s primary risks are associated with changes in the stock market, there are other risks associated with the Fund. These risks generally apply to how well the Fund tracks the Index. For example, the Fund invests in futures contracts to the extent that it holds cash in the portfolio. If these futures contracts do not track the Index, the Fund’s performance relative to the Index will change.
Cybersecurity Risk. Cybersecurity incidents may allow an unauthorized party to gain access to Fund assets, customer data (including private shareholder information), or proprietary information, or cause the Fund, the Advisor, and/or other service providers (including custodians, sub-custodians, transfer agents and financial intermediaries) to suffer data breaches, data corruption or loss of operational functionality. In an extreme case, a shareholder’s ability to exchange or redeem Fund shares may be affected.
Financial Sector Risk: The Fund may invest in companies in the financial sector, and therefore the performance of the Fund could be negatively impacted by events affecting this sector. This sector can be significantly affected by changes in interest rates, government regulation, the rate of defaults on corporate, consumer and government debt, and the availability and cost of capital. These factors and events have had, and may continue to have, a significant negative impact on the valuations and stock prices of companies in this sector and have increased the volatility of investments in this sector.
Recent Market Events Risk: U.S. and international markets have experienced and may continue to experience volatility in recent months and years due to a number of economic, political and global macro factors including uncertainty regarding inflation and central banks’ interest rate increases, the possibility of a national or global recession, trade tensions, political events, the war between Russia and Ukraine, significant conflict between Israel and Hamas in the Middle East, and the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) global pandemic. As a result of continuing political tensions and armed conflicts, including the war between Ukraine and Russia, the U.S. and the European Union imposed sanctions on certain Russian individuals and companies, including certain financial institutions, and have limited certain exports and imports to and from Russia. The war has contributed to recent market volatility and may continue to do so. Continuing market volatility as a result of recent market conditions or other events may have an adverse effect on the performance of the Fund.
The
following bar chart and table are intended to help you understand the risks of
investing in the Fund.
: % ( )
: % ( )
as of : %
Date of inception: 10/2/96
The returns above are for the Investor share class of the Fund. The Class K shares would have substantially similar annual returns to the Investor share class because the classes are invested in the same portfolio securities. The Class K shares’ returns will be lower over the long-term when compared to the Investor share class’s returns to the extent that the Investor share class has lower expenses.
12
S&P SmallCap Index Fund | 1 year | 5 years | 10 years |
Investor Shares: SMCIX | |||
Return Before Taxes | - |
||
Return After Taxes on Distributions | - |
||
Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares | - |
||
K Shares: SMLKX |
|||
Return Before Taxes | - |
||
S&P SmallCap 600 Index | - |
It is not
possible for individuals to invest directly in an index.
Fund Management
Shelton Capital Management serves as the investment advisor to the Fund. The Fund is managed by a team consisting of Stephen C. Rogers and Anthony Jacoby who have been the Fund’s portfolio managers since 2003, and 2022, respectively.
Other Important Information about Fund Shares
For important information about purchase and sale of Fund shares, tax information, and payments to financial intermediaries please turn to the “Summary of Other Important Information About Fund Shares” section on page 27 of this prospectus.
The Fund’s investment objective is to achieve a high level of income and capital appreciation (when consistent with high income) by investing primarily in income-producing U.S. equity securities.
This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay when you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund. The table and example do not reflect any transaction fees that may be charged by financial intermediaries or commissions that a shareholder may be required to pay directly to its financial intermediary when buying or selling shares.
EQTIX | EQTKX | |
Sales and redemption charges |
Management fees | ||
Distribution (12b-1) fees | ||
Other Fees | ||
Shareholder Service Fees | ||
Total Annual Fund Operating Expense |
A $10 account fee may be charged to accounts with a balance of less than $10,000.
This example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds.
The example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your shares at the end of those periods. This 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:
1 year | 3 years | 5 years | 10 years | |
EQTIX | $ |
$ |
$ |
$ |
EQTKX | $ |
$ |
$ |
$ |
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 shares are held in
a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in Annual Fund Operating
Expenses or in the Example of Expenses, affect the Fund’s performance. During
the most recent fiscal year ended August 31, 2023, the Fund’s portfolio turnover
rate was
13
Shelton Equity Income Fund seeks a high level of current income by investing primarily in income-producing equity securities. The Fund will also consider the potential for price appreciation when consistent with seeking current income. In order to meet its investment objectives, the Fund invests primarily in U.S. equity securities that generate a relatively high level of dividend income (relative to other equities in the same industry) and have the potential for capital appreciation. These securities will generally be stocks of medium and large U.S. corporations. It is the Fund’s policy that, under normal market conditions, it will invest at least 80% of its total assets (which includes the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes) in common stocks. The Fund’s policy of investing in common stocks may not be changed unless Fund shareholders are given at least 60 days prior notice. Shelton Capital Management, the investment advisor to the Fund “Shelton”, seeks to purchase equity securities for the Fund’s portfolio consistent with the Fund’s investment objective, such as when Shelton Capital Management believes such securities have income producing potential, a potential for capital appreciation or value potential.
When the market price of a stock equals or exceeds the strike price of a covered call option written against it, Shelton Capital Management may allow all or a portion of the stock to be sold or “called away” by the option buyer. Shelton Capital Management may sell portfolio securities for a variety of reasons, including when it believes such securities are no longer consistent with the Fund’s investment objective, other securities appear to offer more compelling opportunities, or to meet redemption requests.
Although the Fund will attempt to invest as much of its assets as is practical in income-producing stocks, the Fund may maintain a reasonable (up to 20%) position in cash, U.S. Treasury bills or money market instruments to meet redemption requests and other liquidity needs. The Fund may invest in stock futures contracts to keep the net assets of the Fund fully invested in the equity markets in circumstances when the Fund is holding treasury bills, money market instruments, similar investments or cash in the portfolio. Utilizing futures allows the Fund to maintain a high percentage of the portfolio in the market while maintaining cash for liquidity needs.
Equity Risk. Equity securities can be volatile and may decline in value because of changes in the actual or perceived financial condition of their issuers or other events affecting their issuers. The Fund’s target index may, at times, become focused in stocks of a sector, category or group of companies, which could cause Fund to underperform the overall stock market.
Market Exposure Risk. Investment prices may increase or decrease, sometimes suddenly and unpredictably, due to general market conditions. The Fund is primarily invested in the U.S. stock markets. As with any investment whose performance is linked to these markets, the value of an investment in the Fund will change. During a declining stock market, investment in this Fund would lose money.
Option Call and Put Risk. The Fund’s option strategy may limit the upside performance of any position for which a call is sold and may increase costs when puts are purchased. When selling a call, the Fund is effectively selling upside stock performance in exchange for immediate cash flow. In markets where a stock position goes up dramatically, this could cause the Fund to under-perform its benchmark and the equity markets in general. When buying a put, the Fund is spending a premium to protect the downward movement of the value of a position in the Fund’s portfolio. In the event the value of the position went up during the life of the put option, the option would expire without value and the Fund will have lost the premium paid.
Derivatives Risk. Investing with derivatives, such as options, and equity index futures, or other futures contracts involves risks additional to and possibly greater than those associated with investing directly in securities. The value of a derivative may not correlate to the value of the underlying instrument to the extent expected. Derivative transactions may be volatile, and can create leverage, which could cause the Fund to lose more than the amount of assets initially contributed to the transaction, if any. The Fund may not be able to close a derivatives position at an advantageous time or price. For over-the-counter derivatives transactions, the counterparty may be unable or unwilling to make required payments and deliveries, especially during times of financial market distress. Changes in regulation relating to a mutual fund’s use of derivatives and related instruments may make derivatives more costly, limit the availability of derivatives, or otherwise adversely affect the value or performance of derivatives and the Fund.
LargeCap Stock Risk. Larger, more established companies may be unable to respond quickly to new competitive challenges like changes in consumer tastes or innovative smaller competitors. In addition, large-cap companies are sometimes unable to attain the high growth rates of successful, smaller companies, especially during extended periods of economic expansion.
Economic and Political Risks. Many factors will affect the performance of the stock market. Two major factors are economic and political events. The impact of positive or negative events could be short-term (by causing a change in the market that is corrected in a year or less) or long-term (by causing a change in the market that may last for many years). Events may affect one sector of the economy or a single stock, but may not have a significant impact on the overall market.
Sector Risks. The Fund is primarily invested in U.S. value stocks and is designed to provide a dividend yield as well as the potential for capital appreciation. At times, the Fund may hold a concentrated position in the banking and financial sector. Therefore, the Funds’ performance may be significantly impacted by the performance of this sector.
Stock Futures Risk. The Fund’s primary risks are associated with changes in the stock market. However, there are other risks associated with the Fund. For example, the Fund may invest in futures contracts to the extent that it holds cash in the portfolio. If these futures contracts owned by the Fund do not perform well, the Fund’s performance will be impacted.
14
Value Securities Risks. Value stocks are typically purchased at prices that appear to be low relative to other similar securities. Often these companies might be “out of favor” with the market as a whole because of business weakness or failures. Value stocks may fall out of favor with investors and underperform other asset types during any given period. A company may never achieve a normalization of the stock price that the Adviser anticipates.
Manager Risk. Shelton Capital Management’s opinion about the intrinsic worth or creditworthiness of a company or security may be incorrect or the market may continue to undervalue the company or security. Shelton Capital Management may not make timely purchases or sales of securities for the Fund.
Cybersecurity Risk. Cybersecurity incidents may allow an unauthorized party to gain access to Fund assets, customer data (including private shareholder information), or proprietary information, or cause the Fund, the Advisor, and/or other service providers (including custodians, sub-custodians, transfer agents and financial intermediaries) to suffer data breaches, data corruption or loss of operational functionality. In an extreme case, a shareholder’s ability to exchange or redeem Fund shares may be affected.
Recent Market Events Risk: U.S. and international markets have experienced and may continue to experience volatility in recent months and years due to a number of economic, political and global macro factors including uncertainty regarding inflation and central banks’ interest rate increases, the possibility of a national or global recession, trade tensions, political events, the war between Russia and Ukraine, significant conflict between Israel and Hamas in the Middle East, and the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) global pandemic. As a result of continuing political tensions and armed conflicts, including the war between Ukraine and Russia, the U.S. and the European Union imposed sanctions on certain Russian individuals and companies, including certain financial institutions, and have limited certain exports and imports to and from Russia. The war has contributed to recent market volatility and may continue to do so. Continuing market volatility as a result of recent market conditions or other events may have an adverse effect on the performance of the Fund.
The
following bar chart and table are intended to help you understand the risks of
investing in the Fund.
: % ( )
: % ( )
as of : %
Date of inception: 9/4/96
The returns above are for the Investor share class of the Fund. The Class K shares would have substantially similar annual returns to the Investor share class because the classes are invested in the same portfolio securities. The Class K shares’ returns will be lower over the long-term when compared to the Investor share class’s returns to the extent that the Investor share class has lower expenses.
Shelton Equity Income Fund | 1 year | 5 years | 10 years |
Investor Shares: EQTIX | |||
Return Before Taxes | - |
||
Return After Taxes on Distributions | - |
||
Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares | - |
||
K Shares: EQTKX | |||
Return Before Taxes | - |
||
CBOE S&P 500 BuyWrite Monthly Index (BXM) | - |
||
S&P / Citigroup Value Index | - |
15
It is not
possible for individuals to invest directly in an index.
Fund Management
Shelton Capital Management serves as the investment advisor to the Fund. The Fund is managed by a team consisting of Stephen C. Rogers, Barry Martin and Nick Griebenow who have been the Fund’s portfolio managers since 2003, 2018 and 2020, respectively.
Other Important Information about Fund Shares
For important information about purchase and sale of Fund shares, tax information, and payments to financial intermediaries please turn to the “Summary of Other Important Information About Fund Shares” section on page 27 of this prospectus.
The Fund’s investment objective is to attempt to replicate the performance of the largest non-financial companies as measured by the Nasdaq- 100 Index®.
This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay when you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund. The table and example do not reflect any transaction fees that may be charged by financial intermediaries or commissions that a shareholder may be required to pay directly to its financial intermediary when buying or selling shares.
NQQQX | NASDX | NDXKX | |
Sales and redemption charges |
Management fees | |||
Distribution (12b-1) fees | | ||
Other Expenses | |||
Shareholder Service fees | |||
Total annual operating expenses | |||
Fee Waiver and/or Expense Reimbursement* | ( |
( |
( |
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver and/or Expense Reimbursement |
A $10 account fee may be charged to accounts with a balance of less than $10,000.
* |
This example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds.
The example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your shares at the end of those periods. This 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:
1 year | 3 years | 5 years | 10 years | |
NQQQX | $ |
$ |
$ |
$ |
NASDX | $ |
$ |
$ |
$ |
NDXKX | $ |
$ |
$ |
$ |
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 shares are held in
a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in Annual Fund Operating
Expenses or in the Example of Expenses, affect the Fund’s performance. During
the most recent fiscal year ended August 31, 2023, the Fund’s portfolio turnover
rate was
16
The Nasdaq-100 Index® includes 100 of the largest domestic and international non-financial companies listed on The Nasdaq Stock Market based on market capitalization. Nasdaq, which maintains the Index, makes all determinations regarding the inclusion of stocks in the Index. Each stock is weighted in proportion to its total market value. The Fund is passively managed. It invests primarily in the stocks comprising the Index so that the weighting of each stock in the portfolio approximates the Index. Shelton Capital Management, the investment advisor to the Fund, seeks to maintain a return correlation of at least 0.95 to the Nasdaq 100 Index® (a return correlation of 1.00 is perfect). Under normal market conditions, it is the Fund’s policy to invest at least 80% of its total assets (which includes the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes) in the stocks comprising the Index. The Fund may invest in securities issued by other investment companies if those companies invest in securities consistent with the Fund’s investment objective and policies. Companies included in The Nasdaq-100 Index range from $9.7 billion to $2,954 billion in market capitalization as of November 30, 2023. The majority of portfolio transactions in the Fund (other than those made in response to shareholder activity) will be made to adjust the Fund’s portfolio to track the Index or to reflect occasional changes in the Index’s composition. The Fund may invest in futures contracts, which are a type of derivative. The Fund generally maintains some short-term securities and cash equivalents in the portfolio to meet redemptions and needs for liquidity. Shelton will typically buy futures contracts so that the market value of the futures replicates the difference between the net assets of the fund and the equity holdings. This helps minimize the tracking error of the Fund.
The Fund is classified as “diversified” as defined under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, but may exceed the applicable diversification limits, solely as a result of a change in relative market capitalizations or index weightings of one or more stocks in the Nasdaq-100 Index®. This means that the Fund may invest a greater portion of its assets in a limited number of issuers than would be the case if the Fund were always managed within the limits ordinarily applicable to a diversified management investment company. The Fund intends to maintain its equity holdings in approximately the same proportion as the Nasdaq-100 Index®. Shareholder approval will not be sought when the Fund exceeds the applicable diversification limits due solely to a change in the relative market capitalization or index weighting of one or more constituents of the Nasdaq-100 Index®.
Equity Risk. Equity securities can be volatile and may decline in value because of changes in the actual or perceived financial condition of their issuers or other events affecting their issuers. The Fund’s target index may, at times, become focused in stocks of a particular sector, category or group of companies, which could cause Fund to underperform the overall stock market.
Tracking Error Risk. A Fund may be subject to tracking error, which is the divergence of the Fund’s performance from that of the underlying index. Tracking error may occur because of differences between the securities and other instruments held in the Fund’s portfolio and those included in the underlying index, pricing differences (including, as applicable, differences between a security’s price at the local market close and the Fund’s valuation of a security at the time of calculation of the Fund’s net asset value), differences in transaction costs incurred by the Fund, the Fund’s holding of uninvested cash, differences in timing of the accrual of or the valuation of dividends or other distributions, interest, the requirements to maintain pass-through tax treatment, portfolio transactions carried out to minimize the distribution of capital gains to shareholders, changes to the underlying index or the costs to the Fund of complying with various new or existing regulatory requirements. These risks may be heightened during times of increased market volatility or other unusual market conditions. In addition, tracking error may result because the Fund incurs fees and expenses, while the underlying index does not.
LargeCap Stock Risk. Larger, more established companies may be unable to respond quickly to new competitive challenges like changes in consumer tastes or innovative smaller competitors. In addition, large-cap companies are sometimes unable to attain the high growth rates of successful, smaller companies, especially during extended periods of economic expansion.
Market Exposure Risk. Investment prices may increase or decrease, sometimes suddenly and unpredictably, due to general market conditions. The Fund primarily invests in U.S. stocks and is designed to track the overall performance of the Nasdaq-100 Index®. In an attempt to accurately represent the Index, the Fund will typically not take steps to reduce its market exposure.
Concentration Risk. The Nasdaq-100 Index is subject to concentration risk. First, it is a modified-capitalization weighted index, meaning that except for some modifications, companies are weighted based on their size. Thus, the poor performance of the largest companies within the Index could result in the negative performance of the Index and the Fund. Additionally, the significant concentration of information technology stocks makes the Fund’s performance particularly sensitive to this specific sector. Negative performance in the information technology sector will result in negative Fund performance.
Information Technology Sector Risk. Companies in the information technology sector may be adversely affected by the failure to obtain, or delays in obtaining, financing or regulatory approval, intense competition, both domestically and internationally, product compatibility, consumer preferences, corporate capital expenditure, rapid obsolescence and competition for the services of qualified personnel. Companies in the information technology sector also face competition or potential competition with numerous alternative technologies. In addition, the highly competitive information technology sector may cause the prices for these products and services to decline in the future.
Non-Diversification Risk. To the extent the Fund is managed as a non-diversified investment company, it is subject to the greater risk that the value of a specific security can perform differently from the market as a whole for reasons related to the issuer, such as operational performance, financial leverage and investment- level performance. The value of the Fund may decrease in response to the activities and financial prospects of an individual security in the Fund’s portfolio. Additionally, the Fund may be subject to greater risk, because the Fund’s performance may be more sensitive to any single economic, business, political or regulatory occurrence than the value of shares of a diversified investment company.
17
Economic and Political Risks. These effects may be short-term by causing a change in the market that is corrected in a year or less, or they may have long-term impacts which may cause changes in the market that may last for many years. Some factors may affect changes in one sector of the economy or one stock, but don’t have an impact on the overall market. The particular sector of the economy or the individual stock may be affected for a short or long-term.
Derivatives Risk. Investing with derivatives, such as options, and equity index futures, or other futures contracts involves risks additional to and possibly greater than those associated with investing directly in securities. The value of a derivative may not correlate to the value of the underlying instrument to the extent expected. Derivative transactions may be volatile, and can create leverage, which could cause the Fund to lose more than the amount of assets initially contributed to the transaction, if any. The Fund may not be able to close a derivatives position at an advantageous time or price. For over-the-counter derivatives transactions, the counterparty may be unable or unwilling to make required payments and deliveries, especially during times of financial market distress. Changes in regulation relating to a mutual fund’s use of derivatives and related instruments may make derivatives more costly, limit the availability of derivatives, or otherwise adversely affect the value or performance of derivatives and the Fund.
Non-U.S. Investment Risk. Securities of non-U.S. issuers (including ADRs and other securities that represent interests in a non-U.S. issuer’s securities) may be less liquid, more volatile, and harder to value than U.S. securities. Non-U.S. issuers may be subject to political, economic, or market instability or unfavorable government action in their local jurisdictions or economic sanctions or other restrictions imposed by U.S. or foreign regulators. There may be less information publicly available about non-U.S. issuers and their securities, and those issuers may be subject to lower levels of government regulation and oversight. Non-U.S. stock markets may decline due to conditions specific to an individual country, including unfavorable economic conditions relative to the United States. There may be increased risk of delayed transaction settlement or security certificate loss.
Stock Futures Risk. Although the Fund’s primary risks are associated with changes in the stock market, there are other risks associated with the Fund. These risks generally apply to how well the Fund tracks the Index. For example, the Fund invests in futures contracts to the extent that it holds cash in the portfolio. If these futures contracts do not track the Index, the Fund’s performance relative to the Index will change.
Cybersecurity Risk. Cybersecurity incidents may allow an unauthorized party to gain access to Fund assets, customer data (including private shareholder information), or proprietary information, or cause the Fund, the Advisor, and/or other service providers (including custodians, sub-custodians, transfer agents and financial intermediaries) to suffer data breaches, data corruption or loss of operational functionality. In an extreme case, a shareholder’s ability to exchange or redeem Fund shares may be affected.
Recent Market Events Risk: U.S. and international markets have experienced and may continue to experience volatility in recent months and years due to a number of economic, political and global macro factors including uncertainty regarding inflation and central banks’ interest rate increases, the possibility of a national or global recession, trade tensions, political events, the war between Russia and Ukraine, significant conflict between Israel and Hamas in the Middle East, and the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) global pandemic. As a result of continuing political tensions and armed conflicts, including the war between Ukraine and Russia, the U.S. and the European Union imposed sanctions on certain Russian individuals and companies, including certain financial institutions, and have limited certain exports and imports to and from Russia. The war has contributed to recent market volatility and may continue to do so. Continuing market volatility as a result of recent market conditions or other events may have an adverse effect on the performance of the Fund.
The
following bar chart and table are intended to help you understand the risks of
investing in the Fund.
: % ( )
: % ( )
as of : %
Date of inception:1/18/00
18
The returns above are for the Investor share class of the Fund. The Class K shares would have substantially similar annual returns to the Investor share class because the classes are invested in the same portfolio securities. The Class K shares’ returns will be lower over the long-term when compared to the Investor share class’s returns to the extent that the Investor share class has lower expenses. The Institutional class shares’ returns will be higher over the long-term when compared to the Investor share class’s returns to the extent that the Investor share class has higher expenses.
Nasdaq-100 Index Fund | 1 year | 5 years | 10 years |
Investor Shares: NASDX | |||
Return Before Taxes | - |
||
Return After Taxes on Distributions | - |
||
Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares | - |
||
K Shares: NDXKX | |||
Return Before Taxes | - |
||
Institutional Shares: NQQQX1 | |||
Return Before Taxes | n/a | n/a | n/a |
Nasdaq-100 Index | - |
1 | The Institutional Class’ inception date is March 7, 2022. Performance information for the Institutional Class will be provided once the Class has completed a full calendar year. |
It is not
possible for individuals to invest directly in an index.
Fund Management
Shelton Capital Management serves as the investment advisor to the Fund. The Fund is managed by a team consisting of Stephen C. Rogers and Anthony Jacoby who have been the Fund’s portfolio managers since 2003, and 2022, respectively.
Other Important Information about Fund Shares
For important information about purchase and sale of Fund shares, tax information, and payments to financial intermediaries please turn to the “Summary of Other Important Information About Fund Shares” section on page 27 of this prospectus.
The Fund’s investment objective is to seek liquidity, safety from credit risk and as high a level of income as is consistent with these objectives.
This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay when you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund. The table and example below do not reflect any transaction fees that may be charged by financial intermediaries or commissions that a shareholder may be required to pay directly to its financial intermediary when buying or selling shares.
CAUSX | CAUKX | |
Sales and redemption charges |
Management fees | ||
Distribution (12b-1) fees | ||
Other Expenses | ||
Shareholder Service Fees | ||
Total annual operating expenses | ||
Fee Waiver and/or Expense Reimbursement* | ( |
( |
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver and/or Expense Reimbursement |
A $10 account fee may be charged to accounts with a balance of less than $10,000.
* |
19
This example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds.
The example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your shares at the end of those periods. This 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:
1 year | 3 years | 5 years | 10 years | |
CAUSX | $ |
$ |
$ |
$ |
CAUKX | $ |
$ |
$ |
$ |
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 shares are held in
a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in Annual Fund Operating
expenses or in the Example of Expenses, affect the Fund’s performance. During
the most recent fiscal year ended August 31, 2023, the Fund’s portfolio turnover
rate was
The Fund invests primarily in high-quality bonds whose interest is guaranteed by the full faith and credit of the United States government and its agencies or instrumentalities. The government securities in which the Fund invests primarily include U.S. Treasury Securities and Government National Mortgage Association (GNMA) Certificates. Under normal market conditions, it is the Fund’s policy to invest at least 80% of its total assets (which includes the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes) in securities issued by the U.S. government and its agencies and instrumentalities. The Fund invests in intermediate and long-term fixed income securities. While the Fund is not limited to any duration, Shelton Capital Management, the investment advisor to the Fund, generally seeks to target the Fund’s dollar-weighted average portfolio duration in a range between three to twelve years. Generally, Shelton Capital Management seeks a balance between risk and return, for example in allocating investments between U.S. Treasury bonds and GNMA pass-through securities in an attempt to maximize the overall performance of the Fund. Shelton Capital Management generally will consider selling securities from the Fund’s portfolio when it believes that such securities are no longer consistent with the Fund’s investment objective, when altering the duration of the fund or the balance or investments among treasuries and GNMAs, to meet redemption requests and in other circumstances that Shelton deems appropriate consistent with the Fund’s investment objective.
Interest Rate Risk. Debt security prices may decline due to rising interest rates. The price of debt securities with longer maturities is typically affected more by rising interest rates than the price of debt securities with shorter maturities.
Call Risk. If interest rates fall, issuers of callable bonds may repay securities with higher interest rates before maturity. This could cause the Fund to lose potential price appreciation and reinvest the proceeds in securities with lower interest rates or more credit risk.
Prepayment Risk. Similar to call risk. In the case of GNMA securities, payments to the Fund are based on payments from the underlying mortgages. During periods where homeowners refinance their mortgages, these securities are paid off and the Fund may have to reinvest the principal in lower yielding securities. This would reduce the income generated from the portfolio.
Income Risk. The chance that declining interest rates will reduce the amount of income paid by the Fund over long periods of time.
U.S. Government Securities Risk. The U.S. Government agency securities in which the Fund may invest include securities issued by the Government National Mortgage Association (“Ginnie Mae”). Securities issued by Ginnie Mae are backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. Government. Other U.S. Government securities are supported only by the credit of the issuer or instrumentality. There is a risk that the U.S. government will not provide financial support to U.S. government agencies or instrumentalities if it is not obligated to do so by law.
Manager Risk. Shelton Capital Management’s opinion about the intrinsic worth or creditworthiness of an issuer or security may be incorrect or the market may continue to undervalue an issuer or security. Shelton Capital Management may not make timely purchases or sales of securities for the Fund.
Cybersecurity Risk. Cybersecurity incidents may allow an unauthorized party to gain access to Fund assets, customer data (including private shareholder information), or proprietary information, or cause the Fund, the Advisor, and/or other service providers (including custodians, sub-custodians, transfer agents and financial intermediaries) to suffer data breaches, data corruption or loss of operational functionality. In an extreme case, a shareholder’s ability to exchange or redeem Fund shares may be affected.
Recent Market Events Risk: U.S. and international markets have experienced and may continue to experience volatility in recent months and years due to a number of economic, political and global macro factors including uncertainty regarding inflation and central banks’ interest rate increases, the possibility of a national or global recession, trade tensions, political events, the war between Russia and Ukraine, significant conflict between Israel and Hamas in the Middle East, and the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) global pandemic. As a result of continuing political tensions and armed conflicts, including the war between Ukraine and Russia, the U.S. and the European Union imposed sanctions on certain Russian individuals and companies, including certain financial institutions, and have limited certain exports and imports to and from Russia. The war has contributed to recent market volatility and may continue to do so. Continuing market volatility as a result of recent market conditions or other events may have an adverse effect on the performance of the Fund.
20
The
following bar chart and table are intended to help you understand the risks of
investing in the Fund.
: % ( )
: % ( )
as of : %
Date of inception:12/4/85
The returns above are for the Investor share class of the Fund. The Class K shares would have substantially similar annual returns to the Investor share class because the classes are invested in the same portfolio securities. The Class K shares’ returns will be lower over the long-term when compared to the Investor share class’s returns to the extent that the Investor share class has lower expenses.
U. S. Government Securities Fund | 1 year | 5 years | 10 years |
Investor Shares: CAUSX |
|||
Return Before Taxes | - |
- |
|
Return After Taxes on Distributions | - |
- |
- |
Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares | - |
- |
- |
K Shares: CAUKX |
|||
Return Before Taxes |
- |
- |
- |
Bloomberg GNMA Total Return Index | - |
- |
|
Bloomberg U.S. Treasury Index | - |
- |
It is not
possible for individuals to invest directly into an index.
Fund Management
Shelton Capital Management serves as the investment advisor to the Fund. The portfolio management team is comprised of Peter Higgins, Head of Fixed Income and Senior Fixed Income Portfolio Manager, and by Portfolio Managers William Mock and Stephen C. Rogers. Mr. Higgins joined Shelton Capital Management in October of 2022. Mr. Mock has been the Fund’s lead portfolio manager since 2010. Mr. Rogers has been a portfolio manager of the Fund since 2003.
Other Important Information about Fund Shares
For important information about purchase and sale of Fund shares, tax information, and payments to financial intermediaries please turn to the “Summary of Other Important Information About Fund Shares” section on page 27 of this prospectus.
The Fund’s investment objective is to seek high current income exempt from state income taxes while maintaining a stable net asset value of $1.00 per share.
21
This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay when you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund. The table and example do not reflect any transaction fees that may be charged by financial intermediaries or commissions that a shareholder may be required to pay directly to its financial intermediary when buying or selling shares.
Sales and redemption charges |
Management fees | |
Distribution (12b-1) fees | |
Other expenses1 | |
Shareholder Service Fees | |
Total annual operating expenses |
1 |
A $24 account fee may be charged to accounts.
This example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds.
The example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your shares at the end of those periods. This 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:
1 year | 3 years | 5 years | 10 years | |
UTSXX | $ |
$ |
$ |
$ |
The Fund primarily invests its assets in cash, repurchase agreements and government securities with interest guaranteed by the full faith and credit of the United States government. The Fund buys securities that have a maturity of less than 397 days, so that the Fund’s weighted average maturity does not exceed the Rule 2a-7 requirements under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, currently 60 days. It is the Fund’s policy to invest at least 99.5% of its total assets in cash, government securities, and/or repurchase agreements collateralized by cash or government securities and in compliance with industry-standard regulatory requirements for money market funds for quality, maturity, and diversification. Under normal circumstances, the Fund invests at least 80% of the value of its net assets (plus the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes) in U.S. Treasuries and repurchase agreements that are fully collateralized by U.S. Treasuries. The Fund’s policy with respect to investing in U.S. Treasuries may not be changed unless Fund shareholders are given at least 60 days prior notice.
Income Risk. The chance that declining interest rates will reduce the amount of income paid by the Fund.
Interest Rate Risk. Debt security prices may decline due to rising interest rates. The price of debt securities with longer maturities is typically affected more by rising interest rates than the price of debt securities with shorter maturities.
Manager Risk. Shelton Capital Management’s opinion about the intrinsic worth or creditworthiness of an issuer or security may be incorrect or the market may continue to undervalue an issuer or security. Shelton Capital Management may not make timely purchases or sales of securities for the Fund.
The securities that the Fund holds are backed by the full faith and credit of the United States federal government and are those that Shelton believes do not represent credit risk to the Fund. It is important to note that the U.S. government backs the securities held by the Fund, but not the Fund itself. An investment in the Fund is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other governmental agency. Although the Fund seeks to preserve the $1.00 per share price, it is possible to lose money by investing in the Fund. The Fund may impose a fee upon the sale of your shares or may temporarily suspend your ability to sell shares if the Fund’s liquidity falls below required minimums because of market conditions or other factors. The Fund’s sponsor has no legal obligation to provide financial support to the Fund, and you should not expect that the sponsor will provide financial support to the Fund at any time.
Cybersecurity Risk. Cybersecurity incidents may allow an unauthorized party to gain access to Fund assets, customer data (including private shareholder information), or proprietary information, or cause the Fund, the Advisor, and/or other service providers (including custodians, sub-custodians, transfer agents and financial intermediaries) to suffer data breaches, data corruption or loss of operational functionality. In an extreme case, a shareholder’s ability to exchange or redeem Fund shares may be affected.
Recent Market Events Risk: U.S. and international markets have experienced and may continue to experience volatility in recent months and years due to a number of economic, political and global macro factors including uncertainty regarding inflation and central banks’ interest rate increases, the possibility of a national or global recession, trade tensions, political events, the war between Russia and Ukraine, significant conflict between Israel and Hamas in the Middle East, and the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) global pandemic. As a result of continuing political tensions and armed conflicts, including the war between Ukraine and Russia, the U.S. and the European Union imposed sanctions on certain Russian individuals and companies, including certain financial institutions, and have limited certain exports and imports to and from Russia. The war has contributed to recent market volatility and may continue to do so. Continuing market volatility as a result of recent market conditions or other events may have an adverse effect on the performance of the Fund.
22
The
following bar chart and table are intended to help you understand the risks of
investing in the Fund.
: % ( )
: % ( )
as of : %
Date of inception: 4/26/89
The United States Treasury Trust - UTSXX | 1 year | 5 years | 10 years |
To obtain a
current 7-day yield for the Fund call toll-free
Fund Management
Shelton Capital Management serves as the investment advisor to the Fund. The portfolio management team is comprised of Peter Higgins, Head of Fixed Income and Senior Fixed Income Portfolio Manager, and by Portfolio Managers William Mock and Stephen C. Rogers. Mr. Higgins joined Shelton Capital Management in October of 2022. Mr. Mock has been the Fund’s lead portfolio manager since 2010. Mr. Rogers has been a portfolio manager of the Fund since 2013.
Other Important Information about Fund Shares
For important information about purchase and sale of Fund shares, tax information, and payments to financial intermediaries please turn to the “Summary of Other Important Information About Fund Shares” section on page 27 of this prospectus.
The Shelton Sustainable Equity Fund’s investment objective is to achieve long-term capital appreciation by investing in stocks in the sustainable economy.
This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay when you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund. The table and example do not reflect any transaction fees that may be charged by financial intermediaries or commissions that a shareholder may be required to pay directly to its financial intermediary when buying or selling shares.
23
NEXTX | NEXIX | |
Sales and redemption charges |
|
||
Management fees | ||
Distribution (12b-1) fees | | |
Other Expenses | ||
Shareholder Service Fees |
||
Total annual operating expenses |
A $10 account fee may be charged to accounts with a balance of less than $10,000.
This example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds.
The example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your shares at the end of those periods. This 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:
1 year | 3 years | 5 years | 10 years | |
NEXTX | $ |
$ |
$ |
$ |
NEXIX | $ |
$ |
$ |
$ |
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 shares are held in
a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in Annual Fund Operating
Expenses or in the Example of Expenses, affect the Fund’s performance. During
the most recent fiscal year ended August 31, 2023, the Fund’s portfolio turnover
rate was
Under normal market conditions, the Fund invests 80 percent of the net assets of the Fund (which includes the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes) in equities of “Sustainable” companies. Shelton Capital Management, the Fund’s investment adviser, identifies Sustainable companies as those which fulfill one or more of the requirements of our PRIME criteria:
● Principles: Encourage and improve human well-being and personal freedom
● Research: R&D of new technologies that provide for more efficient resource utilization
● Impact: Help scale the above advantages to a broader range of beneficiaries
● Mitigation: Reduce environmental risks and halt or reverse the effects of climate change
● Evolution: Increase economic efficiencies and limit the effects of systematic economic risks
Shelton Capital Management evaluates a company’s performance on Environmental, Social and Governance factors (“ESG”) as contributing to a qualification as a Sustainable company. Such factors include but are not limited to: GHG emissions, energy, water and waste management, productivity, product quality and safety, employee health safety, business ethics and corporate governance.
Sustainable companies exist across all sectors and sub-sectors of the economy. For example, within agriculture, many firms are working towards executing sustainable farming practices, or providing the methods to do so. Shelton Capital Management considers the complete scope of operations for any firm including clients and vendors Firms that actively consider the welfare of their employee base in the growth of their business can be found in any industry, and in many if not all parts of the world.
The Fund will invest in U.S. common and foreign stocks and American Depository Receipts (“ADRs”) The Fund may invest in companies of all sizes and seeks diversification by economic sector and geography.
Shelton Capital Management analyzes stocks considered for ownership by the Fund based on how the characteristics that qualify them for the sustainable economy contribute to improving the financial condition of the firm. Shelton Capital Management employs both qualitative and quantitative fundamental analysis designed to evaluate each company’s financial condition and relative industry position, as well as qualitative criteria derived from macro-economics.
Although the Fund will attempt to invest as much of its assets as is practical in common stocks, the Fund may maintain a reasonable (up to 20%) position in in U.S. Treasury Bills and money market instruments to meet redemption requests and other liquidity needs.
The Fund may invest in stock futures contracts of indices and similar investments when holding cash or cash equivalents to keep the Fund more fully exposed to the equity markets. Utilizing futures on indices and similar investments allows the Fund to maintain a high percentage of the portfolio in the market while maintaining cash for short-term liquidity needs and other purposes.
24
Economic and Political Risks. Many factors will affect the performance of the stock market. Two major factors are economic and political events. The impact of positive or negative events could be short-term (by causing a change in the market that is corrected in a year or less) or long-term (by causing a change in the market that may last for many years). Events may affect one sector of the economy or a single stock, but may not have a significant impact on the overall market.
Concentration and Sector Risk. If holdings of the Fund are concentrated into a few companies or economic sectors, the fund may be more volatile than a less concentrated fund and, in the event, that the holdings perform poorly, the Fund may under-perform other investments that are less concentrated. To the extent the Fund focuses its investments in one or more sectors, the Fund will be subject, to a greater extent than if its investments were less concentrated, to the risks of volatile economic cycles and/or conditions or developments that may be particular to that sector, such as: adverse economic, business, political, environmental or other developments.
Industrials Sector Risk. The industrials sector can be significantly affected by, among other things, worldwide economy growth, supply and demand for specific products and services and for industrial sector products in general, product obsolescence, rapid technological developments, international political and economic developments, claims for environmental damage or product liability, tax policies, and government regulation.
SmallCap Stock Risk. The risk that stocks of smaller capitalization companies may be subject to more abrupt or erratic market movements than stocks of larger, more established companies. Small capitalization companies may have limited product lines or financial resources, or may be dependent upon a small or inexperienced management group, and their securities may trade less frequently and in lower volume than the securities of larger companies, which could lead to higher transaction costs. Generally the smaller the company size, the greater the risk.
MidCap Stock Risk. The risk that stocks of relatively smaller capitalization within the midcap range of companies may be subject to more abrupt or erratic market movements than stocks of larger, more established companies. Relatively smaller capitalization companies may have limited product lines or financial resources, or may be dependent upon a small or inexperienced management group, and their securities may trade less frequently and in lower volume than the securities of larger companies, which could lead to higher transaction costs. Generally, the smaller the company size, the greater the risk.
Non-U.S. Investment Risk. Securities of non-U.S. issuers (including ADRs and other securities that represent interests in a non-U.S. issuer’s securities) may be less liquid, more volatile, and harder to value than U.S. securities. Non-U.S. issuers may be subject to political, economic, or market instability or unfavorable government action in their local jurisdictions or economic sanctions or other restrictions imposed by U.S. or foreign regulators. There may be less information publicly available about non-U.S. issuers and their securities, and those issuers may be subject to lower levels of government regulation and oversight. Non-U.S. stock markets may decline due to conditions specific to an individual country, including unfavorable economic conditions relative to the United States. There may be increased risk of delayed transaction settlement or security certificate loss.
Non-U.S. Currency Risk. Non-U.S. currencies may decline relative to the U.S. dollar, which reduces the unhedged value of securities denominated in or otherwise exposed to those currencies. Shelton Capital Management may not be able to determine accurately the extent to which a security or its issuer is exposed to currency risk.
Environmental Investing Risk. The Fund’s environmental criteria limits the available investments compared to similar funds that do not have the same criteria limits. Accordingly, the Fund may forego opportunities to buy certain securities when it might otherwise be advantageous to do so, or may sell securities for environmental reasons when it might be otherwise disadvantageous for it to do so.
LargeCap Stock Risk. Larger, more established companies may be unable to respond quickly to new competitive challenges like changes in consumer tastes or innovative smaller competitors. In addition, large-cap companies are sometimes unable to attain the high growth rates of successful, smaller companies, especially during extended periods of economic expansion.
Liquidity Risk. The Fund may invest in securities in the green economy that cannot be traded quickly enough in the market to prevent a loss or make the required profit.
Market Exposure Risk. Investment prices may increase or decrease, sometimes suddenly and unpredictably, due to general market conditions. The Fund is primarily invested in European stock markets. As with any investment whose performance is linked to these markets, the value of an investment in the Fund will change. During a declining stock market, investment in this Fund would lose money.
Manager Risk. Shelton Capital Management’s opinion about the intrinsic worth or creditworthiness of a company or security may be incorrect or the market may continue to undervalue the company or security. Shelton Capital Management may not make timely purchases or sales of securities for the Fund.
Derivatives Risk. Investing with derivatives, such as options, and equity index futures, or other futures contracts involves risks additional to and possibly greater than those associated with investing directly in securities. The value of a derivative may not correlate to the value of the underlying instrument to the extent expected. Derivative transactions may be volatile, and can create leverage, which could cause the Fund to lose more than the amount of assets initially contributed to the transaction, if any. The Fund may not be able to close a derivatives position at an advantageous time or price. For over-the-counter derivatives transactions, the counterparty may be unable or unwilling to make required payments and deliveries, especially during times of financial market distress. Changes in regulation relating to a mutual fund’s use of derivatives and related instruments may make derivatives more costly, limit the availability of derivatives, or otherwise adversely affect the value or performance of derivatives and the Fund.
25
Cybersecurity Risk. Cybersecurity incidents may allow an unauthorized party to gain access to Fund assets, customer data (including private shareholder information), or proprietary information, or cause the Fund, the Advisor, and/or other service providers (including custodians, sub-custodians, transfer agents and financial intermediaries) to suffer data breaches, data corruption or loss of operational functionality. In an extreme case, a shareholder’s ability to exchange or redeem Fund shares may be affected.
Recent Market Events Risk: U.S. and international markets have experienced and may continue to experience volatility in recent months and years due to a number of economic, political and global macro factors including uncertainty regarding inflation and central banks’ interest rate increases, the possibility of a national or global recession, trade tensions, political events, the war between Russia and Ukraine, significant conflict between Israel and Hamas in the Middle East, and the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) global pandemic. As a result of continuing political tensions and armed conflicts, including the war between Ukraine and Russia, the U.S. and the European Union imposed sanctions on certain Russian individuals and companies, including certain financial institutions, and have limited certain exports and imports to and from Russia. The war has contributed to recent market volatility and may continue to do so. Continuing market volatility as a result of recent market conditions or other events may have an adverse effect on the performance of the Fund.
The
following bar chart and table are intended to help you understand the risks of
investing in the Fund.
: % ( )
: % ( )
as of : %
Date of inception: 3/12/13
The returns above are for the Investor share class of the Fund. The Institutional class would have substantially similar annual returns to the Investor share class because the classes are invested in the same portfolio securities. The Institutional class returns will be higher over the long-term when compared to the Investor share class returns to the extent that the Investor share class has higher expenses.
|
1 year |
5 Year |
Inception |
Investor Shares: NEXTX | |||
Return Before Taxes | - |
||
Return After Taxes on Distributions | - |
||
Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares | - |
||
Institutional Shares: NEXIX1 | |||
Return Before Taxes | n/a | n/a | n/a |
S&P 500 Composite Stock Price Index | - |
1 | The Institutional Class’ inception date is October 10, 2022. Performance information for the Institutional Class will be provided once the Class has completed a full calendar year. |
It is not possible for individuals to invest directly into an index. Performance figures for an index do not reflect deductions for sales charges, commissions, expenses or taxes.
26
Fund Management
Shelton Capital Management serves as the investment advisor to the Fund. Dr. Bruce Kahn, Ph.D serves as the lead portfolio manager of the Fund since October 10, 2022. Mr. Derek Izuel and Mr. Justin Sheetz also have served as portfolio managers of the Fund since October 10, 2022.
Other Important Information about Fund Shares
For important information about purchase and sale of Fund shares, tax information, and payments to financial intermediaries please turn to the “Summary of Other Important Information About Fund Shares” section below.
Summary of Other Important Information About Fund Shares
Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares
The minimum initial investments and subsequent investments for Class K shares of each Fund are as follows:
Minimum Initial Investment |
Minimum Subsequent Investment | |
Accounts with Automatic Investment Plan (“AIP”) | $500 | $100 |
All other Funds’ accounts | $1,000 | $100 |
The minimum initial investments and subsequent investments for Investor Class shares of each Fund are as follows:
Minimum Initial Investment |
Minimum Subsequent Investment | |
Accounts with Automatic Investment Plan (“AIP”) | $500 | $100 |
All other Funds’ accounts | $1,000 | $100 |
The minimum initial investments and subsequent investments for Institutional Class shares of the Nasdaq-100 Index Fund are as follows:
Minimum Initial Investment |
Minimum Subsequent Investment | |
All accounts | $10,000,000 | $2,500 |
The minimum initial investments and subsequent investments for Institutional Class shares of the Shelton Sustainable Equity Fund are as follows:
Minimum Initial Investment |
Minimum Subsequent Investment | |
All accounts | $500,000 | $2,500 |
The Distributor may change the minimum investment amounts at any time or waive them at its discretion.
You may redeem all or a portion of your shares on any business day that a Fund is open for business by mail, telephone or our website (www.sheltoncap.com).You may receive the redemption by wire, electronic funds transfer or check. The sale price of your shares will be the Fund’s next determined net asset value after the Fund’s transfer agent, or an authorized agent or sub-agent receives all required documents in good order as further described below. If you have questions or need assistance, you may call client services for Shelton Funds at (800) 955- 9988 during normal business hours (generally 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Mountain Time).
Tax Information. For U.S. federal income tax purposes, a Fund’s distributions may be taxable as ordinary income, capital gains, exempt-interest dividends, qualified dividend income, or section 199A dividends, except when your investment is in an IRA, 401(k) or other tax-advantaged investment plan. Withdrawals from such a tax-advantaged investment plan will be subject to special tax rules.
Payments to Broker-Dealers and other Financial Intermediaries. If you purchase a Fund through an employee benefit plan, the Fund, Shelton Capital Management or related entities may make payments to the recordkeeper, broker/ dealer, bank, or other financial institution or organization (each a “financial intermediary”) that provides shareholder recordkeeping or other administrative services to the plan as compensation for those services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing your Financial Intermediary to make available a Fund over other mutual funds or investments. You should ask your financial intermediary about differing and divergent interests and how it is compensated for administering your Fund investment.
Investment Objectives and Principal Strategies
Green California Tax-Free Income Fund – The Green California Tax-Free Income Fund’s objective is to seek high current tax-free income for California residents.
27
The Green California Tax-Free Income Fund seeks as high a level of income, exempt from regular federal and California personal income taxes, as is consistent with prudent investment management and safety of capital. The Fund invests in intermediate and long- term municipal bonds. The Fund invests in municipal bonds issued by the State of California and various municipalities located within California. Generally, these bonds are rated in one of the four highest rating categories (investment grade) by an independent rating organization such as Standard & Poor’s, Moody’s and Fitch. In some cases, securities are not rated by independent agencies. The Fund will generally purchase an unrated security only if Shelton Capital Management, the investment advisor to the Fund, believes the security is of similar quality to an investment-grade issue. Shelton Capital Management will seek to invest in municipal bonds that meet environmental, social and governance screens so that the Fund may be considered a green municipal bond fund. In evaluating environmental, social and governance considerations, Shelton Capital Management uses criteria including, but not limited to, use of bond proceeds, expected environmental impact, the source of revenues for repayment, and the reputation of the issuer. Generally, the interest on municipal bonds is not subject to federal and California personal income taxes. Under normal market conditions, it is the Fund’s fundamental policy to invest at least 80% of its total assets (which includes the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes) in California municipal bonds, that are exempt from federal and California state income taxes, although generally the percentage is much higher. California municipal bonds include municipal bonds issued by the State of California and various municipalities located within California. This policy with respect to exemption from federal and California state income taxes is a fundamental policy of the Fund and may not be changed without shareholder approval. Under normal market conditions, the Fund invests 80% of the net assets of the Fund (which includes the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes) in municipal bonds that meet environmental, social and governance screens that Shelton Capital Management evaluates as making such investments “green” investments for this purpose. In evaluating environmental, social and governance considerations, Shelton Capital Management uses criteria including, but not limited to, use of bond proceeds, expected environmental impact, the source of revenues for repayment, and the reputation of the issuer. These policies with respect to California and “green” investments may not be changed unless Fund shareholders are given at least 60 days prior notice. The Fund’s duration typically ranges from four to twelve years. Although the Fund is not prevented from holding bonds whose interest is subject to the federal alternative minimum tax (“AMT”), Shelton Capital Management seeks to invest primarily in non-AMT bonds. Shelton Capital Management attempts to select securities that it believes will provide the best balance between risk and return within the Fund’s range of allowable investments. The Fund is actively managed for total return. In managing the portfolio, a number of factors are considered including general market and economic conditions and their likely effects on the level and term-structure of interest rates, yield spreads among securities, and the credit type and quality of the issuer. Tax-free income to shareholders is achieved through purchasing and holding municipal bonds that are not subject to regular federal and California personal income taxes, provided at least 50% of the total assets of the Fund consists of such obligations and the Fund maintains its status as a regulated investment company (RIC). Generally, income represents the greatest portion of return over time, although the total return from a municipal security includes both interest income and gains and losses from the disposition of the security. Shelton Capital Management may sell portfolio securities for a variety of reasons, including when it believes that such securities are no longer consistent with the Fund ’s investment objective, other securities appear to offer more compelling opportunities, or to meet redemption requests. Changes in the rating of a security will not necessarily result in the sale of that security.
.
S&P 500 Index Fund – The S&P 500 Index Fund’s investment objective is to attempt to replicate the total return of the U.S. stock market as measured by the S&P 500 Composite Stock Price Index. The S&P 500 Index Fund seeks to provide investment results that correspond to the total return of common stocks publicly traded in the United States, as represented by the Standard & Poor’s 500 Composite Stock Price Index. The S&P 500 Index includes the common stocks of 500 leading U.S. companies from a broad range of industries. Standard & Poor’s, which maintains the Index, makes all determinations regarding the inclusion of stocks in the Index. Each stock is weighted in proportion to its total market value. The Fund is passively managed. It invests primarily in the stocks that make up the Index so that the weighting of each stock in the portfolio approximates the Index. Shelton Capital Management, the investment advisor to the Fund, seeks to maintain a return correlation of at least 0.95 to the S&P 500 Index (a return correlation of 1.00 is perfect). Under normal market conditions, it is the Fund’s policy to invest at least 80% of its total assets (which includes the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes) in the underlying stocks of the Index. The S&P 500 Index is a well-known stock market index that includes common stocks of companies representing approximately 92% of the total market Index as measured by the S&P Composite 1500. As of November 30, 2023, companies included in the Index range from $4.5 billion to $2,954 billion in market capitalization. The median market capitalization of the stocks in the S&P 500 Index is approximately $31.2 billion. The Fund may invest in futures contracts. The Fund generally maintains some short-term securities and cash equivalents in the portfolio to meet redemptions and needs for liquidity. Shelton will typically buy futures contracts so that the market value of the futures replicates the difference between the net assets of the fund and the equity holdings. This helps minimize the tracking error of the Fund. This performance variation occurs because, unlike the Index, the Fund must pay operating expenses and contend with the flow of cash in and out of the Fund primarily from shareholder activity. While Shelton Capital Management expects the Fund’s performance to closely represent the Index, the Fund will generally underperform the Index.
The Fund invests in large companies from many sectors. In doing so, the Fund is not as sensitive to the movements of a single company’s stock or a single economic sector. However, during periods where investment alternatives such as MidCap stocks, SmallCap stocks, bonds and money market instruments outperform LargeCap stocks, we expect the performance of the Fund to underperform other mutual funds that invest in these alternatives. The S&P 500 Index is a capitalization-weighted index, meaning companies are weighted based on their size. Thus, poor performance of the largest companies could result in negative performance of the Index and the Fund.
S&P MidCap Index Fund – The S&P MidCap Index Fund’s investment objective is to attempt to replicate the performance of medium-sized U.S. companies as measured by the S&P MidCap 400 Index.
The S&P MidCap Index Fund seeks to provide investment results that correspond to the total return of publicly traded common stocks of medium-size domestic companies, as represented by the S&P MidCap 400 Index. The S&P MidCap 400 Index includes the common stocks of 400 medium-sized U.S. companies from a broad range of industries. Standard & Poor’s, which maintains the index, makes all determinations regarding the inclusion of stocks in the Index. Each stock is weighted in proportion to its total market value. The Fund is passively managed. It invests primarily in the stocks that make up the S&P MidCap 400 Index so that the weighting of each stock in the portfolio approximates the Index. Shelton Capital Management, the investment advisor to the Fund, seeks to maintain a return correlation of at least 0.95 to the S&P MidCap 400 Index (a return correlation of 1.00 is perfect). Under normal market conditions, it is the Fund’s policy to invest at least 80% of its total assets (which includes the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes) in the underlying stocks of the Index. The S&P MidCap 400 Index is a recognized stock market index that includes common stocks of companies, representing approximately 5.6% of the total market Index as measured by the S&P Composite 1500. As of November 30, 2023, companies included in the S&P MidCap 400 Index range from $2.2 billion to $33 billion in market capitalization. The median market capitalization of the stocks in the S&P MidCap 400 Index is approximately $5.8 billion. The Fund may invest in futures contracts. The Fund generally maintains some short-term securities and cash equivalents in the portfolio to meet redemptions and needs for liquidity. Shelton will typically buy futures contracts so that the market value of the futures replicates the difference between the net assets of the fund and the equity holdings. This helps minimize the tracking error of the Fund. This performance variation occurs because, unlike the Index, the Fund must pay operating expenses and contend with the flow of cash in and out of the portfolio. While Shelton Capital Management expects the Fund’s performance to closely represent the Index, the Fund will generally underperform the Index.
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The Fund invests in mid-sized companies from many sectors. In doing so, the Fund is not as sensitive to the movements of a single company’s stock or a single economic sector. However, during periods where investment alternatives such as LargeCap stocks, SmallCap stocks, bonds and money market instruments outperform MidCap stocks, we expect the performance of the Fund to underperform other mutual funds that invest in these alternatives. The S&P MidCap 400 Index is a capitalization-weighted index, meaning companies are weighted based on their size. Thus, poor performance of the largest companies could result in negative performance of the Index and the Fund.
S&P SmallCap Index Fund – The S&P SmallCap Index Fund’s investment objective is to attempt to replicate the performance of small-sized U.S. companies as measured by the S&P SmallCap 600 Stock Index.
The S&P SmallCap Index Fund seeks to provide investment results that correspond to the total return of publicly traded common stocks of small-sized companies, as represented by the S&P SmallCap 600 Index. The S&P SmallCap 600 Index includes common stocks of 600 small U.S. companies from a broad range of industries. Standard & Poor’s, which maintains the Index, makes all determinations regarding the inclusion of stocks in the Index. Each stock is weighted in proportion to its total market value. The Fund is passively managed. It invests primarily in the stocks that make up the S&P SmallCap 600 Index so that the weighting of each stock in the portfolio approximates the Index. Shelton Capital Management, the investment adviser to the Fund, seeks to maintain a return correlation of at least 0.95 to the S&P SmallCap 600 Index (a return correlation of 1.00 is perfect). Under normal market conditions, it is the Fund’s policy to invest at least 80% of its total assets (which includes the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes) in the underlying stocks. The S&P SmallCap 600 Index is a well-known stock market index that includes common stocks of companies representing approximately 2.4% of the total market index as measured by the S&P Composite 1500. As of November 30, 2023, companies included in the S&P SmallCap 600 Index range from $225 million to $7.3 billion in market capitalization. The median market capitalization of the stocks in the S&P SmallCap 600 Index is approximately $1.6 billion. The Fund may invest in futures contracts. The Fund generally maintains some short-term securities and cash equivalents in the portfolio to meet redemptions and needs for liquidity. Shelton will typically buy futures contracts so that the market value of the futures replicates the difference between the net assets of the fund and the equity holdings. This helps minimize the tracking error of the Fund. This performance variation occurs because, unlike the Index, the Fund must pay operating expenses and contend with the flow of cash in and out of the portfolio. While Shelton Capital Management expects the Fund’s performance to closely represent the Index, the Fund will generally underperform the Index.
The Fund invests in relatively smaller companies from many sectors. In doing so, the Fund is not as sensitive to the movements of a single company’s stock or a single economic sector. However, during periods where investment alternatives such as LargeCap stocks, SmallCap stocks, bonds and money market instruments outperform SmallCap stocks, we expect the performance of the Fund to underperform other mutual funds that invest in these alternatives. The S&P SmallCap 600 Index is a capitalization-weighted index, meaning companies are weighted based on their size. Thus, poor performance of the largest companies could result in negative performance of the Index and the Fund.
Shelton Equity Income Fund – The Shelton Equity Income Fund’s investment objective is to achieve a high level of income and capital appreciation (when consistent with high income) by investing primarily in income-producing U.S. equity securities.
Shelton Equity Income Fund seeks a high level of current income by investing primarily in income-producing equity securities. The Fund will also consider the potential for price appreciation when consistent with seeking current income. In order to meet its investment objectives, the Fund invests primarily in U.S. equity securities that generate a relatively high level of dividend income (relative to other equities in the same industry) and have the potential for capital appreciation. These securities will generally be stocks of medium and large U.S. corporations. It is the Fund’s policy that, under normal market conditions, it will invest at least 80% of its total assets (which includes the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes) in common stocks. The Fund’s policy of investing in common stocks may not be changed unless Fund shareholders are given at least 60 days prior notice. Shelton Capital Management, the investment advisor to the Fund “Shelton”, seeks to purchase equity securities for the Fund’s portfolio consistent with the Fund’s investment objective, such as when Shelton Capital Management believes such securities have income producing potential, a potential for capital appreciation or value potential.
The Fund seeks to deliver capital appreciation and an enhanced cash flow through writing covered calls and/or selling cash secured puts on portfolio positions, thereby enhancing the distribution rates to shareholders. The strategy is used to either reduce overall volatility or add incremental cash flow. The covered calls are strategically sold to generate option premium cash flow in addition to the portfolio’s dividends. A cash secured put involves selling put options and simultaneously setting aside enough cash or margin to buy the stock if an assignment occurs. The Fund may also buy protective puts. A protective put is a risk-management strategy where a put or puts are purchased against a long stock or other long portfolio position. The objective of buying puts is to reduce the directional risk and exposure of the individual portfolio while allowing for upside gains if the stock or portfolio continues to increase in value.
When the market price of a stock equals or exceeds the strike price of a covered call option written against it, Shelton Capital Management may allow all or a portion of the stock to be sold or “called away” by the option buyer. Shelton Capital Management may sell portfolio securities for a variety of reasons, including when it believes that securities are no longer consistent with the Fund’s investment objective, other securities appear to offer more compelling opportunities, or to meet redemption requests. Although the Fund will attempt to invest as much of its assets as is practical in income-producing stocks, the Fund may maintain a reasonable (up to 20%) position in cash, U.S. Treasury bills or money market instruments to meet redemption requests and other liquidity needs. The Fund may invest in stock futures contracts to keep the net assets of the Fund fully invested in the equity markets in circumstances when the Fund is holding treasury bills, money market instruments, similar investments or cash in the portfolio. Utilizing futures allows the Fund to maintain a high percentage of the portfolio in the market while maintaining cash for liquidity needs.
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The Fund’s option strategy may limit the upside performance of any position for which a call is sold and may increase costs when puts are purchased. When selling a call, the Fund is effectively selling upside stock performance in exchange for immediate cash flow. In markets where a stock position goes up dramatically, this could cause the Fund to under-perform its benchmark and the equity markets in general. When buying a put, the Fund is spending a premium to protect the downward movement of the value of a position in the Fund’s portfolio. In the event the value of the position went up during the life of the put option, the option would expire without value and the Fund will have lost the premium paid. The Fund may buy or sell options in an effort to generate additional cash flow above and beyond the dividends paid by the stocks or hedge the portfolio from potential losses. A call option is a right for the buyer to purchase the stock from the Fund at a predetermined price. When the Fund sells a call option, the Fund is paid cash and the buyer of the option may exercise the right to purchase the stock at a fixed price over the life of the option. The Fund may do this in order to generate additional cash flow for one or more positions in the portfolio beyond the current dividend yield. A put option is the right to sell a stock to the seller at a predetermined price. When the Fund buys a put option, it pays the seller for the write to sell a stock at a predetermined price. The Fund may do this in order to protect the value of one or more positions in the portfolio. While there is no assurance that a strategy will work as planned, option strategies used by the Fund will generally be used in an effort to reduce the risk exposure of the Fund’s portfolio. While there are several factors impacting option values, typically, the higher the share price relative to the strike price of the option and the longer the life of the option, the higher the call premium paid to the Fund.
Nasdaq-100 Index Fund – The Nasdaq-100 Index Fund’s investment objective is to attempt to replicate the performance of the largest non-financial companies as measured by the Nasdaq- 100 Index®.
The Nasdaq-100 Index® includes 100 of the largest domestic and international non-financial companies listed on The Nasdaq Stock Market based on market capitalization. Nasdaq, which maintains the Index, makes all determinations regarding the inclusion of stocks in the Index. Each stock is weighted in proportion to its total market value. The Fund is passively managed. It invests primarily in the stocks comprising the Index so that the weighting of each stock in the portfolio approximates the Index. Shelton Capital Management, the investment advisor to the Fund, seeks to maintain a return correlation of at least 0.95 to the Nasdaq-100 Index® (a return correlation of 1.00 is perfect). Under normal market conditions, it is the Fund’s policy to invest at least 80% of its total assets (which includes the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes) in the stocks comprising the Index. The Fund may invest in securities issued by other investment companies if those companies invest in securities consistent with the Fund’s investment objective and policies. Companies included in The Nasdaq-100 Index range from $9.7 billion to $2,954 billion in market capitalization as of November 30, 2023. The majority of portfolio transactions in the Fund (other than those made in response to shareholder activity) will be made to adjust the Fund’s portfolio to track the Index or to reflect occasional changes in the Index’s composition. The Fund may invest in futures contracts. The Fund generally maintains some short-term securities and cash equivalents in the portfolio to meet redemptions and needs for liquidity. Shelton Capital Management will typically buy futures contracts so that the market value of the futures replicates the difference between the net assets of the fund and the equity holdings. This helps minimize the tracking error of the Fund.
The Fund is classified as “diversified” as defined under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, but may exceed the applicable diversification limits solely as a result of a change in relative market capitalizations or index weightings of one or more stocks in the Nasdaq-100 Index®. This means that the Fund may invest a greater portion of its assets in a limited number of issuers than would be the case if the Fund were always managed within the limits ordinarily applicable to a diversified management investment company. The Fund intends to maintain its equity holdings in approximately the same proportion as the Nasdaq-100 Index®. Shareholder approval will not be sought when the Fund exceeds the applicable diversification limits status due solely to a change in the relative market capitalization or index weighting of one or more constituents of the Nasdaq-100 Index®.
U.S. Government Securities Fund – The U.S. Government Securities Fund’s investment objective is to seek liquidity, safety from credit risk and as high a level of income as is consistent with these objectives.
The U.S Government Securities Fund seeks to invest in full faith and credit obligations of the U.S. government and its agencies or instrumentalities, primarily in U.S. Treasury securities and Government National Mortgage Association Certificates (“GNMA”). In order to meet its investment objective, the Fund invests primarily in high-quality bonds whose interest is guaranteed by the full faith and credit of the United States government and its agencies or instrumentalities. The government securities in which the Fund invests primarily include U.S. Treasury Securities and may include Government National Mortgage Association (GNMA) Certificates. Under normal market conditions, it is the Fund’s policy to invest at least 80% of its total assets (which includes the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes) in securities issued by the U.S. government and its agencies and instrumentalities.
The Fund invests in intermediate and long-term fixed income securities. While the Fund is not limited to any duration, Shelton Capital Management, the investment advisor to the Fund, generally seeks to target the Fund’s dollar-weighted average portfolio duration in a range between three to twelve years. Generally, Shelton Capital Management seeks a balance between risk and return, for example in allocating investments between U.S. Treasury bonds and GNMA pass-through securities in an attempt to maximize the overall performance of the Fund. Shelton Capital Management generally will consider selling securities from the Fund’s portfolio when it believes that such securities are no longer consistent with the Fund’s investment objective, when altering the duration of the fund or the balance or investments among treasuries and GNMAs, to meet redemption requests and in other circumstances that Shelton Capital Management deems appropriate consistent with the Fund’s investment objective. In managing the portfolio, a number of factors are considered including general market and economic conditions and their likely effects on the level and term- structure of interest rates, yield spreads, and mortgage prepayment rates on GNMA pass-through securities. While income is the most important part of return over time, the total return for a bond fund includes both income and price losses and gains.
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The United States Treasury Trust – The United States Treasury Trust’s investment objective is to seek high current income exempt from state income taxes while maintaining a stable net asset value of $1.00 per share.
The Fund primarily invests its assets in cash, repurchase agreements and government securities with interest guaranteed by the full faith and credit of the United States government. The Fund buys securities that have a maturity of less than 397 days, so that the Fund’s weighted average maturity does not exceed the Rule 2a-7 requirements under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, currently 60 days. It is the Fund’s policy to invest at least 99.5% of its total assets in cash, government securities, and/or repurchase agreements collateralized by cash or government securities and in compliance with industry-standard regulatory requirements for money market funds for quality, maturity, and diversification. Under normal circumstances, the Fund invests at least 80% of the value of its net assets (plus the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes) in U.S. Treasuries and repurchase agreements that are fully collateralized by U.S. Treasuries. The Fund’s policy with respect to investing in U.S. Treasuries may not be changed unless Fund shareholders are given at least 60 days prior notice. You could lose money by investing in the Fund. Although the Fund seeks to preserve the value of your investment at $1.00 per share, it cannot guarantee it will do so. The Fund may impose a fee upon the sale of your shares or may temporarily suspend your ability to sell shares if the Fund’s liquidity falls below required minimums because of market conditions or other factors. An investment in the Fund is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency. The Fund’s sponsor has no legal obligation to provide financial support to the Fund, and you should not expect that the sponsor will provide financial support to the Fund at any time.
Shelton Sustainable Equity Fund - The Shelton Sustainable Equity Fund’s investment objective is to achieve long-term capital appreciation by investing in stocks in the sustainable economy.
Under normal market conditions, the Fund invests 80 percent of the net assets of the Fund (which includes the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes) in equities of “Sustainable” companies. Shelton Capital Management, the Fund’s investment adviser, identifies Sustainable companies as those which fulfill one or more of the requirements of our PRIME criteria:
● Principles: Encourage and improve human well-being and personal freedom
● Research: R&D of new technologies that provide for more efficient resource utilization
● Impact: Help scale the above advantages to a broader range of beneficiaries
● Mitigation: Reduce environmental risks and halt or reverse the effects of climate change
● Evolution: Increase economic efficiencies and limit the effects of systematic economic risks
Shelton Capital Management evaluates a company’s performance on Environmental, Social and Governance factors (“ESG”) as contributing to a qualification as a Sustainable company. Such factors include but are not limited to: GHG emissions, energy, water and waste management, productivity, product quality and safety, employee health safety, business ethics and corporate governance.
Sustainable companies exist across all sectors and sub-sectors of the economy. For example, within agriculture, many firms are working towards executing sustainable farming practices, or providing the methods to do so. Shelton Capital Management considers the complete scope of operations for any firm including clients and vendors Firms that actively consider the welfare of their employee base in the growth of their business can be found in any industry, and in many if not all parts of the world.
The Fund will invest in U.S. common and foreign stocks and American Depository Receipts (“ADRs”) The Fund may invest in companies of all sizes and seeks diversification by economic sector and geography.
Shelton Capital Management analyzes stocks considered for ownership by the Fund based on how the characteristics that qualify them for the sustainable economy contribute to improving the financial condition of the firm. Shelton Capital Management employs both qualitative and quantitative fundamental analysis designed to evaluate each company’s financial condition and relative industry position, as well as qualitative criteria derived from macro-economics.
Although the Fund will attempt to invest as much of its assets as is practical in common stocks, the Fund may maintain a reasonable (up to 20%) position in in U.S. Treasury Bills and money market instruments to meet redemption requests and other liquidity needs.
The Fund may invest in stock futures contracts of indices and similar investments when holding cash or cash equivalents to keep the Fund more fully exposed to the equity markets. Utilizing futures on indices and similar investments allows the Fund to maintain a high percentage of the portfolio in the market while maintaining cash for short-term liquidity needs and other purposes.
Investment Risks
Investors should recognize that investing in securities presents certain risks that cannot be avoided. There is no assurance that the investment objectives of any Fund will be achieved. The following table summarizes some of the principal and non-principal risks involved in investing in each of the Funds and highlights certain differences and similarities among the Funds in their exposure to various types of risks. The table below is not a complete list of every risk involved in investing in the Funds and a Fund may have exposure to a risk factor even if it is not marked below. Investing in securities creates indirect exposure to the various business risks to which their issuers are subject, which may include sector-, industry-, or region-specific risks. There is more information about these and other risks in the Statement of Additional Information (SAI).
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Risk |
Green California Tax-Free Income Fund |
S&P 500 Index Fund |
S&P MidCap Index Fund |
S&P SmallCap Index Fund | Shelton Equity Income Fund | Nasdaq-100 Index Fund | U.S. Government Securities Fund | The United States Treasury Trust | Shelton Sustainable Equity Fund |
Bankruptcy Risk | X | X | X | X | X | X | NA | NA | X |
Call Risk | X | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | X | NA | NA |
Concentration and Sector Risk | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | X | NA | NA | X |
Credit Risk | X | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA |
Cybersecurity Risk | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X |
Derivatives Risk | NA | X | X | X | X | X | NA | NA | X |
Economic and Political Risks | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X |
Environmental Investing Risk | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | X |
Equity Risk | NA | X | X | X | X | X | NA | NA | X |
ESG Risk | X | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA |
Financial Sector Risk | NA | NA | NA | X | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA |
Income Risk | X | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | X | X | NA |
Industrials Sector Risk | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | X |
Information Technology Sector Risk | NA | X | NA | NA | NA | X | NA | NA | NA |
Interest Rate Risk | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | NA |
LargeCap Stock Risk | NA | X | NA | NA | X | X | NA | NA | X |
Liquidity Risk | X | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | X |
Manager Risk | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X |
Market Exposure Risk | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X |
MidCap Stock Risk | NA | NA | X | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | X |
Non-Diversification Risk | X | NA | NA | NA | NA | X | NA | NA | NA |
Non-U.S. Currency Risk | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | X |
Non-U.S. Investment Risk | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | X | NA | NA | X |
Option Call and Put Risk | NA | NA | NA | NA | X | NA | NA | NA | NA |
Portfolio Turnover | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X |
Prepayment Risk | X | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | X | NA | NA |
Risk of Investing in Other Investment Companies | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | NA | X |
Recent Market Events Risk | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X |
Regulatory Risk | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X |
Sector Risks | NA | NA | NA | X | X | NA | NA | NA | X |
SmallCap Stock Risk | NA | NA | NA | X | NA | NA | NA | NA | X |
State-Specific Risk | X | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA |
Stock Futures Risk | NA | X | X | X | X | X | NA | NA | X |
Temporary Defensive Positions | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X |
Tracking Error Risk | NA | X | X | X | NA | X | NA | NA | NA |
U.S. Government Securities Risk | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | X | X | NA |
US Municipal Bond Risk | X | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA |
Valuation Risk | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X |
Value Securities Risks | NA | NA | NA | NA | X | NA | NA | NA | X |
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NA: Not Applicable
Bankruptcy Risk. The risk that an issuer seeks protection under bankruptcy laws. In such a circumstance, the principal value of the bond would be expected to decline. If a bond held by a Fund is issued by a municipality that experiences significant financial difficulty that can potentially lead to bankruptcy or default, the Fund would be expected to lose value.
Call Risk. Issuers of callable bonds are permitted to redeem them before their full maturities. Buying a callable bond exposes a Fund to economic risks similar to selling call options. Issuers may call outstanding securities before their maturity for a number of reasons, including decreases in prevailing interest rates or improvements to the issuer’s credit profile. If an issuer calls a security in which a Fund is invested, that Fund could lose potential price appreciation and be forced to reinvest the proceeds in securities that bear a lower interest rate or more credit risk.