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Leveraged Exchange Traded Products

Leveraged ETPs (exchange-traded products) typically use derivatives to attempt to multiply the returns of the underlying index each day. These products invest their portfolios much differently than other ETPs. They have the propensity to be more volatile and are inherently riskier than their non-leveraged counterparts. It is important to remember that these securities are generally designed for daily use only, and are generally not intended to be held overnight, because their returns over longer periods generally do not match the ETP’s multiple of the underlying index over those periods. These funds are not appropriate for most investors.

Leveraged Closed-end Funds

Funds that borrow money to purchase more assets in this way will generally move up more than the market when the market rises and move down farther than the market when the market falls. Bond funds that use leverage have the potential to increase the amount of income that they pay out, but at the cost of larger drops in value during a falling market. Leverage inherently increases the risk in a portfolio.

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Inverse ETP

Inverse ETPs (exchange-traded products) typically use derivatives to attempt to move in the opposite direction of the underlying index by a certain multiple each day. They generally have either a negative number like –1x or –2x or a term like “short” or “inverse” in their names. These products invest their portfolios much differently than other ETPs. They have the propensity to be more volatile and are inherently riskier than their non-inverse counterparts. It is important to remember that these securities are designed for daily use only, and are not intended to be held overnight, because their returns over longer periods generally do not match the ETP’s negative multiple of the underlying index over longer periods. These funds are not appropriate for most investors.

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Active Semi-transparent ETFs

Active semi-transparent ETFs reveal full portfolio holdings only on a monthly or quarterly basis, not daily like traditional ETFs. There are different degrees of transparency as some firms will not disclose any daily holdings and others will reveal holdings daily, but shield certain positions and weights. Certain active semi-transparent ETFs may not be available for purchase or custody at Schwab.

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ESG Fund

Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) is the industry term Schwab has chosen to use as an umbrella term to describe various investing approaches that consider not only traditional measures of risk and return, but environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) factors as well. Schwab uses ESG to broadly encompass ESG investing , but also investing approaches described as "values-based investing," "impact investing," "sustainable investing," and other approaches. An ESG product may apply ESG factors to its investment or governance processes in many different ways. A product that employs ESG strategies may choose to focus on one or more ESG factors, though an ESG product may also include securities that don't fit any ESG category. The information displayed utilizes the Morningstar "Sustainable Investment - Overall" datapoint. Click here to learn more about ESG at Schwab.

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Buffer ETFs

Buffer ETFs provide investors with the opportunity to participate in the upside of an asset’s risk while giving investors some level of downside protection during a stated outcome period (typically one year). An upside return cap represents the maximum percentage of return an investor can achieve, and an investor will not participate in any excess returns above the cap. Buffer ETFs may limit an investor’s losses up to an ETF’s stated buffer limit; however, in the event of a decline in the underlying investments in excess of the buffer limit, the investor can experience those losses. Return cap and downside buffer levels for a Buffer ETF are established at the beginning of each outcome period and will likely differ from the prior outcome period. Buffer ETFs invest primarily in FLexible EXchange (“FLEX”) options to employ a structured or defined outcome strategy.

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