1290 Funds^® offer several ways for investors to reduce or eliminate sales charges. A brief summary of some of the ways is outlined below. For more details, read your Fund's Prospectus and Statement of Additional Information or speak with your financial advisor.

Class A shares

The price that you pay when you buy Class A shares (the "offering price") is their net asset value plus a sales charge (sometimes called a “front-end sales charge”), which varies depending upon the size of your purchase. No initial sales charge applies to Class A shares you receive through reinvestment of dividends or other distributions.

Class A sales charge for equity funds, allocation funds, and multi-asset funds

Class A sales charge for fixed-income funds

Class A Contingent Deferred Sales Charge. Class A shares may be subject to a 1.00% CDSC if they are purchased without an initial sales charge and redeemed within a 12-month “holding period” measured from the beginning of the calendar month in which they were purchased. That sales charge will be calculated on the lesser of the original net asset value of the redeemed shares at the time of purchase or the aggregate net asset value of the redeemed shares at the time of redemption.

Ways to reduce or eliminate sales charges

You may qualify for a reduction or waiver of the sales charge. If you think you qualify for any of the sales charge waivers described below, you or your financial advisor may need to notify and/or provide certain documentation to us. You or your financial advisor also will need to notify us of the existence of other accounts in which there are holdings eligible to be aggregated to meet certain sales load breakpoints. Information you may need to provide to us includes:

• Information or records regarding shares of the Funds held in all accounts at any financial intermediary;
• Information or records regarding shares of the Funds held in any account at any financial intermediary by immediate family of the shareholder; and/or
• Any other information that may be necessary for us to determine your eligibility for a reduction or waiver of a sales charge

Reducing sales charges — Class A shares only

There are a number of ways you can lower your sales charges on Class A shares, including:

Letter of Intent: You may be entitled to a reduced sales charge if you execute a Letter of Intent to purchase Class A shares at the public offering price within a period of 13 months. The minimum initial investment under a Letter of Intent is 5% of the amount stated in the Letter of Intent. Class A shares purchased with the first 5% of such amount will be held in escrow (while remaining registered in your name) to secure payment of the higher sales charge that would apply to the shares actually purchased if the full amount stated is not purchased, and such escrowed shares will be involuntarily redeemed to pay the additional sales charge, if necessary. When the full amount has been purchased, the escrow will be released. If you wish to enter into a Letter of Intent, you should complete the appropriate portion of the new account application. At your request, purchases made during the previous 90 days may be included.

Rights of Accumulation: You are entitled to a reduced sales charge on additional purchases of Class A shares of a Fund if the value of your existing aggregate holdings at the time of the additional purchase, calculated at the then applicable net asset value per share or the initial purchase price, plus any additional investments, less any redemptions, whichever is higher, plus the amount of the additional purchase equals $100,000 or more. For purposes of determining the discount, we will aggregate holdings of Fund shares of your spouse, immediate family or accounts you control, whether as a single investor or trustee, provided that you notify us of the applicable accounts at the time of your additional investment by providing us with appropriate documentation, including the account numbers for all accounts that you are seeking to aggregate.

Eliminating sales charges and the CDSC — Class A shares only

Class A shares may be offered without a front-end sales charge or a CDSC to the following individuals and institutions:

• Any government entity that is prohibited from paying a sales charge or commission to purchase mutual fund shares;
• Representatives and employees, or their immediate family members, of broker-dealers and other intermediaries that have entered into selling or service arrangements with the distributor;
• Financial institutions and other financial institutions' trust departments for funds over which they exercise exclusive discretionary investment authority and which are held in fiduciary, agency, advisory, custodial or similar capacity;
• Direct referrals by the Adviser's employees; and
• Clients of fee-based/fee-only financial advisors

The CDSC will not apply to Class A shares for which the selling dealer is not permitted to receive a sales load or redemption fee imposed on a shareholder with whom such dealer has a fiduciary relationship in accordance with provisions of ERISA and regulations thereunder, provided that the dealer agrees to certain reimbursement arrangements with the distributor that are described in the SAI. If the dealer agrees to these reimbursement arrangements, no CDSC will be imposed with respect to Class A shares purchased for $1,000,000 or more.

Eliminating the CDSC

As long as we are notified at the time you sell, the CDSC for any shares may generally be eliminated in the following cases:

• The liquidation of a shareholder's account if the aggregate net asset value of shares held in the account is less than the required minimum;
• Redemptions through a systematic withdrawal plan;
• Redemptions of shares of a shareholder (including a registered joint owner) who has died or has become totally disabled (as evidenced by a determination by the Social Security Administration);
• Redemptions made pursuant to any IRA systematic withdrawal based on the shareholder's life expectancy in accordance with the requirements of the Code, including substantially equal periodic payments described in Code section 72 prior to age 59 1/2 and required minimum distributions after age 70 1/2; or
• Required minimum distributions from an IRA