Rev. Date May 2, 2023

What are investment categories?

Investment categories describe the strategy or style of investing that an investment manager can employ in meeting investment objectives.

What types of investment categories are available on Venn?

Investment category data is pre-populated for most mutual funds and ETFs in Venn's library that we receive the classification information for from Morningstar and Lipper. A list of available categories is available upon request.

How should investment categories be used?

Investment categories can be useful for users wanting to evaluate an active manager against competitors or a peer group employing a similar strategy or style. Venn helps users conduct this analysis by providing the aggregate return stream of the applicable investment category as a comparison point for each categorized investment.

Additionally, they can be useful as proxy backfills to extend the return history of a manager with a short track record.

How is the performance of an investment category calculated?

Venn creates an equal-weighted return stream that comprises the performance of all investments that belong to a specific category. Investments that have ceased operations are not removed from the return stream to prevent survivorship bias. Additionally, as new investments are added to Venn’s library, returns are only incorporated on a going forward basis.

Please note that only Venn-provided investments whose category classifications are provided by Morningstar and Lipper are included in an investment category and therefore the category performance calculations.

How can I change investment categories? Can I create my own investment category?

Investment categories cannot be edited or customized, and only apply to investments pre-populated in Venn with category information provided by Morningstar for Mutual Fund and ETF categories, and Lipper for Hedge Fund categories. Users can create their own peer group composites by adding the managers to a portfolio or a composite benchmark and using that as a comparison.

This document highlights certain aspects of this feature. As an overview, it does not discuss all material facts or assumptions. Please see Important Disclosure and Disclaimer Information.