MMBB offers members nine different investment choices. The nine options allow you to select one that suits you or to select a mix of asset classes that meets your comfort with risk and investment goals. The options are:

Money Market Fund
Stable Value Fund
U.S. Bond Fund
New Horizons Fund
Balanced Fund
U.S. Blended Equity Fund
U.S. Equity Index Fund
U.S. Social Awareness Fund
International Blended Equity Fund

We call them "choices," or "options," because we believe that you have the right -- and the responsibility -- to choose the option, or combination of options that best suits your retirement objectives and tolerance for risk. MMBB's retirement plan is extremely flexible. You can adjust your investment options as your preferences or circumstances change, 24/7.

There is no one best investment choice. Your best option, or combination of options, may vary as your life situation changes, as your retirement objectives change, and as your risk tolerance changes. MMBB suggests that you:

1. Read the more detailed information available on each fund. Just click the name of each investment choice above;
2. Confer with any financial or tax advisors who are familiar with your individual circumstances; and,
3. Examine your own tolerance for risk. A survey can provide insight into your predisposition for potential gain versus potential loss.

If no single investment option has the asset mix that suits your taste, you can custom build your own portfolio. Access your account and choose the percentage of your assets you want to allocate to one or more of the nine options.

To offer historical perspective on the long-term risk and return of MMBB's investment options, see the diagram below. The chart summarizes risk and return for more than ten years, and encompasses both rising and falling stock market periods as well as both economic expansions and recessions.

• The horizontal placement of the fund indicates the volatility of the investment option, one measure of risk. The further to the right, the more the value of the fund is likely to fluctuate; the further to the left, the more stable, or reliable, the return of the option, historically.
• The vertical placement of the fund indicates the average return the investment option generated over the last 10+ years. The higher up on the diagram, the greater the return, the lower down, the more modest the return, on average, per year.

In reading this graph, please note the following:

• Past experience is no guarantee of future returns. This chart is just one tool to assist you in comparing one option to another.
• Returns can be negative as well as positive, especially in the short term.
• The New Horizons Fund has been offered to MMBB members beginning in 2006. Because the new Horizons Fund shares investments with MMBB's Annuity Fund, we have linked the New Horizons experience to the Annuity Fund's earlier years' experience to provide representative data.
• The Stable Value Fund has been offered to MMBB members beginning in 2010. Because the Stable Value Fund invests in an account pooled with other institutions and that account has a longer track record, we have linked MMBB's experience to the pooled account's earlier years' experience to provide representative data.

This website includes additional data for each investment option. We recommend that you read this information in order to make an informed decision. Remember you can always call one of MMBB's member service representatives at 800.986.6222 or email us at service@mmbb.org if you want more clarification or information.

A word about the Balanced Fund as the default option:

How you choose to invest your retirement assets is your choice and your responsibility. When someone becomes a new MMBB member their initial contributions are placed in the Balanced Fund because we believe it offers medium volatility with corresponding returns. After your member account is up and running you may immediately transfer your assets to any of MMBB's other investment options. A policy to default members into the Balanced Fund exists simply as an initial entry point to the MMBB plan - it is not intended to imply that it is that the Balanced Fund is the best choice for you.

You may, of course, stay in the Balanced Fund if you find it attractive. Before making that decision, MMBB strongly recommends that you consider the characteristics of the Balanced Fund and compare it to the other options available to you.