Wells Fargo Advantage Asset Allocation Fund
EABFX
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ADVISER | Wells Fargo Funds Management, LLC
SUB-ADVISER | GMO LLC*
PORTFOLIO MANAGERS

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Ben Inker, CFA*
Years of investment experience: 21
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Mr. Inker is co-head of GMO's Asset Allocation team, which determines the allocations in the Wells Fargo Advantage Asset Allocation Fund and the Wells Fargo Advantage Absolute Return Fund. In his years at GMO, Mr. Inker has served as an analyst for quantitative equities and asset allocation, as a portfolio manager of several equity and asset allocation portfolios, as co-head of international quantitative equities, and as chief investment officer of quantitative developed equities. He earned a bachelor's degree in economics from Yale University and has earned the right to use the Chartered Financial Analyst® (CFA®) designation.
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Sam Wilderman, CFA*
Years of investment experience: 17
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Mr. Wilderman is co-head of GMO's Asset Allocation team, which determines the allocations in the Wells Fargo Advantage Asset Allocation Fund and the Wells Fargo Advantage Absolute Return Fund. Prior to his current role, Mr. Wilderman was co-head of the GMO Quantitative Equity team and lead manager for U.S. quantitative portfolios. Prior to 2005, he was responsible for research and portfolio management for the GMO Emerging Markets Strategies. He joined GMO in 1996 following the completion of his B.A. in Economics from Yale University. Mr. Wilderman has earned the right to use the Chartered Financial Analyst® (CFA®) designation.
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THE FUND | The Wells Fargo Advantage Asset Allocation Fund seeks long-term total return through tactical allocations to equity, bond, and alternative investments.
FUND STRATEGY
- Applies two levels of active management, with portfolio allocation decisions across stocks, bonds, and sub-asset classes determined by the GMO Asset Allocation group, led by Jeremy Grantham and Ben Inker, and implemented by GMO's seasoned and institutionally oriented portfolio management teams.
- Seeks to identify and exploit mispricings among all investable asset classes based on a belief that asset classes can become grossly overvalued or undervalued and revert to fair value.
- Takes a cautious approach to portfolio reallocations, waiting for asset class valuations to move to extremes before making large portfolio bets.
- Recognizes that markets are inefficient and the mean reversion process can take years to play out.
- Holds both stocks and bonds at all times, with typical weights ranging from 45% to 85% of the fund's total assets for stocks and 15% to 55% for bonds.
COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGES
- Identifying asset class mispricings: GMO has studied the patterns of outliers in all financial asset class return series. Central to the team's process is determining fair value for the major asset classes, from which the team infers a real return that should be realized as each asset class moves back to its estimated fair value.
- Hybrid quantitative management: The team translates asset class return forecasts into portfolio weights using traditional mean-variance optimization as a starting point. The goal is to successfully marry the discipline of quantitative models with qualitative insights by drawing upon decades of money management experience.
RISKS |
Balanced funds may invest in stocks and bonds. Stock values fluctuate in response to the activities of individual companies and general market and economic conditions. Bond values fluctuate in response to the financial condition of individual issuers, general market and economic conditions, and changes in interest rates. In general, when interest rates rise, bond values fall and investors may lose principal value. Alternative investments such as, commodities, real estate, and short strategies are speculative and entail a high degree of risk. Foreign investments are especially volatile and can rise or fall dramatically due to differences in the political and economic conditions of the host country. The Fund will indirectly be exposed to all of the risks of an investment in the underlying funds and will indirectly bear expenses of the underlying funds. The use of derivatives may reduce returns and/or increase volatility. Certain investment strategies tend to increase the total risk of an investment (relative to the broader market). This Fund is exposed to high yield securities risk, mortgage- and asset-backed securities risk, and smaller company securities risk. Consult the Fund's prospectus for additional information on these and other risks. The Fund invests substantially all of its assets in Asset Allocation Trust, an open-end management investment company having the same investment objective and strategy as the Fund. Any portfolio data shown for the Fund represents that of the Asset Allocation Trust.
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