The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or "turns over" its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover may indicate higher transaction costs. These costs, which are not reflected in the annual fund operating expenses or in the example above, affect the Fund's performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund's portfolio turnover rate was 122% of the average value of its portfolio.

The Fund invests, under normal circumstances, at least 80% of its net assets (plus borrowings for investment purposes) in debt and fixed income securities.

The Adviser has engaged Franklin Advisers, Inc. ("FT") to provide the day-to-day management of the Fund's portfolio pursuant to investment guidelines provided by the Adviser.

Although the Fund may invest in debt and fixed income securities of any maturity, under normal market circumstances, the target dollar-weighted average effective duration for the Fund is expected to range within 20% of the average duration of the domestic bond market as a whole as estimated by FT based on the Bloomberg US Aggregate Bond Index. Effective duration seeks to measure the expected sensitivity of market price to changes in interest rates, taking into account the anticipated effects of structural complexities (for example, some bonds can be prepaid by the issuer).

The Fund presently intends to limit its investments to U.S. dollar denominated securities and currently anticipates that it will generally only purchase debt securities rated, at the time of purchase, at least Baa3 by Moody's Investors Service or BBB- by S&P Global Ratings, or have an equivalent rating by a nationally recognized statistical rating organization, or are of comparable quality if unrated (as determined by the sub-adviser). These securities are known as "investment grade securities." The Fund may invest in securities issued or guaranteed by the U.S. government, non-U.S. governments, or by any U.S. government or non-U.S. government agency or instrumentality. The Fund may invest up to 25% of its total assets in the securities of non-U.S. issuers and may invest a substantial portion of its assets in mortgage-backed and asset-backed securities. The Fund may purchase loans and other direct indebtedness, including bank loans (also called "leveraged loans"). The Fund may acquire securities on a "when-issued," "delayed delivery" or "to-be-announced" basis. These transactions are arrangements under which the Fund buys securities that have been authorized but not yet issued, with payment for and delivery of the security scheduled for a future time.

The Fund may also enter into various exchange-traded and over-the-counter derivative transactions for both hedging and non-hedging purposes, including for purposes of enhancing returns. These derivative transactions include futures, options and swaps. Derivatives that provide exposure to debt and fixed income securities or to one or more market risk factors associated with such securities may be used to satisfy the Fund's policy to invest, under normal circumstances, at least 80% of its net assets (plus borrowings for investment purposes) in debt and fixed income securities. In particular, the Fund may use interest rate swaps, credit default swaps (including buying and selling credit default swaps on individual securities and/or baskets of securities), credit default swap indices, options (including options on credit default swaps) and futures contracts. Other instruments may also be used from time to time. The Fund's investments in derivative instruments and other investments which provide exposure to the investment focus indicated in the fund's 80% policy or provide exposure to one or more market risk factors associated with the investment focus indicated in the fund's name, are included in the fund's 80% policy.

The bar chart and the performance table below provide some indication of the risks of investing in the Fund by showing changes in the Fund's performance from year to year, and by showing how the Fund's average annual returns for 1 year and since the Fund's inception compare with those of a broad measure of market performance. The performance information shown is based on full calendar years. The Fund's past performance (before and after taxes) is not necessarily an indication of how the Fund will perform in the future. The returns shown in the bar chart and table do not include charges that will be imposed by variable insurance contracts. If these amounts were reflected, returns would be less than those shown.

*  The return differs from the performance reported in the Financial Highlights as the return in the table is calculated in a manner consistent with standardized performance in accordance with SEC rules.