Northern Lights Fund Trust

01/31/2023 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 01/31/2023 08:36

Summary Prospectus by Investment Company - Form 497K

Sierra Tactical Bond Fund

Class A Shares STBKX
Class C Shares STBDX
Instl Class STBJX
Investor Shares STBNX

Summary Prospectus

January 30, 2023

Before you invest, you may want to review the Fund's prospectus, which contains more information about the Fund and its risks. The Fund's prospectus and Statement of Additional Information, both dated January 30, 2023, along with the Fund's annual report dated September 30, 2022, are incorporated by reference into this Summary Prospectus. You can obtain these documents and other information about the Fund online athttps://sierramutualfunds.com/documents. You can also obtain these documents at no cost by calling 1-866-738-4363 or by sending an email request to [email protected].

Investment Objectives: The Fund's two investment objectives are to provide total return (with income contributing a significant part) and to limit volatility and downside risk.

Fees and Expenses of the Fund: This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund. You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the tables and examples below. You may qualify for sales charge discounts on purchases of Class A shares if you and your family invest, or agree to invest in the future, at least $50,000 in the Fund. More information about these and other discounts is available from your financial intermediary and in How to Purchase Shares on page 13 of the Fund's Prospectus and in Purchase, Redemption and Pricing of Shares on page 47 of the Statement of Additional Information.


Shareholder Fees
(fees paid directly from your investment)
Class
A
Class
C
Instl
Class
Investor
Class
Maximum Sales Charge (Load)
Imposed on Purchases (as a % of offering price)
3.75% None None None
Maximum Deferred Sales Charge (Load)
(as a % of the lower of purchase price or redemption proceeds)
1.00% None None None
Maximum Sales Charge (Load)
Imposed on Reinvested Dividends and other Distributions
None None None None
Redemption Fee None None None None
Annual Fund Operating Expenses
(expenses that you pay each year as a
percentage of the value of your investment)
Management Fees 1.05% 1.05% 1.05% 1.05%
Distribution and/or Service (12b-1) Fees 0.25% 1.00% 0.00% 0.40%
Other Expenses 0.18% 0.18% 0.18% 0.18%
Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses(1) 0.36% 0.36% 0.36% 0.36%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses 1.84% 2.59% 1.59% 1.99%
(1) Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses are the average indirect costs of investing in other investment companies (the "Underlying Funds"). The operating expenses in this fee table will not correlate to the expense ratio in the Fund's financial highlights because the financial statements include only the direct operating expenses incurred by the Fund.
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Example: This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds.

The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your shares at the end of those periods. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund's operating expenses remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based upon these assumptions your costs would be:

Class 1 Year 3 Years 5 Years 10 Years
Class A $555 $932 $1,333 $2,453
Class C $262 $805 $1,375 $2,925
Instl Class $162 $502 $866 $1,889
Investor Class $202 $624 $1,073 $2,317

Portfolio Turnover: 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 and may result in higher taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the Example, affect the Fund's performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund's portfolio turnover rate was 955% of the average value of its portfolio.

Principal Investment Strategies: The Fund invests in open-end investment companies (mutual funds) and exchange-traded funds ("ETFs") that primarily invest in high-yield corporate bonds, also commonly known as junk bonds ("HYCB Funds") or long-duration U.S. Treasury securities ("Treasury Bond Funds"). For the purposes of this prospectus, HYCB Funds and Treasury Bond Funds are collectively referred to as "Underlying Bond Funds." The Fund considers high-yield corporate bonds to be those that are rated lower than Baa3 by Moody's Investors Service ("Moody's") or lower than BBB- by Standard and Poor's Rating Group ("S&P").

Under normal circumstances, the Fund invests at least 80% of its net assets (defined as net assets plus the amount of any borrowing for investment purposes) in Underlying Bond Funds. The Adviser expects the Fund to be at least 80% invested in HYCB Funds under most market conditions. The Fund does not have maturity or duration limitations with respect to the holdings of the Underlying Bond Funds in which it invests.

The Adviser's investment strategy is a tactical style that includes disciplines that attempt to limit downside risk (drawdown, meaning the magnitude of decline from highest price to the subsequent low) as well as to seek to enhance return through income and capital appreciation (total return). The current yield of the Fund is not a separate goal, and the monthly distribution yield will fluctuate.

The Adviser does not employ a passive "buy and hold" strategy. Instead, the Adviser uses proprietary rules to tactically shift the Fund's assets from HYCB Funds to Treasury Bond Funds and the reverse, and on occasion temporarily into money-market funds. As part of its integrated risk-management disciplines, the Adviser monitors each HYCB Fund held in the Fund daily and applies a trailing-stop discipline separately to each HYCB Fund in the Fund's portfolio. The Adviser employs a trailing stop discipline which adjusts the level of trailing stops as the price of a holding rises and is calculated as a percentage or dollar amount below the market price. When the price of a holding decreases by a certain percentage or dollar amount, the Adviser sells the holding in an attempt to protect profits and minimize further impact on the portfolio. When any HYCB Fund declines in price enough to generate a "Sell signal" under the Adviser's trailing-stop discipline, the Fund will sell that HYCB Fund and invest the proceeds in one or more Treasury Bond Funds. Conversely, when prices of HYCB Funds begin trending upward sufficient to give "Buy signals" under that model, the Adviser will sell part or all of its holdings in Treasury Bond Funds and select and purchase one or more HYCB Funds, and will continue to make such purchases with net cash inflows into the Fund.

The same type of buy and sell disciplines (with different parameters) are also applied to the Treasury Bond Funds when they are held. If both types of funds have given Sell signals, the proceeds will temporarily be held in cash (money-market mutual funds and/or ultra-short-term bond funds) until either HYCB Funds or Treasury Bond Funds give Buy signals.

The buy and sell disciplines described above are a proprietary approach ("Buy and Sell Disciplines") that one of the Fund's portfolio managers, Dr. Sleeper has used within related companies' diversified separately managed accounts since 1987, in seeking to limit the impact on the overall Fund portfolio of any sustained decline in the high-yield corporate bond and Treasury bond markets.

The Buy and Sell Disciplines are not designed to attempt to buy at lows or to sell at highs, but to seek to participate in a substantial part of any sustained uptrend in the HYCB market, as well as to shift into the Treasury bond market during most of any sustained downtrend in the HYCB market, similarly seeking to participate in a substantial part of uptrends in that market. The Adviser employs a "reactive" approach as distinct from a "predictive" approach.

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Principal Investment Risks: As with all mutual funds, there is the risk that you could lose money through your investment in the Fund. The Fund is not intended to be a complete investment program. Many factors affect the Fund's net asset value and performance.

Performance of the Fund during future periods will definitely vary. Some months and some quarters will result in negative performance; indeed, some future years may have negative performance.

· Fixed-Income Risk. When the Fund invests in Underlying Bond Funds, the value of your investment in the Fund will generally decline when interest rates rise or when other factors cause declines in the high-yield bond market generally or in a specific Underlying Bond Fund. Defaults by high-yield bond issuers in which the Underlying Bond Funds invest may also harm performance.
· High Yield Bond Risk. Lower-quality bonds, known as "high yield" or "junk" bonds, present greater risk than bonds of higher quality, including an increased risk of default. An economic downturn or period of rising interest rates could adversely affect the market for these bonds and reduce an underlying HYCB Fund's ability to sell its high-yield bonds. The lack of a liquid market for these bonds could decrease the Fund's share price.
· Interest Rate Risk. Interest rate risk is the risk that bond prices overall, including the prices of securities held by the Fund, will decline over short or even long periods of time due to rising interest rates. Bonds with longer maturities tend to be more sensitive to interest rates than bonds with shorter maturities. For example, if interest rates go up by 1.0%, the price of a 4% coupon bond will decrease by approximately 1.0% for a bond with 1 year to maturity and approximately 4.4% for a bond with 5 years to maturity.
· Management Risk. The Adviser's dependence on its high-yield bond strategy and judgments about the attractiveness, value and potential appreciation of particular ETFs and mutual funds in which the Fund invests will in some cases prove to be incorrect and have negative impacts on performance.
· Market and Geopolitical Risk. The increasing interconnectivity between global economies and financial markets increases the likelihood that events or conditions in one region or financial market may adversely impact issuers in a different country, region or financial market. Securities in the Fund may underperform due to inflation
(or expectations for inflation), interest rates, global demand for particular products or resources, natural disasters, pandemics, epidemics, climate change or climate change related events, terrorism, international conflicts, regulatory events and governmental or quasi-governmental actions. The occurrence of global events similar to those in recent years, such as terrorist attacks around the world, natural disasters, social and political discord or debt crises and downgrades, among others, may result in market volatility and may have long term effects on both the U.S. and global financial markets. It is difficult to predict when similar events affecting the U.S. or global financial markets may occur, the effects that such events may have and the duration of those effects. Any such event(s) could have a significant adverse impact on the value and risk profile of the Fund. The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) global pandemic and the aggressive responses taken by many governments, including closing borders, restricting international and domestic travel, and the imposition of prolonged quarantines or similar restrictions, as well as the forced or voluntary closure of, or operational changes to, many retail and other businesses, had negative impacts, and in many cases severe negative impacts, on markets worldwide. It is not known how long such impacts, or any future impacts of other significant events described above, will or would last, but there could be a prolonged period of global economic slowdown, which may impact your investment. Therefore, the Fund could lose money over short periods due to short-term market movements and over longer periods during more prolonged market downturns. During a general market downturn, multiple asset classes may be negatively affected. Changes in market conditions and interest rates can have the same impact on all types of securities and instruments. In times of severe market disruptions you could lose your entire investment.
  • Model Risk. The Adviser's investment model carries a risk that the model used might be based on one or more incorrect assumptions. Rapidly changing and unforeseen market dynamics could also lead to a decrease in short term effectiveness of the model. No assurance can be given that the Fund will be successful under all or any market conditions.
· Portfolio Turnover Risk. As to the portion of the portfolio invested in ETFs and other investment companies, turnover may result in higher brokerage commissions, dealer mark-ups and other transaction costs. The Fund's investment style will result in most capital gains within the portfolio being realized as short-term capital gains.
· Underlying Fund Risk. Each Underlying Fund is subject to specific risks, depending on its bond investments. Underlying Funds are also subject to investment advisory fees and other expenses, which are indirectly borne by the Fund. As a result, your overall cost of investing in the underlying bonds and other assets will be higher than the cost of investing directly in them, and may be higher than other mutual funds that invest directly in bonds.
· ETF Risk. Shares of ETFs may trade at a discount or a premium in market price if there is a limited market in such shares and are also subject to brokerage and other trading costs, which could result in greater expenses to the Fund. The index-tracking ETFs in which the Fund invests will not be able to replicate exactly the performance of the indices they track because the total return generated by the securities will be reduced by transaction costs incurred in adjusting the actual balance of the securities.
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Performance: The bar chart and performance table below show the variability of the Fund's returns, which is some indication of the risks of investing in the Fund. The bar chart shows performance of Instl Class shares of the Fund for each full calendar year since the Fund's inception. The performance table compares the performance of the share classes of the Fund over time to the performance of a broad-based securities market index and a supplemental index. You should be aware that the Fund's past performance (before and after taxes) may not be an indication of how the Fund will perform in the future. Updated performance information is available at no cost by calling 1-866-738-4363 or visiting www.SierraMutualFunds.com.

Instl Class Annual Total Return For Calendar Years Ended December 311

1 The returns are for Instl Class, which would have substantially similar annual returns as the other share classes because the shares are invested in the same portfolio of securities and the returns for each class would differ only to the extent that the classes do not have the same expenses.
Best Quarter: 1st Quarter 2020 7.03%
Worst Quarter: 1st Quarter 2022 (2.16)%

Performance Table

Average Annual Total Returns

(For periods ended December 31, 2022)

One
Year
Inception
Date*
Instl Class shares
Return before taxes (4.07)% 4.61%
Return after taxes on distributions (4.69)% 3.00%
Return after taxes on distributions and sale of Fund shares (2.41)% 2.88%
Class A shares
Return before taxes with sales load (9.83)% 2.46%
Class C shares**
Return before taxes (5.04)% 3.67%
Investor Class
Return before taxes (4.48)% 4.20%
Bloomberg US Aggregate Index (13.01)% (2.50)%
ICE BofA US High Yield Index (11.22%) 0.60%
* The Fund commenced operations on October 1, 2019

After-tax returns were calculated using the historical highest individual federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect the impact of state and local taxes. Actual after-tax returns depend on an investor's tax situation and may differ from those shown, and after-tax returns shown are not relevant to investors who hold shares of the Fund through tax-deferred arrangements, such as 401(k) plans or Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs). After tax returns are not shown for Class A, C and Investor shares and would differ from those of Instl Class shares.

The Bloomberg US Aggregate Index, an unmanaged, broad-based market capitalization weighted index, has been selected as the Fund's benchmark index. The Bloomberg US Aggregate Index is commonly used as a benchmark by both passive and active investors to measure portfolio performance relative to the U.S. dollar-denominated investment grade fixed-rate taxable bond market. It is also an informational measure of broad market returns commonly applied to fixed income instruments. The index contains approximately 10,100 fixed income issues and is valued at around $20 trillion, representing 43% of the total U.S. bond market. The index does not take into account charges, fees and other expenses, and investors cannot invest directly in an index.

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The ICE BofA US High Yield Index tracks the performance of US dollar denominated below investment grade corporate debt publicly issued in the US domestic market. Qualifying securities must have a below investment grade rating (based on an average of Moody's, S&P and Fitch), at least 18 months to final maturity at the time of issuance, at least one-year remaining term to final maturity as of the rebalancing date, a fixed coupon schedule and a minimum amount outstanding of $100 million. In addition, qualifying securities must have risk exposure to countries that are members of the FX-G10, Western Europe or territories of the US and Western Europe. The index does not take into account charges, fees and other expenses, and investors cannot invest directly in an index.

Investment Adviser: Wright Fund Management, LLC (the "Adviser") is the Fund's investment adviser.

Investment Adviser Portfolio Managers: Kenneth L. Sleeper, MBA, PhD, Managing Director, Douglas A. Loeffler, CFA®, Executive Vice President, Ryan Harder, CFA®, Chief Investment Strategist and Marshall Quan, Lead Portfolio Analyst are the portfolio managers of the Fund. Dr. Sleeper has served the Fund as portfolio manager since it commenced operations in October 2019. Mr. Loeffler and Mr. Quan have served the Fund as portfolio managers since January 2022. Mr. Harder has served the Fund as portfolio manager since January 2023. Each portfolio manager is jointly and primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund.

Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares: For all Classes, the minimum initial investment is $10,000 and the minimum subsequent investment is $1,000. You may purchase and redeem shares of the Fund on any day that the New York Stock Exchange is open. Redemption requests may be made in writing, by telephone, or through a financial intermediary and will be paid by ACH, check or wire transfer. The Fund reserves the right to waive any investment minimum.

Tax Information: Dividends and capital gain distributions you receive from the Fund, whether you reinvest your distributions in additional Fund shares or receive them in cash, are taxable to you at either ordinary income or capital gains tax rates unless you are investing through a tax-deferred account such as an IRA or 401(k). However, these dividend and capital gain distributions may be taxable upon their eventual withdrawal from tax-deferred plans.

Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries: If you purchase shares of the Fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), the Fund and its related companies may pay the intermediary for the sale of Fund shares and related services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary's website for more information.

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