Investment Objective
The Portfolio seeks to match the performance of the MSCI EAFE Index (Europe, Australasia, Far East) in U.S. dollars with net dividends as closely as possible before the deduction of Fund expenses.
Investment Strategy
The Portfolio invests substantially all its assets in iShares MSCI EAFE International Index Fund K. The Fund employs a "passive" management approach, attempting to invest in a portfolio of assets whose performance is expected to match approximately the performance of the index. The Fund will be substantially invested in securities in the index, and will invest, under normal circumstances, at least 80% of its assets in securities or other financial instruments that are components of or have economic characteristics similar to the securities included in the index. The Fund may change its target index if Fund management believes a different index would better enable the Fund to match the performance of the market segment represented by the current index.
The Fund invests in a statistically selected sample of equity securities included in the index and in derivative instruments linked to the index. Equity securities include common stock, preferred stock and securities or other instruments whose price is linked to the value of common stock. The Fund will, under normal circumstances, invest in all of the countries represented in the index. The Fund may not, however, invest in all of the companies within a country represented in the index, or in the same weightings as in the index.
Investment Risks
Equity Securities Risk, Foreign Securities Risk, Index Fund Risk, Index-Related Risk, Market Risk and Selection Risk, Passive Investment Risk. These risks are discussed under BlackRock (iShares) Investment Risks, per the disclosure booklet.
