Business Continuity Plan

Northwestern Mutual Investment Services, LLC ("NMIS") has a business continuity plan to provide for an orderly return to normal business operations after a significant disruption. Where necessary, NMIS has integrated its plan with the business continuity plan of its parent, The Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company, and plans of key third-party services providers.

While a catastrophic event may negatively impact our ability to continue to transact business, we have attempted to identify potential disruptions and methods to continue to operate in the event such disruptions occur. The strategy of NMIS's business continuity plan is to take all reasonable and appropriate steps to protect our people, our infrastructure, the services provided to our customers, and the services provided to our field.

NMIS's business continuity plan addresses: data back up and recovery; mission critical systems; financial and operational assessments; alternative communications with customers, employees, and regulators; alternate physical location of employees; critical supplier, contractor, bank and counter-party impact; regulatory reporting; and assuring our customers prompt access to their funds and securities if we were unable to continue our business.

The information below is intended as a synopsis of our business continuity plan. Since the timing and extent of significant business disruptions are by nature unpredictable, we have reserved flexibility in our plan to allow us to respond to tangible events in the manner we deem appropriate as they occur.

Contacting Us

Your primary contact in the event of a significant business disruption affecting the home office is your financial representative. If your financial representative or the network office to which your financial representative is associated with experiences a significant business disruption, you can contact the home office at 1-866-664-7737. If a significant business disruption affects your ability to contact our home office please go to the media section of our website at www.northwesternmutual.com for instructions on how to obtain information regarding your accounts.

Strategy by Disruption Type

The strategy of NMIS's business continuity plan is to address three scenarios in which a Northwestern Mutual campus is impacted by a local business disruption. The scenarios are (1) part or all of the Milwaukee, Wisconsin Campus disabled, (2) part or all of the Franklin, Wisconsin Campus disabled, and (3) significant portion of staff unable to work (for example, pandemic). In all scenarios, NMIS plans to continue business and notify our clients through our website or via the home office phone number which are both listed in the paragraph above. If the significant business disruption is so severe that it prevents NMIS from processing transactions, NMIS will take all necessary steps to assure our clients' prompt access to their funds and securities.

Milwaukee Campus Only Disruption

If NMIS loses the ability to perform business at part or all of the Milwaukee campus, the staff associated with the mission critical functions will be relocated to an established off-site location outside of the affected area. The firm expects to recover and resume business as soon as reasonably practical depending on the severity of the disruption.

Franklin Campus Only Disruption

If NMIS loses the ability to perform business at part or all of the Franklin campus, the staff associated with the mission critical functions will be relocated to an established off-site location outside of the affected area. The firm expects to recover and resume business as soon as reasonably practical depending on the severity of the disruption.

Staff Only Disruption

If a staff only disruption (for example, pandemic) was to occur at either the Milwaukee or Franklin campus, the firm will redirect the available staff, to service the critical and essential processes needed to keep the firm running with little impact. If necessary, certain key employees will work from an established remote location to assist in the recovery of business operations.

Changes and Modifications

The firm may, from time to time, alter or revise the plan as necessary to support current business needs. Certain aspects of the plan are tested on a regular basis and updated as necessary. For a current copy of this notice, go to www.northwesternmutual.com and search business continuity or contact your Northwestern Mutual representative. If you have questions about our business continuity plan, please contact us at 1-866-664-7737.