To seek long-term investment growth, mainly through growth of capital and, as a secondary objective, income. The Fund mainly invests in equities and equity-related securities of companies of any market capitalisation active in mining, processing or trading of gold or other precious metals. These investments may be from anywhere in the world, including emerging markets.

• seeking capital appreciation by investing primarily in securities of gold and precious metals operation companies located anywhere in the world;
• planning to hold their investment for the medium to long term.

Hedge Against a Weak U.S. Dollar: Since the majority of the world's price sensitive demand has been outside the U.S., and investors have tended to look at the value of gold in their local currency, any movements in the U.S. dollar has generally been reflected inversely in the price of gold.

Potential Inflation Protection: Gold has been widely considered to be a good hedge against inflation. Although there are limited signs of current inflation, concerns surround the impact of loose monetary policy and its effects on future inflation.

Diversification Tool: Including gold equities in a portfolio may be beneficial because of the underlying precious metal's low correlation with major asset classes. By adding an asset class with low correlation to a portfolio, investors can potentially reduce volatility. This makes gold equities an attractive addition to a diversified portfolio over the long term.

Safe Haven Status and Store of Value: Precious metals, such as gold, are attractive because they are a hard asset that is not tied to any particular country or financial system, possibly providing stability in periods of economic uncertainty.

Limited Annual Supply Growth: Despite the rising price of gold over the last several years, mine supply has actually declined. New mines are typically located in more difficult locations, limiting the ability to grow supply quickly.

Universal Currency: Gold has a long history as a unit of trade and is accepted all around the world. The precious metal is valued as a hard asset because it is rare, uniform and portable. Globally, central banks hold vast quantities of gold and historically have used it as an accepted means to make international transactions.

The value of shares in the Fund and income received from it can go down as well as up and investors may not get back the full amount invested. Performance may also be affected by currency fluctuations. Currency fluctuations may affect the value of overseas investments.

• The Fund invests mainly in equity and equity-related securities of gold and precious metal companies in both developed and emerging countries. Such securities have historically been subject to significant price movements, frequently to a greater extent than equity markets globally. As a result, the performance of the Fund can fluctuate very significantly over relatively short time periods.
• Other significant risks include: 
  Foreign Currency risk: the risk of loss arising from exchange-rate fluctuations or due to exchange control regulations. 
  Emerging markets risk: the risk related to investing in countries that have less developed political, economic, legal and regulatory systems, and that may be impacted by political/economic instability, lack of liquidity or transparency, or safekeeping issues. 
  Liquidity risk: the risk that arises when adverse market conditions affect the ability to sell assets when necessary. Such risk may be triggered by (but not limited to) unexpected events such as environmental disasters or pandemics. Reduced liquidity may have a negative impact on the price of the assets.

For full details of all of the risks applicable to this Fund, please refer to the “Risk Considerations” section of the Fund in the current prospectus of Franklin Templeton Investment Funds.