Putnam VT Government Money Market Fund

Important Information

Footnotes

1. The Morningstar Rating™ for funds, or “star rating”, is calculated for managed products with at least a three-year history, and subject to change monthly. Exchange-traded funds and open-ended mutual funds are considered a single population for comparative purposes. It is calculated based on a Morningstar Risk Adjusted Return measure that accounts for variation in a managed product’s monthly excess performance, placing more emphasis on downward variations and rewarding consistent performance. The top 10% of products in each product category receive 5 stars, the next 22.5% receive 4 stars, the next 35% receive 3 stars, the next 22.5% receive 2 stars, and the bottom 10% receive 1 star. The Overall Morningstar Rating is derived from a weighted average of the performance figures associated with its three-, five-, and 10-year (if applicable) Morningstar Rating metrics. The weights are: 100% three-year rating for 36-59 months of total return, 60% five-year rating/40% three-year rating for 60-119 months of total returns, and 50% 10-year rating/30% five-year rating/20% three-year rating for 120 or more months of total return. While the 10-year overall star rating formula seems to give the most weight to the 10-year period, the most recent three-year period actually has the greatest impact because it is included in all three rating periods. Ratings do not take into account the effects of sales charges and loads. Morningstar Rating is for the specified share class(es) only; other classes may have different performance characteristics. 

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2. Rule 2a-7 of the Investment Company Act of 1940 provides that money market funds may not acquire any security other than a “weekly liquid asset” unless, immediately following such purchase, at least 50% of its total assets would be invested in weekly liquid assets. In addition, the Rule provides that taxable money market funds may not acquire any security other than a “daily liquid asset” unless, immediately following such purchase, at least 25% of its total assets would be invested in daily liquid assets.

   Daily Liquid Assets include (i) cash; (ii) direct obligations of the U.S. Government; and (iii) securities that will mature or are subject to a demand feature that is exercisable and payable within one business Day. May include the effect of receivables from pending sales and payables from pending purchases.

   Weekly Liquid Assets include (i) cash; (ii) direct obligations of the U.S. Government; (iii) U.S. Government securities issued by a person controlled or supervised by and acting as an instrumentality of the U.S. Government pursuant to authority granted by the U.S. Congress, that are issued at a discount to the principal amount to be repaid at maturity and have a remaining maturity of 60 days or less; and (iv) securities that will mature or are subject to a demand feature that is exercisable and payable within five business Days. May include the effect of receivables from pending sales and payables from pending purchases.

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3. Daily Liquid Assets and Weekly Liquid Assets are calculated at the master portfolio level.

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4. Shadow NAV is the market-based net asset value per share of a fund calculated based on current market factors, before applying the amortized cost method. The Funds do not use a market-based NAV for purchase and sale transactions in Fund shares.

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