Summary Prospectus by Investment Company (Form 497K)

EMPOWER FUNDS, INC.
("Empower Funds")

Empower Core Bond Fund
Institutional Class Ticker: MXIUX
Investor Class Ticker: MXFDX
(the "Fund")

Summary Prospectus
April 30, 2026 

Before you invest, you may want to review the Fund's Prospectus, which contains more information about the Fund and its risks. You can find the Fund's Prospectus and other information about the Fund, including the Statement of Additional Information and most recent reports to shareholders, online at www.empower.com/investments/empower-funds/fund- documents. You can also get this information at no cost by calling (866) 831-7129 or by sending an email request to [email protected]. The current Prospectus and Statement of Additional Information, both dated April 30, 2026, are incorporated by reference as a matter of law into this Summary Prospectus, which means they are legally part of this Summary Prospectus.

Fund shares are sold to insurance company separate accounts for certain variable annuity contracts and variable life insurance policies ("variable contracts"), to individual retirement account ("IRA") custodians or trustees, to plan sponsors of qualified retirement plans ("retirement plans"), and to college savings programs (collectively, "Permitted Accounts"), and to asset allocation funds that are series of Empower Funds. This Summary Prospectus is not intended for use by other investors. This Summary Prospectus should be read together with the prospectus or disclosure document for the Permitted Account.

Investment Objective

The Fund seeks to provide total return, consisting of two components: (1) changes in the market value of its portfolio holdings (both realized and unrealized appreciation); and (2) income received from its portfolio holdings.

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. This table does not reflect the fees and expenses of any Permitted Account. If the fees and expenses of a Permitted Account were reflected, the fees and expenses shown below would be higher.

Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment) 

	Institutional Class	Investor Class
Management Fees	0.32%	0.32%
Distribution and Service (12b-1) Fees	0.00%	0.00%
Total Other Expenses	0.07%	0.55%
Shareholder Services Fees	0.00%	0.35%
Other Expenses	0.07%	0.20%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses	0.39%	0.87%
Fee Waiver and Expense Reimbursement1	0.04%	0.17%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver and Expense Reimbursement	0.35%	0.70%

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 does not reflect the fees and expenses of any Permitted Account. If the fees and expenses of any Permitted Account were reflected, the fees and expenses in the Example would be higher.

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 each period. The Example also assumes that the Expense Limit is in place for the first year, that your investment has a 5% return each year, that all dividends and capital gains are reinvested, and that the Fund's operating expenses are the amount shown in the fee table and remain the same for the years shown. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions, your costs would be: 

	1 Year	3 Years	5 Years	10 Years
Institutional Class	$36	$121	$215	$489
Investor Class	$72	$261	$466	$1,057

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 rate generally indicates higher transaction costs. 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 turnover rate was 197% of the average value of its portfolio.

Principal Investment Strategies

Below is a summary of the principal investment strategies of the Fund.

The Fund will, under normal circumstances, invest at least 80% of its net assets (plus the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes) in fixed income securities. The Fund will invest primarily in a diversified portfolio of investment grade securities, including mortgage-backed securities, U.S. government securities, corporate fixed income securities, Rule 144A fixed income securities, to-be-announced ("TBA") securities, when-issued securities, and asset-backed securities (including collateralized loan obligations ("CLOs")).

A portion of the Fund may invest in foreign investment grade fixed income securities, which may be denominated in either foreign currency or in U.S. dollars. The Fund may also invest in domestic or foreign below investment grade securities (commonly known as "high yield securities" or "junk bonds").

The Fund may invest in derivatives, including but not limited to interest rate, inflation and total return forward rate agreements; deliverable and non-deliverable bond and currency forward contracts; interest and bond rate futures; interest rate, bond and swap options; credit default swaps and credit default swap indices; and interest rate, inflation and total return swaps. The Fund may implement short positions and may do so by using swaps, options or futures, TBA agreements in agency mortgage-backed securities, or through short sales of any instrument that the Fund may purchase for investment.

The Fund may invest in securities of any maturity and of any duration. "Duration" is a measure of a debt security's price sensitivity to changes in interest rates. The longer the duration of the Fund (or an individual debt security), the more sensitive its market price will be to changes in interest rates. For example, if market interest rates increase by 1%, the market price of a debt security with a three-year effective duration will generally decrease by approximately 3%. Conversely, a 1% decline in market interest rates will generally result in an increase of approximately 3% of that security's market price.

Empower Capital Management, LLC ("ECM") is the Fund's investment adviser and, subject to the approval of the Board of Directors of Empower Funds (the "Board"), selects the Fund's sub-advisers and monitors their performance on an ongoing basis. The Fund's investment portfolio is managed by two sub-advisers: Goldman Sachs Asset Management, L.P. ("GSAM") and Wellington Management Company LLP ("Wellington") (each, a "Sub-Adviser," and collectively, the "Sub-Advisers").

•GSAM seeks to provide total return consisting of capital appreciation and income. GSAM's investment process seeks to maximize risk-adjusted performance by utilizing a diverse set of investment strategies.

 

•Wellington seeks to provide long-term total returns in excess of the U.S. bond market as represented by the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index with equivalent or lower levels of risk.

ECM maintains a strategic allocation of the Fund's assets with each Sub-Adviser and reviews the asset allocations on a quarterly basis, or more frequently as deemed necessary. As of the date of this Prospectus, the target percentage is a 50% allocation of the Fund's assets to GSAM and a 50% allocation of the Fund's assets to Wellington. Actual allocations may vary from the target allocations and ECM may change the asset allocations at any time without shareholder notice or approval.

Principal Investment Risks

Below is a summary of the principal investment risks of investing in the Fund. These risks are presented in an order that reflects ECM's current assessment of relative importance, but this assessment could change over time as the Fund's portfolio changes or in light of changes in the market or the economic environment. The Fund is not required to and will not update this Prospectus solely because its assessment of the relative importance of the principal risks of investing in the Fund changes. There can be no assurance that the Fund will achieve its investment objective.

Interest Rate Risk - The market value of a fixed income security is affected significantly by changes (or the expectation of such changes) in interest rates. A wide variety of market and economic factors can cause interest rates to rise or fall, including central bank monetary policy, rising inflation, disinflation or deflation, and changes in general economic conditions. When interest rates rise, the market value of a fixed income security will generally decline and when interest rates decline, the market values of such securities will generally rise. In general, the longer the maturity or duration of a fixed income security, the greater its sensitivity to changes in interest rates. Changes in interest rates can be difficult to forecast and may have unpredictable effects on the markets and the Fund's investments, including negatively affecting yield, value or liquidity. Actions taken by the Federal Reserve Board or foreign central banks to stimulate or stabilize economic growth, such as increases or decreases in short-term interest rates, may adversely affect markets and the Fund's performance.

Mortgage-Backed Securities Risk - Mortgage-backed securities represent interests in pools of commercial or residential mortgages and are subject to the risk that borrowers will prepay the principal on their loans more quickly than expected (prepayment risk) when mortgage rates fall or more slowly than expected (extension risk) when mortgage rates rise, which may affect the yield, average life and price of the securities. Because of prepayment risk and extension risk, mortgage-backed securities react differently to changes in interest rates than other fixed income securities. Small movements in interest rates (both increases and decreases) may quickly and significantly reduce the value of certain mortgage-backed securities.

Credit Risk - An issuer (or guarantor) of a security may default on its obligations to pay principal or interest. A security's value may be affected by changes in its credit quality rating or its issuer's financial conditions.

Market Risk - The value of the Fund's investments may decrease, sometimes rapidly or unexpectedly, due to factors affecting (or perceived to affect) specific issuers held by the Fund, particular industries represented in the Fund's portfolio, or the overall securities markets. A variety of factors can increase the volatility of the Fund's holdings and markets generally, including political or regulatory developments, recessions, inflation, deflation, rapid interest rate changes, bank failures, war or acts of terrorism, sanctions, tariffs, natural disasters, outbreaks of infectious illnesses or other widespread public health issues, general outlook for corporate earnings, or adverse investor sentiment generally. Certain events may cause instability across global markets, including reduced liquidity and disruptions in trading markets, while some events may affect certain geographic regions, countries, sectors and industries more significantly than others. These adverse developments may cause broad declines in an issuer's value due to short-term market movements or for significantly longer periods during more prolonged market downturns.

Derivatives Risk - The use of derivatives, including but not limited to interest rate, inflation and total return forward rate agreements; deliverable and non-deliverable bond and currency forward contracts; interest and bond rate futures; interest rate, bond and swap options; credit default swaps and credit default swap indices; and interest rate, inflation and total return swaps, may expose the Fund to additional risks that it would not be subject to if it invested directly in the securities underlying those derivatives. These risks include imperfect correlations with underlying investments or the Fund's other portfolio holdings, magnified losses resulting from leverage, counterparty risk, high price volatility, liquidity risk, segregation risk, valuation risk and legal restrictions.

U.S. Government Securities Risk - U.S. government securities may be adversely affected by changes in interest rates (interest rate risk) or a default by or decline in the credit rating of the U.S. government (credit risk).

U.S. Government-Sponsored Securities Risk - Securities issued by U.S. government-sponsored enterprises ("GSEs"), such as the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, the Federal National Mortgage Association and the Federal Home Loan Banks, may be adversely affected by changes in interest rates (interest rate risk) or a default by or decline in the credit rating of the applicable GSE (credit risk). Securities of GSEs are not issued or guaranteed by the U.S. Treasury and are not backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government.

Asset-Backed Securities Risk - Asset-backed securities represent interests in pools of assets, including consumer loans, auto loans, student loans, or receivables held in trust. The value of asset-backed securities may be affected by certain factors such as interest rate risk; the credit performance of the pool of underlying assets; the creditworthiness of the servicing agent or the originator of the underlying assets; the ability of the servicing agent to service the underlying collateral; and the availability of information concerning the pool of underlying assets and its structure. Asset-backed securities are also subject to the risk that borrowers will prepay the principal on their loans more quickly than expected (prepayment risk) in a declining interest rate environment or more slowly than expected (extension risk) in a rising interest rate environment.

Counterparty Risk - A counterparty to a transaction may be unwilling or unable, or perceived (whether by market participants, ratings agencies, pricing services, or otherwise) to be unwilling or unable, to make timely interest, principal or settlement payments or otherwise honor its obligations. Counterparty risk may arise because of a counterparty's financial condition (i.e., financial difficulties, bankruptcy or insolvency), market activities and developments, or other reasons, whether foreseen or not.

Liquidity Risk - The Fund may not be able to sell a security at or near its perceived value in a timely manner (or at all) because of unusual market conditions, an unusually high volume of redemption requests, little or no active trading market for a specific type of security, legal or contractual restrictions on resale, or a reduced number or capacity of market participants to make a market in such security. Securities acquired in a private placement, such as Rule 144A securities, may involve increased liquidity risk due to restrictions on resale and the potential absence of a liquid secondary market or ready purchasers for such securities. Liquidity risk may also refer to the risk that the Fund will not be able to pay redemption proceeds within the allowable time period or without significant dilution to the remaining investors' interest due to market conditions or other factors. Extraordinary and sudden changes in interest rates could disrupt the market for fixed income securities and result in fluctuations in the Fund's net asset value. Increased redemptions due to a rise in interest rates may require the Fund to liquidate its holdings at an unfavorable time or under adverse or disadvantageous conditions, which may negatively affect the Fund. Investments in many foreign securities tend to have greater exposure to liquidity risk than domestic securities because secondary trading markets for these securities may be smaller and less well-developed and the securities may trade less frequently.

To-Be-Announced Securities Risk - TBA securities involve the risk that a security the Fund buys will lose value prior to its delivery. There is also the risk that the security will not be issued or that the other party to the transaction will not meet its obligations. If this occurs, the Fund loses both the investment opportunity for the assets it set aside to pay for the security and any gain in the security's price.

When-Issued Securities Risk - The price or yield obtained in a when-issued transaction may be less favorable than the price or yield available in the market when the securities delivery takes place. In addition, a when-issued transaction has potentially more counterparty risk than a regularly settled trade.

Foreign Securities Risk - Foreign markets can be more volatile than the U.S. market due to increased risks of adverse issuer, political, geopolitical (including war or armed conflict), regulatory, market, currency valuation, or economic or other developments, and can perform differently than the U.S. market. Current tariffs, sanctions, or the threat of potential tariffs, sanctions or similar measures may also impair the value or liquidity of affected securities and negatively impact the Fund.

Currency Risk - Adverse fluctuations in exchange rates between the U.S. dollar and other currencies may cause the Fund to lose money on investments denominated in foreign currencies.

Below Investment Grade Securities Risk - Below investment grade securities (commonly known as "high yield securities" or "junk bonds") are speculative, have a higher degree of credit risk and interest rate risk, and may be less liquid and subject to greater volatility in market value than investment grade securities. In addition, high yield securities present a greater risk of loss (which may be substantial or total) of income and principal, than investment grade securities.

Call Risk - An issuer may redeem a fixed income security before maturity (a "call") at a price below its current market value.

Over-the-Counter Risk - Over-the-Counter ("OTC") transactions involve risks in addition to those incurred by transactions in securities traded on exchanges. Securities and derivatives traded in OTC markets may trade less frequently and in limited volumes and thus exhibit more volatility and liquidity risk.

Short Position Risk - The Fund may enter into a short position through a futures contract, an option, a swap agreement, or short sales of any instrument that the Fund may purchase for investment. Taking short positions involves leverage of the Fund's assets, which may exaggerate any losses, potentially more than the actual cost of the investment, and will increase the volatility of the Fund's returns. If the value of the underlying instrument or market in which the Fund has taken a short position increases, then the

Fund will incur a loss equal to the increase in value from the time that the short position was entered into plus any related interest payments or other fees. Taking short positions involves the risk that losses may be disproportionate, may exceed the amount invested, and may be unlimited.

Collateralized Loan Obligations Risk - In addition to the normal risks associated with loan- and credit-related securities, such as interest rate risk, default risk, credit risk and liquidity risk, investments in CLOs carry additional risks, including the risk that: (1) distributions from the collateral may not be adequate to make interest or other payments; (2) the quality of the collateral may decline in value or default; (3) the Fund may invest in tranches of CLOs that are subordinate to other tranches; (4) the structure and complexity of the transaction and the legal documents could lead to disputes among investors regarding the characterization of proceeds; and (5) the CLO's manager may perform poorly.

Management Risk - A strategy, investment decision, technique, analysis, or model used by the portfolio managers may fail to produce the intended results, or imperfections, errors or limitations in the tools and data used by the portfolio managers may cause unintended results. Therefore, the Fund could underperform in comparison to other funds with similar objectives and investment strategies and may generate losses even in a favorable market.

Multi-Manager Risk - Because the Sub-Advisers make investment decisions independently, it is possible that their security selection processes may not complement one another, and the Fund may have buy and sell transactions in the same security on the same day.

Portfolio Turnover Risk - High portfolio turnover rates generally result in higher transaction costs (which are borne directly by the Fund and indirectly by the Fund's shareholders).

An investment in the Fund is not a deposit with a bank, is not insured, endorsed or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any government agency, and is subject to the possible loss of your original investment.

Performance

The bar chart and table below provide an indication of the risk of investment in the Fund by showing changes in the performance of the Fund's Investor Class shares for the last ten calendar years and by comparing the Fund's average annual total returns to the performance of a broad-based securities market index. The returns shown below are historical and are not an indication of future performance. Total return figures assume reinvestment of dividends and capital gains distributions and include the effect of the Fund's recurring expenses, but do not include the fees and expenses of any Permitted Account. If the fees and expenses of any Permitted Account were reflected, the performance shown would be lower.

Performance information prior to July 9, 2021, includes the performance of a sub-adviser that no longer manages the Fund's investment portfolio. Consequently, the Fund's total returns shown below for the periods prior to that date are not necessarily indicative of the performance of the Fund as it is currently managed.

Updated performance information may be obtained at www.empower.com/investments/empower-funds/fund-documents (the website does not form a part of this Prospectus).

Calendar Year Total Returns

  

	Quarter Ended	Total Return
Best Quarter	December 31, 2023	6.95%
Worst Quarter	March 31, 2022	-6.39%

Average Annual Total Returns for the Periods Ended December 31, 2025 

	One Year	Five Years	Ten Years
Institutional Class	7.18%	-0.32%	2.42%
Investor Class	6.75%	-0.68%	2.05%
Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes)	7.30%	-0.36%	2.01%

Investment Adviser

ECM

Sub-Advisers

GSAM and Wellington

Portfolio Managers 

Name	Title	Portfolio Manager of the Fund Since
GSAM
Paul Seary, CFA	Vice President, Portfolio Manager	2021
Simon Dangoor, CFA	Managing Director, Head of Macro Rates Investing	2024
Lindsay Rosner, CFA	Managing Director, Head of Multi-Sector Investing	2024
Wellington
Joseph Marvan, CFA*	Senior Managing Director & Fixed Income Portfolio Manager	2017
Campe Goodman, CFA	Senior Managing Director & Fixed Income Portfolio Manager	2017
Robert Burn, CFA	Senior Managing Director & Fixed Income Portfolio Manager	2017
Jeremy Forster	Senior Managing Director & Fixed Income Portfolio Manager	2024
Connor Fitzgerald, CFA	Senior Managing Director & Fixed Income Portfolio Manager	2025

* Effective June 30, 2026, Mr. Marvan will retire and no longer be a portfolio manager of the Fund.

Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares

The Fund is not sold directly to the general public, but instead may be offered as an underlying investment for Permitted Accounts. Permitted Accounts may place orders on any business day to purchase and redeem shares of the Fund based on instructions received from owners of variable contracts or IRAs, or from participants of retirement plans or college savings programs. Please contact your registered representative, IRA custodian or trustee, retirement plan sponsor or administrator, or college savings program for information concerning the procedures for purchasing and redeeming shares of the Fund.

The Fund does not have any initial or subsequent investment minimums. However, Permitted Accounts may impose investment minimums.

Tax Information

Currently, Permitted Accounts generally are not subject to federal income tax on any Fund distributions. Owners of variable contracts, retirement plan participants and IRA owners are also generally not subject to federal income tax on Fund distributions until such amounts are withdrawn from the variable contract, retirement plan or IRA. Distributions from a college savings program generally are not taxed provided that they are used to pay for qualified higher education expenses. More information regarding federal taxation of Permitted Account owners may be found in the prospectus or disclosure documents for that Permitted Account.

Payments to Insurers, Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries

Companies related to the Fund may make payments to insurance companies, broker-dealers and other financial intermediaries for the sale of Fund shares and other services. These payments may be a factor that an insurance company, broker-dealer or other financial intermediary considers when including the Fund as an investment option in a Permitted Account. These payments also 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, visit your financial intermediary's website, or consult the variable contract prospectus for more information.