UK investors have been flocking to multi-asset funds in the past few months, if net retail sales figures from the Investment Association are anything to go by.
Net retail sales of Mixed Asset funds ended 2018 at £561m, falling slightly to £367m in the first month of 2019.
One of the reasons these types of funds have been attracting inflows is because of their perceived ability to spread risk across asset classes which, during times of political and economic uncertainty, may seem like a sensible option for many advisers' clients.
The low interest rate environment is another driver behind their increasing popularity, while other clients are using multi-asset income funds to help meet their retirement income needs.
But some advisers may be concerned that multi-asset funds are having to go further up the risk scale in order to meet these yield requirements.
The features in this guide will consider how advisers can measure 'true' diversification when it comes to choosing a multi-asset fund for clients. It will also look at how advisers can evaluate metrics such as risk and volatility when placing clients into a multi-asset solution and why it is important to do so.
Finally, the guide will look at why advisers need to establish their clients' investment time horizons and whether multi-asset funds can deliver income for clients.
This guide is worth an indicative 60 minutes of CPD.
Contributors to this guide: Mike Coop, head of multi asset portfolio management at Morningstar Investment Management Europe; Minesh Patel, chartered financial planner at EA Financial Solutions; Will Mcintosh-Whyte, assistant fund manager of the Rathbone Multi-Asset Portfolio Funds; David Coombs, fund manager of the Rathbone Multi-Asset Portfolio Funds; Guilhem Savry, head of global macro and dynamic asset allocation, cross asset solutions at Unigestion; Ben Seager-Scott, chief investment strategist at Tilney Group; Joshua Gerstler, financial planner and company director at The Orchard Practice; Kevin Doran, chief investment officer at AJ Bell; Verona Kenny, head of intermediary at Seven Investment Management; Investment Association; AJ Bell.
Ellie Duncan is features editor at FTAdviser and Financial Adviser