Multi-asset investing has become very popular with advisers over the last few years, offering an easy way to build a balanced portfolio at relatively low cost.

They provide a great way for clients with varying means to invest, to access a range of different asset classes, and for the research into these assets to have been done by someone else who is expert in these areas.

To determine which kind of multi-asset fund a client should be investing in, the adviser has to determine their risk profile, and then use risk rating tools to decide which fund the client should go into.

Multi-asset investing, and the general theory behind it, really comes into play when the economy enters a period of volatility, as we seem to be now, with trades wars and brexit prompting markets to predict recession, possibly in 2020.

As ever, advisers recommend investing for the long term, and holding a range of assets, that in normal times are not typically correlated.

Multi-asset funds allow investors to do that in one fund.

melanie.tringham@ft.com

My thanks go to: Alan Chan, chartered financial planner and director at IFS Wealth and Pensions; Alistair Cunningham, chartered financial planner at Wingate Financial Planning, Nathan Harris, chartered financial planner at Lothbury Group; Gareth Deacon, portfolio manager at Blackfinch Wealth; Craig Brown, investment specialist at Rathbones; David Bebb, chartered financial planner at Pannells Financial Planning; Didier-Saint Georges, managing director at Carmignac; Danny Knight, investment director at Quilter; Thierry Michel, multi-asset portfolio manager at TOBAM