Insights
We offer a range of thought-leadership content, news and updates to support your day-to-day activity.
Multi-asset income funds
14 January 2022
Multi-asset funds, as their name suggests, contain investments across several different asset classes - equities, bonds, cash, real estate and possibly other ‘alternative’ asset classes - with the fund manager deciding on the proportion going into each. In the case of multi-asset income funds, the emphasis will be on those asset classes producing a ‘natural’ income, in particular bonds, including high yield and emerging market debt, real estate and equities paying decent dividends.
Multi-asset funds: risk and suitability
04 January 2022
Multi-asset funds, as their name suggests, contain investments across several different asset classes - equities, bonds, cash, real estate and possibly other ‘alternative’ asset classes - with the fund manager deciding on the proportion going into each. At the one end of the spectrum, those funds investing mainly in equities, in particular with a significant Emerging Market component, would be expected to deliver higher returns over the medium to long term but also come with greater volatility; while at the other end of the spectrum multi-asset funds containing mostly bonds and cash should be less risky but will probably give less return in the long run. The latter would likely be more suitable for investors in or close to retirement and/or those uncomfortable taking risk while the former will probably be used by clients with a long time to retirement and able to tolerate higher volatility in order to achieve greater returns.
Adjusting for risk
13 December 2021
Post Retail Distribution Review, the focus for advisers is generally on client suitability. To determine suitability, they will follow a process of discovery with the client, looking at their goals and determining their attitude to risk and capacity to accept losses. One of the main outputs from this will be a risk score for the client, often on a scale of 1 to 10 or 1 to 100, with a higher number indicating a greater tolerance of risk. What follows is for the adviser to provide an appropriate investment solution based on this measure.
Managing retirement planning: a novel approach to income drawdown
22 November 2021
Five years on from the introduction of Pension Freedom regulations, most approaches to the post-retirement investment have still either been tied to a single investment firm or relied on complicated, adviser-built ‘investment risk buckets’ or ‘waterfalls’.
Defaqto Engage now includes ESG preferences questionnaire
15 November 2021
Over the past few years, sustainable investing has been in the spotlight for many investors. However, it can be a minefield for advisers, with many opting to outsource the task. In response, we have implemented a solution so you can confidently use Defaqto Engage to provide suitable advice, accounting for your clients’ ESG preferences, starting with our ESG Reviews and ESG filtering capabilities .