Asset Allocator

As markets take a pause for breath, we have a chat with Alex Funk, who is newly-installed as head of investments at Portfoliometrix. He chats with Joseph Wilkins and David Thorpe about the MPS solutions he has inherited and he reflects on the recent market volatility. They also discuss where he is seeing risk on the horizon and whether he is planning on tweaking his new portfolios. The Asset Alloc...

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water, market volatility strikes again. This week Joseph Wilkins and Dave Baxter are joined by Freddy Colquhoun, investment director at JM Finn, to discuss this week's market volatility, his views on the economic outlook and whether there are any asset classes he thinks are particularly compelling at the moment. They also discuss his views on the...

Many of the discussions which are held about portfolios at the moment centre around macro questions. This week David Thorpe and Joseph Wilkins are joined by Ernst Knacke, head of investment research at Shard Capital, to discuss what he views as the greatest threat facing portfolios in the current environment and how he is safeguarding against it. They also discuss his use of alternatives such as m...

Some investors might wonder what the point is of trying to outperform the US market when simply buying an S&P 500 tracker has delivered pretty substantial returns. But this week David Thorpe, Dave Baxter and Joseph Wilkins discuss the few active outperformers in the US market and how they have achieved this. They also discuss whether portfolio managers are losing faith in Japan, which just a f...

The recent success of the so-called magnificent seven stocks has caused plenty of pause for thought so far this year. In the latest edition of the Asset Allocator Podcast, we speak to James Crocker of Albert E Sharp about why he's so nervous about the magnificent seven and their influence on the wider stock market. They also weigh up the impact of a looming shift in monetary policy to cutting inte...

This week Joseph Wilkins and David Thorpe are joined by Jonathan Griffiths, investment product manager at EBI, to discuss the growing use of factor tilts and which ones he particularly keen on at the moment. They also discuss the AI boom and how he is approaching that within his portfolios and what he makes of the looming SDR regulations for portfolio managers. The Asset Allocator Podcast is a wee...

In this podcast, Asset Allocator chief reporter Joseph Wilkins, contributing editor David Thorpe and Jason Borbora-Sheen talk about the importance of diversification when it comes to fixed income portfolio construction, and how to understand the current concerns around sticky inflation and a higher-for-longer rate environment. Borbora-Sheen, who is a portfolio manager in the multi-asset team at Ni...

This year has so far been dominated by two-high profile examples of the rule at play: Ben Whitmore’s forthcoming departure from Jupiter, and Mike Riddell’s more abrupt exit from Allianz. Plus Peter Rutter has left Royal London to set up on his own and Peter Saacke has left Artemis to become a maths teacher (a career trajectory also being followed by Baillie Gifford's Torcail Stewart). On this week...

Many investors focus on the ups and downs of particular countries and regions, but in a globalised world themes are becoming an increasingly important factor in allocation. This week, while David Thorpe enjoys himself in Portugal, Dave Baxter and Joseph Wilkins are joined by Natasha Ebtehadj who runs the Artemis Global Select fund, to discuss the themes which are driving her investment decisions....

One of the challenges faced by investment managers lately has been the relative attractiveness of money market funds, given the current macro environment. This week David Thorpe and Joseph Wilkins are joined by Peter Dalglish, Parmenion's chief investment officer, to discuss the pros and cons of these funds. They also discuss how he is allocating through a year full of elections and political risk...

One of the long-running trends in the world of portfolio management has been the gradual fall in average allocations to UK equities. In this week's edition of the podcast, which is sponsored by Artemis, Joseph Wilkins and David Thorpe are joined by Henry Cobbe, head of research at Elston Consulting, to discuss the outlook for UK equities. They also discuss the dominance US equities have over globa...

The pros and cons of paying an active manager to hunt down outperformance are often hotly debated, and this week we join in. In the latest edition of the Asset Allocator Podcast, Dave Baxter, Joseph Wilkins and David Thorpe debate some recent comments by Sparrows Capital's chief investment officer that hunting down alpha is, ultimately, futile. They also discuss the legacy of Neil Woodford on fund...

Bonds have been a very eventful place to be over the past 12 months or so and on this week's podcast, which is supported by Artemis, we have a chat with David Ennett, manager of Artemis High Income and Artemis Strategic Bond, about high yield bonds. He has a chat with David Thorpe, contributing editor on Asset Allocator, about why they are particularly attractive at the moment, how the make up of...

One of the latest entrants to the portfolio management market in the UK has been Soderberg & Partners, the Swedish wealth manager which has already bought up several firms. This week Joseph Wilkins and David Thorpe talk to the head of Soderberg & Partners Asset Management, Fredrik Borjesson, about his new portfolio proposition, home bias, Nordic equities and the next generation of portfoli...

This week we catch up with Ben Seager-Scott, the newly-installed chief investment officer at Mazars. In this week's edition of the podcast, which is supported by Artemis, he has a chat with Joseph Wilkins and David Thorpe about how he's been reacting to shifting central bank rhetoric, why he's not worried about inflation proving sticky, what he's making of the equity rally and why he's sceptical a...

On this week's podcast Dave Baxter, funds editor on the Investors Chronicle, and David Thorpe, contributing editor on Asset Allocator, discuss why DFMs are feeling more positive about equities amid the hope that a hard landing has been avoided. They also discuss the rising average exposure to commodities among allocators in our database and the recent surge in the price of gold, plus they talk abo...

UK equity funds have suffered their fair share of outflows in recent years - though the FTSE 100 recently hit an all time high and many describe UK equities as incredibly cheap. In this edition of the podcast, which is supported by Artemis, David Thorpe and Joseph Wilkins talk to Ed Legget, who runs the Artemis UK Select fund, about the future prospects of UK equities. They discuss why some UK equ...

This week Shanti Kelemen, chief investment officer at M&G Wealth, joins Joseph Wilkins and David Thorpe to discuss US equities and the extent to which she's worried about volatility caused by the looming presidential election. They also discuss the state of the wider US economy and whether the divergence between inflation and interest rate expectations are causing her to shift her fixed income...

A lot of the talk relating to changes in monetary policy rotate around their effect on bonds and equities, but this week we have a chat with Bill Dinning, chief investment officer at Waverton, who is paying keen attention to the effect they will have on real assets. We spoke to Dinning about why he is seeing an opportunity in real assets, how he's adjusting his fixed income allocations and why he'...

For some time the UK has been described as a bargain, but average exposures to the home market in the Asset Allocator database have not budged. In this week's podcast, which is supported by Artemis, David Thorpe and Joseph Wilkins are joined by Darius McDermott, who advises the Chelsea Managed Funds range, to discuss the extent to which the UK is currently a bargain compared to the US. They also d...

This week Asset Allocator acting editor Damian Fantato has a chat with funds correspondent Joseph Wilkins and contributing editor David Thorpe about Tam Asset Management's seed funding of future fund management talent. They also discuss the British Isa, which was launched earlier this month at the Budget, and the use of UK equities by some portfolio managers. Then they discuss bonds, alternatives...

Investing in emerging markets was once seen as a commodity play but on this week's podcast, which is supported by Artemis, we have a chat with Raheel Altaf, who runs the Artemis SmartGarp Global Emerging Market Equity fund to discuss how this has changed. He joined David Thorpe, contributing editor on Asset Allocator, and Joseph Wilkins, funds correspondent on Asset Allocator, to talk about the ch...

When high profile fund managers leave big companies to set up on their own, it is often assumed the assets will follow them almost automatically. But this week Joseph Wilkins and David Thorpe have a chat with Mark Preskett, portfolio manager at Morningstar, to discuss the challenges of operational due diligence on boutique fund houses which have been set up by one fund manager. They also discuss w...

The debate around China versus India has been a biggest party in town lately, as far as emerging markets are concerned. This week Joseph Wilkins and David Thorpe are joined by Will Bartleet, chief investment officer at Pacific Asset Management, who has a higher exposure to emerging markets than his peers, to discuss his views on the region. They also discuss his large exposure to global equity fun...

One of the topics of debate in recent months has been the long-term investment case for China versus India. This week Dave Baxter, funds editor on the Investors Chronicle, Asset Allocator funds reporter Joseph Wilkins and contributing editor David Thorpe have a chat about the choices allocators are making in respect of India and China, and how this is reflected in the emerging market funds they ar...