Asset Allocator

At times it might seem like Donald Trump's campaign slogan was actually "make markets volatile again". If so, he seems to have succeeded. This week David Thorpe and Joseph Wilkins are joined by Nathan Sweeney, chief investment officer of multi-asset solutions at Marlborough. They discuss navigating Donald Trump's role in the markets, why he's been adding to the US and Japan and the search for prot...

Comparing the performance of model portfolio solutions can sometimes be a challenge, given the difference risk levels and approaches across the market. This week David Thorpe and Joseph Wilkins discuss the trials and tribulations of achieving this, given Arc's recent decision to launch a performance index. They also discuss SDR labelling regulations and the FCA's decision to pause these for portfo...

There are many ways to skin a cat, and even more ways to run a model portfolio service. This week Ash Weston, head of MPS at 8AM Global, joined David Thorpe and Joseph Wilkins to offer his take on some of the issues facing MPS providers. They discuss the pros and cons of investment committees, risk-variable portfolios and the tight margins in the multi-manager space. The Asset Allocator Podcast is...

Markets have been in a tetchy state ever since Donald Trump announced he was launching a trade war with the entire planet (or maybe not as it later turned out). This week David Thorpe and Joseph Wilkins are joined by Julien Dauchez, head of portfolio consulting at Natixis, to discuss whether it's possible to diversify away from the noise during a particularly volatile period. They also discuss why...

Donald Trump's policy decisions continue to reverberate through markets as he decides whether or not to fire Fed chair Jerome Powell. This week David Thorpe and Joseph Wilkins are joined by Eleanor Ingilby, head of high net worth clients at Atomos, to discuss her thoughts on the US market, managing volatility and why she recently upped her exposure to the UK equity market.  They also dis...

Earlier this month US president Donald Trump announced a series of 'reciprocal' tariffs on most countries in the world. This had the effect of tanking markets across the globe. This week Dave Baxter, Joseph Wilkins and David Thorpe have a chat about the fall out of 'liberation day' and which funds rode out the turmoil better than others. They also discuss whether consumer confidence is the real da...

Tacit Investment Management has one of the highest exposures to high-yield bonds of all the portfolio managers we cover. This week we are joined by Kypros Charalambous, investment director at Tacit, to find out they pivoted to high-yield bonds since 2022 and the role it plays in their portfolios. He also explains why Tacit prefers a smaller number of holdings and a more concentrated portfolio, and...

The rising price of gold has been one of the stories of early 2025 so far and Stuart Clark, who runs Quilter's Wealthselect portfolios, is one of the allocators with a long-standing allocation to precious metals. This week he joins David Thorpe and Joseph Wilkins to discuss this thinking on this holding and whether gold's continued strong performance can continue. They also discuss  the likel...

The year has started brightly for the European market, with the Euro Stoxx 50 up more than 10 per cent since the start of 2025. But is that a sign Europe has turned a corner? This week Ian Rees, head of multi-manager at Premier Miton, joins David Thorpe and Joseph Wilkins to discuss whether this is the case or not. They also discuss the challenges of US exceptionalism and the UK listed funds space...

US president Donald Trump has said there might be "a little disturbance" as he imposes tariffs he claims are necessary. But fears of a recession in the US are growing. This week Joseph Wilkins and David Thorpe are joined by Philip Chandler, chief investment officer of multi-asset at Schroders, to discuss whether investors should start worrying. They also discuss the pivot from the US to European e...

Since the start of 2025, the S&P 500 is down nearly 5 per cent due in part to Donald Trump's 'will he, won't he' approach to tariffs. This week tariffs were on again (before they weren't) so the US bluechip index fell by more than 3 per cent. This comes after a period of several years when it seemed like the world revolved around US equities and the strong returns they provided. In this week's...

Last year saw a spike in the number of fund manager departures, which were at their highest level since Covid. This week David Thorpe, Joseph Wilkins and Dave Baxter have a chat about why that might be and how portfolio managers mitigate this. They also discuss the latest Spot the Dog list of underperforming funds and Fidelity's success at moving into the passive space, with some of its tracker fu...

For better or worse, Donald Trump's first few weeks in the White House have involved a flurry of activity - which the markets have always appreciating some of the new US president's decisions. This week David Thorpe and Dave Baxter make up for Joseph Wilkins' decision to go on holiday by chatting with Gene Salerno, chief investment officer at Kleinwort Hambros, about how he is handling political r...

If volatility has made a comeback, are equal-weight indices the solution to this problem? Or do they present different issues? This week David Thorpe, Dave Baxter and Joseph Wilkins have a chat about the pros and cons of these trackers. They also discuss the case for European equities and whether their time has finally come. And finally they explore DFMs’ preference for gilts over Treasuries. The...

With Donald Trump in the White House and China pursuing its AI ambitions, it seems like 2025 is going to be a volatile year. This week David Thorpe and Joseph Wilkins have a chat with Eren Osman, head of investment management at Arbuthnot Latham, to discuss how he is managing portfolios through this volatility. They also discuss whether the antics of the new Trump administration are changing the c...

Selecting a benchmark can be a thorny issue for portfolio managers since it is what their performance is judged against. This week David Thorpe and Joseph Wilkins are joined by Shanti Kelemen, chief investment officer at M&G Wealth, to discuss this issue. They discuss the process she uses, the common pitfalls and what the main challenges are in comparing one range of portfolios against another...

This week's stock market rout following the emergence of China's DeepSeek has up-ended expectations that stocks like Nvidia would continue powering upwards uninterrupted. This week David Thorpe and Joseph Wilkins are joined by Paul Flood, head of mixed-asset investing at Newton, to discuss the turbulent past few days. They also discuss the challenges of investing for income and his thoughts on Sab...

Gam allocates about a third of its portfolio to US equities which, even in a market where exposure to Wall Street is rising, is a punchy position. This week we are joined by Julian Howard, chief multi-asset investment strategist at Gam, to discuss why the company has taken such a position. He also chats with Joseph Wilkins and David Thorpe about volatility following the return of Donald Trump as U...

Through the recent peaks and troughs, average exposure to Japanese equities in our database has been relatively unmoved at about 3.5 per cent. But Stewart Smith, head of MPS at RSMR, has the highest exposure in our database at more than 8 per cent. In this week's episode Joseph Wilkins and David Thorpe have a chat with him about why he's so keen on Japanese equities and why he's recently been cutt...

The Asset Allocator Podcast is back for 2025 and this week David Thorpe, Joseph Wilkins and Dave Baxter kick off the new year by discussing the active US equity funds which managed to outperform the market in 2024 and they weigh up the investment case for China versus India. They also discuss how DFMs can compete in an increasingly crowded market. The Asset Allocator Podcast is a weekly series aim...

In the final edition of the Asset Allocator Podcast of 2024, Joseph Wilkins is joined by Darren Ripton, head of investment at Abrdn, and Ben Hammond, managing director of consulting at the Lang Cat, to reflect on the past decade of model portfolio services and to ponder what the future might have in store. They discuss how the sector has changed, the pros and cons of MPS versus multi-asset, how th...

As we approach the end of the year, David Thorpe gathers a group of experts to look forward into 2025 in this bumper edition of the podcast which is supported by Artemis. He is joined by Natasha Ebtehadj, manager of the Artemis Global Select fund, Liam O'Donnell from Artemis's fixed income team, Fahad Hassan, the chief investment officer at Albemarle Street Partners, and Richard Carter, head of fi...

The result of the recent US presidential election has given many of us plenty to ponder. This week Dave Baxter, Joseph Wilkins and David Thorpe get together to discuss what the incoming Trump administration might mean for the heft US fiscal deficit and whether that matters from an investment perspective. They also discuss the role of US equities in income portfolios and where to get tech exposure...

Unusually for the folk at City Asset Management, the team made a change to the Aim portfolios ahead of the first Budget by chancellor Rachel Reeves. In this podcast, supported by Artemis, Joseph Wilkins, chief reporter for Asset Allocator and James Calder, chief investment officer for City Asset Management, talk about changes made to the portfolios and what the expectations are for Aim portfolios....

The S&P 500 has risen by 30 per cent over the past 12 months, with no event seemingly able to put a stop to this growth. On this week's podcast David Thorpe asks Cormac Weldon, manager of Artemis US Select, and Ben Yearsley of Fairview Investing, whether there's still value to be had in US equities. They also discuss the illusive US recession as well as the outlook following Donald Trump's re-...