Asset Allocator

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-...

This week Joseph Wilkins and Dave Baxter are joined by Stuart Clark, who runs the Quilter Wealthselect portfolios. They discuss what a Trump presidency might mean and what parallels can be drawn between gold's surge over the course of this year and the performance of cryptocurrencies. Clark also explains how he is allocating to fixed income in a world of falling rates and budget deficit concerns....

The outlook for the UK economy is a topic that has consumed endless column inches – particularly in the wake of last week's Budget. On this week's podcast, which is sponsored by Artemis, we are joined by Ed Legget, manager of the Artemis UK Select fund, and Chris Fleming, deputy chief investment officer at Square Mile, to consider the outlook. They discuss the ripple effects of Labour's first Budg...

Chris Robinson joined Premier Miton over the summer to run the company's new MPS. This week he catches up with David Thorpe and Joseph Wilkins to discuss this approach to picking funds, what he looks for and why he's so pleased with one of his Japanese equity picks. They also discuss China versus India, why he is underweight Europe and the outlook for the UK. The Asset Allocator Podcast is a weekl...

The Chinese government's sudden U-turn on fiscal stimulus has got a lot of heads scratching recently - including among those who debate the future prospects of the country's economy. This week David Thorpe and Joseph Wilkins are joined by Nathan Sweeney, multi-asset chief investment officer at Marlborough, to discuss whether the stimulus will change his calculus on whether or not to allocate to Ch...

News that the regulator will be changing cost disclosure rules has been welcomed as a lifeline by the investment trust sector. But will it be the silver bullet some claim? This week David Thorpe, Joseph Wilkins and Damian Fantato discuss whether it will boost investment trust ownership among portfolio managers. They also discuss the potential problem of "monocrop" portfolios and they wade into the...

This week David Thorpe and Joseph Wilkins are joined by Chris Metcalfe, chief investment officer at Iboss, to discuss the impact of China's economic stimulus on Europe and other regions. They also discuss whether property is still investable in light of Dynamic Planner's decision to remove it from its risk models. And they discuss how to manage concentration risk concerns from clients. The Asset A...

This week Dave Baxter, Joseph Wilkins and David Thorpe discuss the malaise which is affecting the world of sustainable portfolios and what that means for the sector. They also discuss the slow start to life which Ark's ETFs have endured and the company's recent launch of a "model portfolio". And they discuss City Asset Management's decision to call time on UK equity income holdings and what that s...

This week David Thorpe and Joseph Wilkins are joined by James Saunders, head of portfolio management at Tatton Investment Management. They discuss his principles for selecting a fund, how he mitigates risk and how he balances risk versus volatility. James also explains what what he thinks really drives returns: fund selection or asset allocation. The Asset Allocator Podcast is a weekly series aime...

This week we are joined by Ryan Hughes, investment director at AJ Bell, to discuss whether the recent volatility seen in markets is likely to be a permanent feature. He also discusses with David Thorpe why AJ Bell is so keen on emerging markets at the moment and what purpose, if any, he sees for the growing number of active ETFs. The Asset Allocator Podcast is a weekly series aimed at discretionar...

The debate of where we sit in the growth vs value cycle and the cyclical vs defensive cycle is often a hotly contested one. This week Joseph Wilkins and David Thorpe are joined by Ryan Paterson, portfolio manager at Schroder Investment Solutions, to discuss where he thinks we currently sit in these cycles and what action he's taking in response. They also discuss some recent changes he has made to...

The Asset Allocator Podcast is back from its summer break and this week David Thorpe and Joseph Wilkins are joined by Damian Fantato, acting editor of Asset Allocator, while Dave Baxter goes on holiday to Sri Lanka. They discuss whether equal-weight indices are the solution to concentration concerns, if China is too big to ignore for DFMs and they have a look at what did and didn't do well during...