The way investor sentiment and habits have changed in recent years, particularly in the retirement space, means the traditional 60/40 multi-asset split is “probably dead”, Old Mutual Wealth head of investments Anthony Gillham says.
He says if you had the traditional equity/fixed income split, investors would have seen a fall in the beginning of this year.
Gillham adds: “If the old model doesn’t work, investors then need to look at alternatives. They comprise equity long-short, credit or merger arbitrage for example. We use different assets for returns and diversification. It’s important because you need to hedge against inflation and need assets for the downside risks.”
The group consists of multi-asset funds designed for different life stages, but split between accumulation and decumulation.
Old Mutual Wealth, which is made up of the group’s multi-asset portfolios, will rebrand next week after the sale of its single strategy range (currently being called Old Mutual Global Investors Single Strategy), which is headed by Richard Buxton.
It is expected to list on the London Stock Exchange on 25 June. Rebranding of the entire group’s subsidiaries will be re-branded to Quilter over the course of two years.
Markets have been volatile but our evidenced based 60/40 portfolio delivered a positive return of 1.49% between 1 Jan 18 to 19 Jun 18.
Maybe expensive 60/40 portfolios have had their day.