A rule of investing is to try to diversify your investments across different assets. If that's what you're trying to do, multi-asset investing might be right for you.
Multi-asset funds are designed to invest your money across a range of assets. These could include a mixture of equities, bonds, property, cash and currencies, all held in a single portfolio. Expert fund managers research the markets, and decide how much of your money to invest in each type of asset at any given time – which makes investing much easier if you don't have time to make these decisions yourself.
Different kinds of assets perform well at different times. So, by investing in different types of assets, and not putting all your eggs in one basket, you're reducing the risks you're exposed to, and you could even benefit from changing market conditions.
At M&G, we take a unique approach to multi-asset investing. We believe stockmarkets are often affected by people's emotions – for instance, investors reacting to news that really has no long-term bearing on their investments.
Our expert multi-asset managers regard these instances as 'Episodes', and they look to take advantage of these by making calm and considered investment decisions, which we believe could produce better returns for you and your money. They're also very careful to control investment risk by making sure there's genuine diversification across each portfolio.
Each fund manager is responsible for the decisions relating to their investments, but all our managers work as a team, constantly sharing ideas and information for the benefit of our investors. This is a tried-and-tested approach to investing which has been proved successful throughout a series of crises in the world's financial markets. So we believe it's robust and has the potential to deliver attractive returns, in a variety of market conditions.
When you're deciding how to invest, it's important to remember that the value of the fund's assets will go down as well as up. This will cause the value of your investment to fall as well as rise and you may get back less than you originally invested.
However, please remember, that past performance is not a guide to future performance.
Like any investment, you should carefully consider if investing in multi-asset funds fits with your personal aims and objectives before investing. Importantly, you should also check that the profiles of the funds match your own investment timeframe and appetite for risk and reward. You can find out more about the risks you need to consider before investing in our KIIDs.
Our multi-asset funds are what we class as ‘stand-alone’ funds – funds that you can hold individually, and not necessarily as part of a wider investment portfolio. Multi-asset funds spread your money across different asset types so you don't have ‘all your eggs in one basket’, offering an off-the-shelf solution if you’re looking for diversification in one investment.
Unfortunately we’re not able to give any financial advice. If you’re at all unsure about the suitability of your investment, please speak to a financial adviser.
Find out more about diversification in our handy M&G Guide.
To see our full range of multi-asset funds, click here and select Multi Asset in the Asset class filter.
The views expressed here should not be taken as a recommendation, advice or forecast.