A smarter way to a balanced portfolio

asset allocation

With the buffeting with-profits are taking in the markets, as well as the press, investors should look for other ways to get the benefits of a diversified portfolio that allow a transparent way to hold a range of assets

People are most credulous when they are most happy, to borrow from Walter Bagehot. In the late 1990s, with-profits investors had no idea of the pain awaiting them in the early years of the new millennium. Sales had risen steadily since the 1980s and with-profits grew to dominate the UK savings market. Policyholders were enjoying generous annual returns in the form of reversionary bonuses and hefty terminal bonuses. The only question was how much of your portfolio to invest. Then equities fell sharply between 2000 and early 2003 and payouts have been repeatedly cut. Most policyholders are n...