The Asset Allocator Podcast

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 the recent spate of volatility.The Asset Allocator Podcast is a weekly series aimed at discretionary fund managers, fund selectors and wealth managers, providing insight into the issues that drive investment decisions.To receive the Asset Allocator email in your inbox for free, sign up here.

As markets take a pause for breath, we have a chat with Alex Funk, who is newly-installed as head of investments at Portfoliometrix.He chats with Joseph Wilkins and David Thorpe about the MPS solutions he has inherited and he reflects on the recent market volatility.They also discuss where he is seeing risk on the horizon and whether he is planning on tweaking his new portfolios.The Asset Allocator Podcast is a weekly series aimed at discretionary fund managers, fund selectors and wealth managers, providing insight into the issues that drive investment decisions.To receive the Asset Allocator email in your inbox for free, sign up here.

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water, market volatility strikes again.This week Joseph Wilkins and Dave Baxter are joined by Freddy Colquhoun, investment director at JM Finn, to discuss this week's market volatility, his views on the economic outlook and whether there are any asset classes he thinks are particularly compelling at the moment.They also discuss his views on the compelling valuations in the UK and what his outlook is for the home economy.The Asset Allocator Podcast is a weekly series aimed at discretionary fund managers, fund selectors and wealth managers, providing insight into the issues that drive investment decisions.To receive the Asset Allocator email in your inbox for free, sign up here.

Many of the discussions which are held about portfolios at the moment centre around macro questions.This week David Thorpe and Joseph Wilkins are joined by Ernst Knacke, head of investment research at Shard Capital, to discuss what he views as the greatest threat facing portfolios in the current environment and how he is safeguarding against it.They also discuss his use of alternatives such as managed futures and gold, and his plans to launch his MPS proposition on platform later this year.The Asset Allocator Podcast is a weekly series aimed at discretionary fund managers, fund selectors and wealth managers, providing insight into the issues that drive investment decisions.To receive the Asset Allocator email in your inbox for free, sign up here.

The recent success of the so-called magnificent seven stocks has caused plenty of pause for thought so far this year.In the latest edition of the Asset Allocator Podcast, we speak to James Crocker of Albert E Sharp about why he's so nervous about the magnificent seven and their influence on the wider stock market.They also weigh up the impact of a looming shift in monetary policy to cutting interest rates and its impact on allocations.The Asset Allocator Podcast is a weekly series aimed at discretionary fund managers, fund selectors and wealth managers, providing insight into the issues that drive investment decisions.To receive the Asset Allocator email in your inbox for free, sign up here.

This week Joseph Wilkins and David Thorpe are joined by Jonathan Griffiths, investment product manager at EBI, to discuss the growing use of factor tilts and which ones he particularly keen on at the moment.They also discuss the AI boom and how he is approaching that within his portfolios and what he makes of the looming SDR regulations for portfolio managers.The Asset Allocator Podcast is a weekly series aimed at discretionary fund managers, fund selectors and wealth managers, providing insight into the issues that drive investment decisions.To receive the Asset Allocator email in your inbox for free, sign up here.

In this podcast, Asset Allocator chief reporter Joseph Wilkins, contributing editor David Thorpe and Jason Borbora-Sheen talk about the importance of diversification when it comes to fixed income portfolio construction, and how to understand the current concerns around sticky inflation and a higher-for-longer rate environment. Borbora-Sheen, who is a portfolio manager in the multi-asset team at Ninety One, also explains the "forces driving the higher sensitivity" between equities and fixed income, and why managers need to be flexible in their allocation strategies.

This year has so far been dominated by two-high profile examples of the rule at play: Ben Whitmore’s forthcoming departure from Jupiter, and Mike Riddell’s more abrupt exit from Allianz.Plus Peter Rutter has left Royal London to set up on his own and Peter Saacke has left Artemis to become a maths teacher (a career trajectory also being followed by Baillie Gifford's Torcail Stewart).On this week's podcast Dave Baxter, David Thorpe and Joseph Wilkins have a chat about this spate of departures and the issue of what to do if a manager leaves more generally. They also discuss the rush to small caps among some DFMs and where allocators go when they are feeling adventurous.The Asset Allocator Podcast is a weekly series aimed at discretionary fund managers, fund selectors and wealth managers, providing insight into the issues that drive investment decisions.To receive the Asset Allocator email in your inbox for free, sign up here.