Just bluster?

This has been the allocation of choice for traditional balanced portfolios and has served investors well for the past 50 years. Is this all about to change and should investors be looking for something different?

The story of an economic gear shift which sent post-war Britain careering around country lanes, before skidding on an oil slick and being sent ditchward. There it was left, engine smoking, entangled in the brambles of inflation. It wasn’t until 1980 that road-side recovery eventually arrived in the shape of Paul Volcker and his inflation curbing toolkit.

The response to this economic crisis has moved away from the old monetary regime to one where fiscal policy has become more important.

November 2020: The future looks even more uncertain than usual. Normally uncertainty translates into lower asset prices. But not this time. And with the prices of all assets buoyed by abundant liquidity, we fear a traditional ‘diversified’ portfolio is not going to be much protection in the next market convulsion.

September 2020: John Wong, co-manager of the LF Ruffer Gold Fund, and Jenny Renton, Investment Director and co-manager of the Charity Assets Trust, assess the case for gold and share their thoughts on its role in investors’ portfolios.