Real return fund take-up on the rise, says Perpetual

Real return funds have more than quadrupled in the past five years to almost $10 billion in assets, Perpetual said in a statement.

It noted that the funds are designed to provide a higher certainty of achieving a real return objective with a lower level of risk and lower sensitivity to extreme market events.

Perpetual head of multi asset Michael O’Dea said advisers are increasingly turning to real return investing in constructing portfolios.

“Real return strategies offer investors the convenience of an expanded set of investment opportunities within a single fund,” Mr O’Dea said.

“In addition, these funds have tremendous scope to adjust the asset allocation based on the manager’s view of the likely returns and risks of any asset class.”

Mr O’Dea also noted the importance of diversity in portfolio construction, citing a recent Wealth Insights report that said multi asset strategies now compose up to 19 per cent of investor portfolios, up from an average of 8 per cent in 2007.

“Real return strategies offer a breadth of investment ideas and portfolio construction that can protect and grow investors’ capital,” he said.