An exclusive Q&A as Schroders’ Tara Jameson talks to Brandon Russell about the Schroders’ approach to Multi-Asset
When undertaking due diligence and comparing different Multi-Asset solutions for clients, two questions will inevitably spring to an adviser’s mind. Is it active and/or passive? What is the cost of fund?
A decision to move clients into a passive fund over an actively managed one is often down to the difference in cost between the two approaches. However, Schroders have been working on a Multi- Asset solution that sees the best of both worlds, by combining active management with passive-type costs.
At Schroders, there is a belief that the best way to secure consistent investment returns for clients is to be dynamic and react to the markets as circumstances change.
During this exclusive conversation with IFA Magazine’s Brandon Russell, Tara Jameson, Multi-Asset fund manager at Schroders, discusses the benefits of a dynamic approach to asset allocation, the offering that is provided within Schroders’ Multi-Asset solution and how she and her team have found an attractive way to offer active management at passive prices.
As Tara explains: “We know that cost is important for advisers and their clients and so our Schroder Global Multi-Asset Portfolios coming in at just 22 bps offers real appeal in the market. We genuinely feel that with it, we’re offering robust active management at passive prices as this charging rate is comparable to many of the passive providers. We are sometimes met with a bit of a dropped jaw when we tell people the price and that we are actively managing the fund.
“How do we do it? There are two main ways and reasons that we’re able to offer active management at such a low cost. The first is the scale in our MultiAsset research process. The second is the access that we have to internal funds around our firm. Active management is all about dynamically adjusting our asset allocation through time in the funds and trying to adapt to market conditions around us.
“We’re a global research team and we run a global research process. There are over 140 people who are dedicated to the strategy of dynamically adjusting our asset allocation and we have £160 billion that’s following our strategy. This means that the Global MultiAsset Portfolios are able to tap into that same global research process. It gives us considerable scale and a lot of resource to be able to offer this sort of dynamic asset allocation at such a competitive cost. In addition to running the Schroder Global Multi Asset Portfolios, I’m heavily involved in our Global Multi-Asset research process, and that’s how we work in collaboration across our Multi-Asset team.
“On the second point, within the Schroder Global Multi-Asset Portfolios, we invest in Schroder funds to deliver active management from the bottom up. So, we are using Schroders funds in the equity space and in the bond space to deliver that bottom-up active management. We’re in a fortunate position at Schroders, as we are a very big asset manager in the UK with a very good track record in terms of active management. We really have that strength and the depth across the major asset classes, giving us wide ranging access to underlying managers for integration within a Multi-Asset fund.”
Providing robust active management for the cost of a passive portfolio is clearly the central aim for Schroders’ Global Multi-Asset Portfolios. However, delivering an attractive price point at the cost of performance is certainly not the target for Tara and her team.
The Schroder Global Multi-Asset Portfolios aims to offer a ‘best-in-class’ solution for an affordable fee by leaning on the significant infrastructure that only a firm with the size and resources of Schroders can provide.
By utilising the vast number of researchers, active managers and on-hand support workers which Schroders has, Tara believes that a solution that is both the best value and best performing can be offered to clients.
She said: “First and foremost, it’s all about performance. That is where the active management is really key, and we think it’ll continue to be key going forward. It is the main element that we’re providing for the 22 basis points charge. It includes actively reviewing the strategic asset allocation, being dynamic with asset allocation on day-to-day basis, and also access to all those managers around Schroders for picking the very best companies. Not to forget that the Global Multi-Asset Portfolios are tapping into our global research process so you’re getting access, for that 22 basis points, to all 140 of the dedicated people around the world who are closely analysing economic trends, markets, sectors, themes, companies and a whole lot more.
“Outside of the portfolio’s specific benefits, I think it’s important to remember that there are a lot of other things going on at Schroders that your client is also getting access to within that 22 basis points.
“The first of these is access to our internal economics group. This group’s input is not only critical in actually providing inputs for our annual review of our strategic asset allocation, but they’re also providing ongoing thoughts on the market, releasing a lot of thoughtleadership pieces around that which is very useful information for you and your clients. More specifically, we also have a lot of adviser and client collateral that financial advisers can tap into to help those conversations with clients on an ongoing basis.
“The whole concept is built to help support both the adviser and their clients, involving specifics such as monthly market commentaries and quarterly portfolio analysis. Our quarterly webinars are popular, and occasionally you’ll see us filming something in our TV studio and providing comment on hot topics of the moment.
“Finally, we also have our regional distribution teams and our head office support teams who are on hand to answer questions at any time. That is really the point of contact for financial advisers, for any questions about the portfolios that we’re running. Therefore, for those 22 basis points everything from, all the active management we’re doing within the portfolios, the access to all the managers around Schroders, our thought leadership and analysis on what is happening in the wider market is all included. Ultimately this all helps with those conversations with your clients and ensures they are receiving the best service possible to suit their needs.”
Schroders’ Global Multi-Asset Portfolios team is focused on providing the best outcomes for clients with the best value solution. They firmly believe that the best way to do so is through active management.
Whilst the ‘Active vs Passive’ debate continues to wade on, Tara and her team are fully convinced that a 60/40 passive strategy is outdated and that a dynamic approach to asset allocation is the best way to reduce risk, keep clients invested and ensure the best outcomes for all involved for the long term.
Tara said: “The big picture view is that the financial world has changed, and therefore the status quo won’t necessarily work for clients going forward. The way to navigate that change in environment is by being dynamic. If we look at the financial world around us, inflation has become a very big problem and interest rate cycles have returned to a more normal trajectory. When we look at the world today, we don’t really feel that a static approach to portfolio construction, which many have tended to get away with for the last decade in passive strategies, isn’t necessarily going to work going forward.
“When we speak to financial advisers, one of the most important things which they tell us, is to help ensure that clients can stay invested for the longer term. We know that financial markets are a lot less risky over the long term than they are over the short term. If you look at the probability from historic data of how often equities beat cash or inflation, it approaches 80-90% when you’re looking at periods of 10-20 years. But when you’re looking at shorter periods of less than a year, that probability is only just more than a coin flip.
“We believe that one of the key ways to keep your clients invested is to try to avoid the pitfalls along the way while we’re going through this era of big change. That’s why we firmly believe in using dynamic asset allocation. It means we’re able to adjust to the world around us as we’re seeing cyclical changes in the market, as we go through those interest rate cycles or as we see particular events coming up.
“In summary, our focus within the Global Multi-Asset Portfolios is on using a strategic asset allocation strategy for the medium to long term, that’s been designed to deliver your clients’ expected levels of risk as well as what they’re trying to achieve in terms of return. By using that as a starting point, we then build on it by dynamically adjusting the asset allocation away from that strategic allocation on a day-to-day basis depending on what’s happening in the world around us. By being dynamic, using all our combined strengths and resources as an asset manager, we believe that we are ideally placed to work closely with advisers in order to deliver for clients.”
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About Tara Jameson, CFA Multi-Asset Fund Manager

Tara joined Schroders in 2014 and is a Multi-Asset Fund Manager. She manages assets on behalf of UK pension & wealth management clients and is co-manager for the Schroder Global Multi-Asset Portfolios. Tara is also Head of the Credit Research Group within Multi-Asset Investments at Schroders. She was previously a Solutions Manager within the Risk Managed Investments team until 2018, which involved designing and constructing systematic risk management and option strategies. Tara is a CFA Charterholder and holds a degree in Natural Sciences from Cambridge University.