Karen Watkin, CFA

With major US policy change unfolding, flexibility across and within asset classes will be critical.

We expect the opportunity set to widen for income investors in 2025, though less clarity around the second half requires a dynamic approach.

For multi-asset income investors, adapting portfolios for equity defense, credit potential and duration exposure should be on the docket for 2024.

An improved income outlook for multi-asset investors, including higher yields, sharply contrasts with cloudy conditions at 2023’s start.

Dividend investing should expand beyond traditional dividend-paying stocks to generate income effectively without giving up return potential in growth-led markets.

Multi-asset income strategies should feature high-dividend stocks, high-yield credit and global government bonds in 2023.

Global indicators continue to signal a sharp business recovery from last year's COVID-19 pandemic lows. While inflation expectations are increasing as a result, business improvements offer multi-asset investors good reasons to remain tilted to equities for the next stage of the recovery.

Having strongly underperformed the wider stock market in 2020, high-dividend stocks have shown early signs of a rebound in recent weeks.

Emerging-market (EM) asset returns substantially lagged their developed-market (DM) counterparts over the last decade. In 2020 so far, EM equity performance has been on par with DM equities. Are we at an inflection point?

Higher-income assets underperformed in the second-quarter rebound. But that also means there's pent-up potential in income-generating assets that may begin to show in later stages of the recovery.

The time is right to search for income with a diversified multi-asset portfolio. Since the coronavirus downturn, the opportunity to capture yield in dividend-paying stocks, real estate investment trusts, high-yield bonds and other income-generating assets has improved dramatically.

The last decade produced great performance across most asset classes. But in the 2020s, we expect investment market returns will be lower and risk harder to manage. Looking forward, a disciplined multi-asset approach will be especially valuable to identify opportunities and help mitigate setbacks.

The last decade produced great performance across most asset classes. But in the 2020s, we expect investment market returns will be lower and risk harder to manage. Looking forward, a disciplined multi-asset approach will be especially valuable to identify opportunities and help mitigate setbacks.

As global economic growth enters a period of likely protracted weakness, investors should revisit their exposures. From a multi-asset perspective, focus on surprisingly resilient high-yield credit and higher quality equities, while reducing exposure to parts of the market that are most vulnerable to trade tensions.

Welcome to the late, late stage of the economic cycle. The global economy is slowing, risks are rising and volatility will likely remain elevated after rising sharply in the first half of 2019. Investors would be wise to adapt a more neutral, well-diversified position, while leaving enough flexibility to take advantage of opportunities as they arise.

There are a lot of suggestions these days about where to get extra income, but less discussion about the cost attached to it. A diversified multi-asset approach can help-and provide additional growth potential. But how it's designed matters.

As the new year begins to unfold, the environment for risk assets is still benign: the global economy is strong, monetary policy is accommodative, and volatility is low and steady. At this point, we don't see excesses developing that could change that.