Not all of us want, or have time, to become investment gurus. While it’s important to know the basics to understand your own situation, delving into the details of how much you should invest in each part of the market can be time consuming. Fortunately, there are certain types of investments designed to take the stress out of investment research.
All-in-one funds are investments that contain a mixture of assets, typically shares and bonds, and sometimes also including property, cash and gold. Also known as multi-asset funds, they typically come in different versions so you can select the amount of risk you want to take.
AJ Bell offers a range of its own all-in-one funds, and performance has been good relative to their peers, as we discuss later in this article.
How do these funds work?
All-in-one funds are designed to make your life easier as experts do all the hard work. They typically have a blend of passive and active investing.
The managers choose where to allocate money in the investment market, and how to spread that money around, but they don’t pick individual bonds or stocks. Instead, they invest in other funds that focus on certain areas.
You don’t have to put all your money into these funds. Many people decide to use them as the core of their ISA or pension and then choose other investments to sit alongside them.
Who offers all-in-one funds?
Many different companies offer all-in-one funds, and you’re likely to be familiar with the names. AJ Bell has its own range, as does Vanguard, L&G, 7IM, Barclays and more.
Along with choosing from different providers, you will have the option to choose between risk levels. Higher-risk funds will have more of their holdings in equities, and as you go down the range, the lower-risk funds will have more holdings in bonds and cash.
The amount of risk you’re willing to take with your investments ultimately comes down to comfort and how long you can keep the money in the market. If you plan to invest for a shorter period, there is less time for your money to recover value in the event of a market fall.
Choosing a higher-risk fund
Many people are searching for a fund that gives them access to the stock market but also provides a security blanket.
If you want to bundle both elements into a single package, an all-in-one fund with a high equity allocation might be of interest. These are generally aimed at those who are more comfortable with the bumps of investing and have a relatively long timeframe for their investment.
Although these funds are all considered adventurous, the proportion of the money allocated to shares may different between products. Historically, on average, higher exposure to shares results in a better long-term performance, but as you’ll see below, this isn’t always the case. Here are a few multi-asset funds from some of the most prominent providers, and how they’ve performed. The word ‘equity’ is another term for stocks and shares.
The difference between the funds doesn’t just come down to the amount of exposure to shares versus other assets, but how these allocations are used. For example, managers will decide how to invest across different regions or sectors.
So, you may have a fund that is 80% equity, with 25% in the US, 25% in the UK, and 50% in other areas of the globe. You can investigate the fund details to find out exactly how the managers handle this allocation. Having diversity at the sector level can help make investments less volatile, even with a high allocation to shares.
Balanced all-in-one funds
For others, moderation is key. This is a mindset you can take into investing as well, by choosing funds that have a mix of shares, bonds and other investments.
Historically, this has meant a slightly lower return than the funds dominated by shares, but it’s often a smoother ride. So, for those who are more risk averse or have a shorter timeline, it could be more appealing.
What if you’re searching for a fund that sits somewhere in the middle of the risk spectrum? Even though a lower equity allocation usually leads to less capital risk, there’s still other things you need to consider, like if the returns will be enough to reach your goals, or if the growth will be too small when you factor in inflation.
Lower risk all-in-one funds
If you opt for a lower risk all-in-one fund, you will still have some exposure to shares (which are classified as higher risk), but it may be closer to between 20% and 40%.
Most of your exposure will typically be in bonds. Bonds are often considered more reliable than equities because they will be paid before equity shareholders if something goes wrong with the investee company. On the flip side, the returns might be less.
It’s important to note that even though bonds are considered safer, you’ll need to consider what sort of bonds your all-in-one fund invests in.
Government bonds like Gilts are usually considered safe (as it’s unlikely the Bank of England would default) but they offer small returns.
High yield bonds have much more attractive returns, but they are with less-trusted governments or companies. It’s worth considering the return, charges, and allocations when choosing a fund, and remember that past performance is not a guarantee of what will happen in the future.
A shares-only version
Some all-in-one fund providers will have versions that only contain shares. You may wonder why someone would invest in this instead of just choosing a global tracker fund. This comes down to how the funds diversify their holdings.
In a regular global tracker fund, you are tracking an index of companies all over the world. The companies with the biggest market cap will typically have the largest allocation. This can work well, but sometimes it means that countries with a big market presence, like the US, end up dominating the index.
In an all-in-one fund, the managers decide how to split the money between regions and sectors and then invest in funds in those regions and sectors.
So, it adds in a level of manual diversification which stops a single region from becoming dominant. This can help smooth out volatility.
Hannah Williford: Content Writer
Hannah joined AJ Bell in 2025 as an investment writer. She was previously a journalist at Portfolio Adviser Magazine, reporting on multi-asset, fixed income and equity funds, as well as macroeconomic impacts and regulatory changes...
