How we invest

Hang on a second - what do we mean by an all-weather portfolio?

Essentially one that you can put your hard earned savings into, and leave the rest to the experts.

We'll ask you a few questions about your attitude to risk and return and what you're hoping to get out of investing, as well as which impact themes you care about most. We'll then recommend a portfolio within one of three risk categories: Cautious, Balanced or Growth.

The higher the risk profile, the higher the allocation to equities, as these tend to have greater price fluctuations (volatility) than other assets.

All of our portfolios include a range of investments, spread across different asset classes, fund managers, sectors and geographies. This is known as diversification and helps provide a smoother path of returns. We actively manage asset allocation between underlying funds and undertake significant analysis before adding or removing a fund from your portfolio, so we can maintain the right level of risk and return and you can sleep well at night.

By using the expertise of our award-winning investment team, our portfolios are designed to be all-weather - to cope in the storms and make hay in the sun.

1. ...investors are rewarded for staying invested and compounding returns. We take a medium-long term view and you should expect to be invested for at least three years*. (*Although your money can be withdrawn at any point, see FAQs)

2. ...in holding a range of investments to spread risk

3. ...a good company doesn't always make a good investment if bought at the wrong price. We believe we can add value through actively selecting the investments in your portfolio, rather than relying on tracking an index.

4. ...sustainability factors are integral to all investment decisions.

5. ...investing doesn't have to be complicated and opaque. We do our best to ditch the jargon and be transparent.

Once you're invested, you'll notice that some of the investments listed are individual company names and some are funds managed by Schroders or other fund management houses.

The core equity strategy in all of our Schroders Sustainable Investportfolios is the Schroders Global Sustainable Growth Fund. We showyou the underlying stocks within the strategy so you can have a betteridea of which companies you’re invested in. Every holding selected by thefund manager must pass a rigorous selection process, helping to identify“good” companies that are also good investments at the current shareprice.

Unlike with many other investment offerings that use ETFs (ExchangeTraded Funds) or passive funds that track an index, we take an active approach. This means we have conviction in all of the holdings and cansell investments where we believe the share price is too high, even if westill believe they are a good company. We can also use our influence asinvestors to push for change much more effectively, and sell our holdingsif we don’t see sufficient progress.

Our portfolios invest in sustainable businesses across a mixture of asset classes, incorporating the best funds from both Schroders and third-party investment managers. We have a team of investment experts with decades of experience in selecting funds for our clients, adapting portfolios according to the market environment.

We want you to feel empowered by your investments and know that you’re making the most of your money. As a shareholder you get a say in how a company is run. Influencing the practices of companies that we invest in and ensuring stakeholders – employees, the local community, the environment, society more broadly – as well as shareholders – are considered in our investments is what we call active ownership. We aim to drive change that will protect and enhance the value of our investments and we are committed to leveraging the weight of the whole Schroders Group to change how a company is operating for the better. We believe this is an important aspect of our role as stewards of our customers’ money and how we help them meet their long-term financial goals.

Schroders has been named as one of the world’s most influential companies with the ability to make a meaningful contribution to achieving the SDGs.*

Schroders Engagement Blueprint sets out our process, priority themes, and desired outcomes (aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals) and expectations for our engagements.

We vote in over 6,000 company meetings and complete over 2,000 engagements each year and report on not just the volume but the outcomes of these engagements. Over 60% of engagements started in the last three years have led to change.*

* World Benchmarking Alliance, SDG2000 January 2020

* Schroders Sustainable Investment Report 2021