What sets Evelyn Partners’ Index MPS range apart from other index investment products?

While actively managed funds play a key role in portfolios, index funds are becoming more popular. Index funds look to provide the return of a particular market, also referred to as ‘tracking the index’ or ‘passive investing’. Meanwhile, active funds are investment funds managed by a team or individual who selects stocks to try and outperform a specific market or benchmark. 

One of the reasons for an increase in the appeal of index funds is their low charges. As the popularity of index funds has increased, so have the range of indices you can track. But index tracking funds cannot provide exposure to a wide range of different sectors and styles. However, combining several types of index funds allows for greater flexibility when building portfolios, addressing some of the limitations commonly associated with this type of investing while retaining the low-cost advantages that made them so attractive in the first place. 

Evelyn Partners’ Index Managed Portfolio Service (MPS) range adopts this approach to portfolio construction, combing a range of different index tracking funds to construct a diversified portfolio in line with the Evelyn Partners’ asset allocation framework, at a low cost. This provides the benefit of active asset allocation with the cost advantages that come with index funds. 

Advisers and their clients using the Index MPS service will benefit from Evelyn Partners’ active asset allocation framework and regular rebalancing, through a portfolio of index funds and exchange traded products (ETPs). The five portfolios are suited to different risk profiles (from low to high risk) and include: Cautious, Balanced, Growth, Adventurous and Maximum Growth.  

• Diversification: Market-capitalisation weighted strategies invest in companies in line with their size (their ‘market-cap’) within the index. This can cause these strategies to be heavily exposed to the biggest companies in the index which has an impact on portfolio diversification. Factor-based strategies can use different weighting methodologies, which provide exposure to other parts of the market, allowing for a greater balance across sectors and styles , The Index MPS range uses both market-cap weighted and factor-based index funds
• Balanced exposure: By incorporating factor-based index funds, the Index MPS range ensures exposure to under-represented market segments, such as the S&P 500 Equal Weight Index and a fundamentally weighted global equity strategy, which can offer further diversification relative to using market cap weighted strategies on their own
• It invests in a variety of fixed interest funds: Some funds are exposed to broad fixed interest benchmarks (indices that track the performance of a specific segment of the bond market), which means there’s little control over the duration and credit exposure they take. However, investors in Evelyn Partners’ Index MPS range get exposed to more focused fixed interest funds to keep duration short and to control the credit risk, which can be advantageous in a fluctuating interest rate environment
• Diverse asset classes: Beyond equities and fixed interest, the Index MPS range includes other asset classes such as gold, which can enhance diversification. Demand for gold has increased and it could remain a popular asset to invest in as geopolitical tensions continue and countries look to diversify away from the US dollar  
• Active management with low costs: The Index MPS portfolios are actively managed, which may offer an advantage over competing static passive funds that do not adapt to changing market conditions. This doesn’t mean that these types of funds will be the best choice in all market conditions
• Greater flexibility: Some propositions are limited to selecting funds from their own ranges, however, Evelyn Partners' Index MPS range can choose from the entire market. This flexibility allows for the inclusion of what we view to be the best available funds, potentially improving the overall quality of the portfolios
• Risks: Investments can fluctuate in value, and you could get back less than the original invested amount