Russell Investments Balanced Fund — Class A is designed for investors seeking longer-term growth with a diversified approach. The Fund invests in predominantly growth assets, with some exposure to alternative assets. It aims to provide returns over the medium to long term, with moderate to high volatility, consistent with a diversified mix of predominantly growth oriented assets and some defensive assets.
The Russell Investments Balanced Fund underperformed the benchmark in the September quarter.
Within our global equity portfolio, the Russell Investments Multi-Asset Factor Exposure Fund recorded negative absolute and excess returns for the quarter, driven in part by its exposure to China and currency hedging positions. In contrast, the Russell Investments Tax Effective Global Shares Fund outperformed its benchmark over the period, benefiting from stock selection in Japan and the UK. In terms of domestic equities, both the Russell Investments Australian Shares Core Fund and the Russell Investments Australian Opportunities Fund recorded negative absolute and excess returns for the quarter; the two funds impacted by a material overweight to the poor-performing healthcare space. The Russell Investments Australian Factor Exposure Fund outperformed its benchmark; though absolute returns were negative. Within the Fund’s traditional fixed income portfolio, the Russell Investments Australian Bond Fund (RABF) performed in line with its benchmark over the period. RABF benefited from a strategic overweight to credit, however this was offset by a slightly long duration exposure. The Russell Investments International Bond Fund – $A Hedged delivered negative absolute and excess returns in the third quarter. In terms of our extended fixed income exposure, Metrics Credit outperformed traditional bonds over the period. The Russell Investments Australian Floating Rate Fund also performed well. Elsewhere in the Fund, our exposures to global and Australian listed property weighed on performance, while a weaker Australian dollar (relative to the US dollar) boosted the returns of the Fund’s assets denominated in foreign currency.
What is Russell Investments Balanced Fund — Class A Russell Investments Balanced Fund — Class A is an Managed Funds investment product that is benchmarked against Multi-Asset Growth Investor Index and sits inside the Multi-Asset - 61-80% Multi-Manager Index. Think of a benchmark as a standard where investment performance can be measured. Typically, market indices like the ASX200 and market-segment stock indexes are used for this purpose. The Russell Investments Balanced Fund — Class A has Assets Under Management of 1.62 BN with a management fee of 0.79%, a performance fee of 0 and a buy/sell spread fee of 0.35%.
How has the investment product performed recently?
The recent investment performance of the investment product shows that the Russell Investments Balanced Fund — Class A has returned 3.96% in the last month. The previous three years have returned 5.05% annualised and 8.49% each year since inception, which is when the Russell Investments Balanced Fund — Class A first started.
How is risk measured in this investment product?
There are many ways that the risk of an investment product can be measured, and each measurement provides a different insight into the risk present. They can be used on their own or together to perform a risk assessment before investing, but when comparing investments, it is common to compare like for like risk measurements to determine which investment holds the most risk. Since Russell Investments Balanced Fund — Class A first started, the Sharpe ratio is 0.28 with an annualised volatility of 8.49%. The maximum drawdown of the investment product in the last 12 months is -5.77% and -34.91% since inception. The maximum drawdown is defined as the high-to-low decline of an investment during a particular time period.
What is the relative performance of the investment product?
Relative performance is what an asset achieves over a period of time compared to similar investments or its peers. Relative return is a measure of the asset's performance compared to the return to the other investment. The Russell Investments Balanced Fund — Class A has a 12-month excess return when compared to the Multi-Asset - 61-80% Multi-Manager Index of 0.3% and -0.2% since inception.
Does the investment product produce Alpha over its Peers?
Alpha is an investing term used to measure an investment's outperformance relative to a market benchmark or peer investment. Alpha describes the excess return generated when compared to peer investment. Russell Investments Balanced Fund — Class A has produced Alpha over the Multi-Asset - 61-80% Multi-Manager Index of -0.05% in the last 12 months and -0.03% since inception.
What are similar investment products?
For a full list of investment products in the Multi-Asset - 61-80% Multi-Manager Index category, you can click here for the Peer Investment Report.
What level of diversification will Russell Investments Balanced Fund — Class A provide?
Russell Investments Balanced Fund — Class A has a correlation coefficient of 0.99 and a beta of 1.13 when compared to the Multi-Asset - 61-80% Multi-Manager Index. Correlation measures how similarly two investments move in relation to one another. This establishes a 'correlation coefficient', which has a value between -1.0 and +1.0. A 100% correlation between two investments means that the correlation coefficient is +1. Beta in investments measures how much the price moves relative to the broader market over a period of time. If the investment moves more than the broader market, it has a beta above 1.0. If it moves less than the broader market, then the beta is less than 1.0. Investments with a high beta tend to carry more risk but have the potential to deliver higher returns.
How do I compare the investment product with its peers?
For a full quantitative report on Russell Investments Balanced Fund — Class A and its peer investments, you can click here for the Peer Investment Report.
How do I compare the Russell Investments Balanced Fund — Class A with the Multi-Asset Growth Investor Index?
For a full quantitative report on Russell Investments Balanced Fund — Class A compared to the Multi-Asset Growth Investor Index, you can click here.
Can I sort and compare the Russell Investments Balanced Fund — Class A to do my own analysis?
To sort and compare the Russell Investments Balanced Fund — Class A financial metrics, please refer to the table above.
Has the Russell Investments Balanced Fund — Class A been independently verified by SMSF Mate?
This investment product is in the process of being independently verified by SMSF Mate. Once we have verified the investment product, you will be able to find more information here.
How can I invest in Russell Investments Balanced Fund — Class A?
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Comments from SMSF Mates
SMSF Mate does not receive commissions or kickbacks from the Russell Investments Balanced Fund — Class A. All data and commentary for this fund is provided free of charge for our readers general information.
Performance Commentary - August 31, 2023 The Russell Investments Balanced Fund performed in line with the benchmark in August. However, the Fund did deliver negative absolute returns for the month. The Fund’s 70% allocation to growth assets such as Australian and global equities and listed property tends to drive returns. The Fund’s equity portfolio was mixed over the period. Within our global equity portfolio, the Russell Investments Tax Effective Global Shares Fund (TEGS) recorded positive absolute returns for the month; though excess returns were in line with its benchmark. TEGS benefited in part from stock selection in the UK; notably a short position in healthcare firm AstraZeneca. In contrast, both the Russell Investments Multi-Asset Factor Exposure Fund and the Russell Investments Global Opportunities Fund – $A Hedged delivered negative absolute and excess returns for the month. In terms of domestic equities, the Russell Investments Australian Shares Core Fund, the Russell Investments Australian Opportunities Fund and the Russell Investments Australian Factor Exposure Fund all recorded negative absolute returns in August. Within the Fund’s traditional fixed income portfolio, the Russell Investments International Bond Fund – $A Hedged delivered both negative absolute and excess returns for the month, while the Russell Investments Australian Bond Fund outperformed its benchmark; benefiting in part from an overweight to credit. In terms of our extended fixed income exposure, Metrics Credit outperformed government bonds, with Australian loans continuing to generate income-like returns. Global floating rate credit and the Russell Investments Australian Floating Rate Fund also performed well in August. The Fund also benefited from its exposure to Australian listed property, while a weaker Australian dollar (relative to the US dollar) boosted the returns of the Fund’s assets denominated in foreign currency.
Performance Commentary - June 30, 2023 The Russell Investments Balanced Fund underperformed the benchmark in the June quarter. Howeer, the Fund did deliver positive absolute returns over the period.
The Fund’s equity portfolio was mixed. Within our global equity portfolio, both the Russell Investments Tax Effective Global Shares Fund (TEGS) and the Russell Investments Multi-Asset Factor Exposure Fund (MAFEF) recorded strong absolute returns for the quarter but underperformed their respective benchmarks. TEGS was impacted by stock selection amongst large US growth names, while MAFEF’s underperformance was driven by its value factor exposure. In terms of domestic equities, both the Russell Investments Australian Shares Core Fund and the Russell Investments Australian Opportunities Fund (RAOF) delivered positive absolute and excess returns for the quarter. The Core Fund benefited from stock selection within the strong-performing information technology space, while RAOF’s outperformance was driven in part by stock selection amongst materials. The Russell Investments Australian Factor Exposure Fund narrowly outperformed its benchmark, benefiting largely from its growth factor exposure. Within the Fund’s traditional fixed income portfolio, the Russell Investments Australian Bond Fund recorded negative absolute returns for the quarter; though it did outperform its benchmark, benefiting from an overweight to credit. The Russell Investments International Bond Fund – $A Hedged delivered negative absolute and benchmark-relative performance over the period. In terms of our extended fixed income exposure, Metrics Credit performed well, with Australian loans continuing to generate income-like returns. The Russell Investments Australian Floating Rate Fund and our exposure to global high-yield debt also added value. More broadly, the Fund benefited from its exposure to global and Australian listed property.
Performance Commentary - March 31, 2023 The Russell Investments Balanced Fund outperformed the benchmark in the March quarter.
The Fund’s equity portfolio was mixed over the period. In terms of domestic equities, both the Russell Investments Australian Shares Core Fund and the Russell Investments Australian Opportunities Fund delivered positive absolute and excess returns for the quarter; benefiting from strong stock selection within the financials space. In contrast, the Russell Investments Australian Factor Exposure Fund narrowly underperformed its benchmark, driven by its low-volatility, value and momentum factor exposures. Within our global equity portfolio, both the Russell Investments Tax Effective Global Shares Fund (TEGS) and the Russell Investments Multi-Asset Factor Exposure Fund (MAFEF) underperformed their respective benchmarks over the period; though the two funds did record strong absolute returns. TEGS was impacted by poor stock selection amongst large US growth names, while MAFEF’s underperformance was driven largely by its value factor exposure. Within the Fund’s traditional fixed income portfolio, the Russell Investments Australian Bond Fund delivered positive absolute and excess returns for the quarter, benefiting from its duration positioning and an overweight to credit. The Russell Investments International Bond Fund – $A Hedged recorded positive absolute returns over the period but narrowly underperformed its benchmark. In terms of our extended fixed income exposure, Metrics Credit performed well, with Australian loans continuing to generate income-like returns. The Russell Investments Australian Floating Rate Fund and our exposure to global high-yield debt also added value. More broadly, the Fund also benefited from its exposure to global and Australian listed property.
Performance Commentary - December 31, 2022 The Russell Investments Balanced Fund narrowly underperformed the benchmark in the December quarter
However, the Fund did deliver positive absolute returns for the period. The Fund’s equity portfolio was mixed over the period. In terms of global equities, the Russell Investments Multi-Asset Factor Exposure Fund underperformed its benchmark; though it did record positive absolute returns. In contrast, the Russell Investments Tax Effective Global Shares Fund posted strong absolute and excess returns for the quarter, benefiting from strong stock selection in the US; notably underweights to large growth names like Tesla, Apple and Amazon.com. Within our domestic equity portfolio, the Russell Investments Australian Factor Exposure Fund recorded positive absolute and excess returns for the quarter, driven largely by its value exposure, while the Russell Investments Australian Shares Core Fund and the Russell Investments Australian Opportunities Fund underperformed their benchmarks. However, the Core and Opportunities funds did deliver strong absolute performance for the quarter. Within the Fund’s traditional fixed income portfolio, the Russell Investments International Bond Fund – $A Hedged and the Russell Investments Australian Bond Fund delivered positive absolute and excess returns over the period, benefiting in part from their credit exposure. In terms of extended fixed income, Metrics Credit (Australian bank loans) and the Russell Investments Floating Rate Fund performed well over the period due to their lower sensitivity to interest rate movements. High-yield debt also outperformed. More broadly, the Fund’s exposure to global and domestic listed property added value in the final quarter, while a stronger Australian dollar impacted the returns of the Fund’s assets denominated in foreign currency.
Performance Commentary - September 30, 2022 The Russell Investments Balanced Fund outperformed the benchmark in the September quarter. However, the Fund did deliver negative absolute returns for the period. Within the Fund’s global equity portfolio, both the Russell Investments Tax Effective Global Shares Fund and the Russell Investments Multi-Asset Factor Exposure Fund (MAFEF) outperformed their respective benchmarks; though the two funds did record negative absolute returns for the quarter.
MAFEF in particular benefited from its momentum factor exposure. In terms of domestic equities, the Russell Investments Australian Shares Core Fund delivered strong absolute and excess returns over the period, while the Russell Investments Australian Factor Exposure Fund narrowly outperformed its benchmark. In contrast, the Russell Investments Australian Opportunities Fund recorded both negative absolute and benchmark-relative returns; the Fund impacted in part by poor stock selection within the materials space. Within our traditional fixed income portfolio, the Russell Investments International Bond Fund – $A Hedged and the Russell Investments Australian Bond Fund posted negative absolute returns for the quarter; though the latter did outperform its benchmark.
In terms of extended fixed income, both Metrics Credit (Australian bank loans) and the Russell Investments Floating Rate Fund recorded strong absolute returns over the period due to their lower sensitivity to interest rate movements. More broadly, the Fund’s exposures to global and domestic listed property weighed on overall performance. Property stocks were impacted by rising interest rates, recession fears and a further spike in long-term government bond yields. Meanwhile, a weaker Australian dollar boosted the returns of the Fund’s assets denominated in foreign currency.
Performance Commentary - June 30, 2022 The Russell Investments Balanced Fund underperformed the benchmark in the June quarter.
The Fund’s traditional fixed income portfolio detracted from performance over the period, with both the Russell Investments International Bond Fund – $A Hedged and the Russell Investments Australian Bond Fund recording negative absolute and excess returns for the quarter. Our credit portfolio also weighed on performance, with global high-yield debt in particular falling sharply. However, this was partly offset by our exposure to bank loans and floating rate credit, which outperformed other credit due to its lower sensitivity to interest rate movements. Performance was further impacted by our exposure to the poorperforming global and Australian listed property markets. Within the Fund’s global equity portfolio, both the Russell Investments Tax Effective Global Shares Fund and the Russell Investments Multi-Asset Factor Exposure Fund (MAFEF) posted negative absolute returns for the quarter; though the two funds did outperform their respective benchmarks.
MAFEF in particular benefited from its value and low-volatility factor exposures. In terms of domestic equities, both the Russell Investments Australian Shares Core Fund and the Russell Investments Australian Opportunities Fund posted negative absolute returns for the quarter but outperformed their benchmarks. The Russell Investments Australian Factor Exposure Fund underperformed over the period, due largely to its value and momentum factor exposures. Meanwhile, currency positioning was mixed for the quarter. An overweight to the Japanese yen detracted from returns, while a weaker Australian dollar boosted the returns of the Fund’s assets denominated in foreign currency.
Performance Commentary - June 30, 2021 The Russell Investments Balanced Fund performed in line with the benchmark in the June quarter.
Contributing positively to performance were strong absolute returns from our global equity portfolio, including the Russell Investments Tax Effective Global Shares Fund and the Russell Investments Multi-Asset Factor Exposure Fund. However, both funds narrowly underperformed their benchmarks over the period. This was due largely to their value exposure, as investors tended to favour quality and growth names over more cyclical, cheaper value stocks. It was a similar theme within our Australian equity portfolio, with the Russell Investments Australian Shares Core Fund, the Russell Investments Australian Opportunities Fund and the Russell Investments Australian Factor Exposure Fund all recording strong absolute returns for the quarter but underperforming their benchmarks. The Fund’s credit exposure also added value over the period, including global floating rate credit and global high-yield debt. Our exposure to the Russell Investments Emerging Market Debt Local Currency Fund was also positive, as were our exposures to bank loans and securitised assets. Within our fixed income portfolio, both the Russell Investments International Bond Fund – $A Hedged and the Russell Investments Australian Bond Fund recorded positive absolute and excess returns for the quarter.
The two funds benefited largely from their overweight to credit. An overweight to global listed property, which outperformed the broader global equity market over the period, added further value.
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