Skip to main content
Back

Moderate core strategy: a balanced approach for long-term savers 

Your life is busy enough as it is, given work, family commitments, hobbies, and meeting friends, without having to think about daily market movements and their effect on your savings. Essentially, it’s not detailed financial forecasts you need, just the reassurance of a balanced investment approach, such as a moderate core strategy, you can rely on and stick with over time.

Yet there are still attention-grabbing themes, such as inflation, an economic slowdown, and changing interest rates that can affect asset prices, the value of your savings and, ultimately, your level of financial resilience and longevity.

These factors reinforce the importance of a moderate core investment approach with an acceptable level of risk that can provide you with growth and income over the medium- to long-term, ensuring a life focused on enjoyment, meaning, and financial independence.

If this is what you are seeking, you are not alone. For instance, Manulife’s 2025 Asia Care Survey revealed that 50% of Singaporeans value quality of life over a longer life, while 40% want to live with dignity, free of chronic illnesses or disabilities. However, many of those we spoke to were unsure how to achieve these goals. Our solution is to adopt a moderate core strategy, which can help provide a clearer path forward.

The flexibility to navigate changing market conditions

A moderate core strategy is about more than just managing risk – it provides multiple layers of functionality within a portfolio. While no one welcomes uncomfortable financial decisions, a well-constructed core can help ease that burden. Spreading exposure across different asset classes reduces reliance on any single source of risk and enhances overall resilience.

Importantly, a moderate core is not simply a fixed 50:50 split between equities and bonds focused purely on growth. Rather, it represents a balanced middle ground between pursuing higher returns and holding excessive cash. Designed with flexibility in mind, it aims to withstand market volatility, deliver a degree of consistency, and smooth the overall investment journey.

A moderate core strategy serves as a foundational building block throughout your life, particularly for investors with a 2–10-year horizon who want to accumulate capital, generate steady income, and maintain stability amid market fluctuations.

At the same time, this core strategy should be a central component of every portfolio, regardless of age. While its role remains consistent, its allocation can be adjusted to reflect different life stages, financial goals, and risk appetites.

As your needs change, so does your portfolio

At Manulife Investments, we have taken the concept of a core strategy one step further by integrating it into our Manulife Empower Solutions1. These are a range of funds that follow a glide-path approach to saving, whereby your strategic (long-term) asset allocation typically shifts from higher risk to lower risk throughout your life. The Manulife Empower Solutions are designed for people of all ages who want assurance that their investments can potentially provide for them through the decades.

Within the Manulife Empower Solutions, our core strategy is the Manulife Empower Moderate Fund, which combines the income generation (for stability) and capital appreciation (for growth) whilst being actively managed with a moderate tolerance for volatility. The Manulife Empower Moderate Fund is designed to participate in market upside while managing downside risk, which may suit investors seeking steadier progress. Moreover, the Manulife Empower Moderate Fund can be paired with other funds at different life stages – such as the Manulife Empower Growth Fund for longer investment horizons and a conservative fund when you are closer to retirement to enhance stability.

Manulife Empower Moderate Fund – for the stage in your life when you seek the middle ground

Balanced Risk Management: The Manulife Empower Moderate Fund balances the higher return potential of stocks with the ballast and lower volatility of fixed income markets. Its typical allocation is 60% equities and 40% fixed Income, alternatives, and cash.

Capital Preservation Focus: The Manulife Empower Moderate Fund aims to grow wealth steadily while protecting your principal investment from drastic market downturns.

Professional Management: Instead of picking individual stocks, the investment team automatically manages, allocates, and rebalances the underlying assets.

Diversification: Rather than investing in a single asset, the Manulife Empower Moderate Fund takes a balanced, multi-asset approach and spreads risk across a basket of underlying funds covering domestic and global markets.

As the saying goes, everything in moderation. And the same should apply to your investments. Why not take a closer look at your portfolio and consider whether it has a clear, moderate core that could help you journey through different market conditions? If you are unsure, then talking to a professional financial adviser can be useful in identifying the structure of your assets.

 

1 Refers to Manulife Empower Conservative Fund; Manulife Empower Growth Fund; Manulife Empower Income Fund; Manulife Empower Moderate Fund.

  • Why longevity may still need growth exposure

    Read more
  • Why longevity demands a new investment approach to retirement planning

    Read more
  • Securing retirement: what makes a strong retirement system

    Read more
See all