Over the past two months, we have looked at each of the CDI discretionary managed portfolios in detail. Our journey through the portfolio range concludes with the strategy reserved for those investors who are prepared to take higher levels of investment risk in the pursuit of significantly higher capital growth over the longer term.
Geared for growth
Diversification remains at the core of the FAS Investment Committee process and is a key method of reducing portfolio risk; however, the CDI Adventurous portfolio takes a different approach, as the portfolio is almost entirely invested in global equities. The portfolio holds between 90% and 100% in global and UK equities, with a small balance of the portfolio held in cash. Unlike the other CDI mandates, the CDI Adventurous portfolio may not necessarily hold any exposure to other asset classes, such as fixed income, property or infrastructure, which act as diversifiers. The absence of an allocation to other asset classes is likely to impact portfolio volatility and maximum drawdown, and as a result, the portfolio is designed for investors who can afford to accept higher levels of potential loss, in the pursuit of superior returns.
In every other respect, the CDI Adventurous portfolio is constructed using the same process adopted by the FAS Investment Committee, using a range of filters and detailed analysis to select the most appropriate funds from the whole of the market.
Portfolio Asset Allocation
The CDI Adventurous portfolio currently holds 96.8% in equities, close to the middle of the allowable range. The Committee have, however, taken the strategic decision to limit the weight held in US equities, by reducing the allocation during the most recent portfolio rebalances. At the start of 2025, the portfolio allocation to US equities was close to 45%, substantially higher than the current allocation of 37.4%.
The decision to reduce US equities further moves the portfolio away from the regional asset allocation within the benchmark, the IA Global sector, which contains funds that hold at least 80% of their portfolio by weight in equities across the available universe of funds. At the last published data point, the IA Global sector benchmark held 50.22% in US equities, almost 13% higher than the weight held in the CDI Adventurous portfolio.
The reduction in US equity weight has been reallocated to Asia Pacific and UK equities, where the Committee see greater value.
In line with the other CDI mandates, the CDI Adventurous portfolio adopts a blended approach, holding actively managed funds where the Committee feel additional returns can be generated, and passive exposure as appropriate. The Committee prefer active managers who adopt a high conviction investment style, which often leads to portfolio concentration. None of the actively managed funds currently held within the portfolio have more than 90 invested positions (at the last stated portfolio breakdown) reinforcing the Committee’s desire to hold funds that aim to significantly outperform wider benchmarks over time.
Whilst focused on achieving capital growth, the portfolio is spread across funds that employ different investment styles, including equity income funds where the allocation tends to be more defensive and concentrated in positions that offer a blend of growth potential and dividend yield.
Despite the high weight in actively managed equity funds, which tend to carry higher fund charges, the weighted fund charge of the portfolio remains competitive at 0.39% per annum.
Portfolio Performance
The CDI Adventurous portfolio has consistently outperformed the IA Global sector benchmark over the short, medium, and longer term, as demonstrated in the chart below. Over the three years to 1st July 2026, the portfolio has produced an impressive cumulative outperformance of more than 25% when compared to the benchmark return. (CDI Adventurous is shown in blue, the IA Global benchmark in red).
Whilst aiming to outperform, the Committee are determined to ensure that investors are not exposed to any greater levels of volatility than the representative benchmark. As confirmed in the graph below, the CDI Adventurous portfolio has achieved the significant outperformance without any appreciable increase in volatility over the last three years.
Practical uses for CDI Adventurous
The higher volatility displayed by the CDI Adventurous portfolio renders the overall level of risk a little high for many client circumstances; however, where tolerance to risk is sufficient, the CDI Adventurous portfolio could be a viable option. Those investing with a target many years away – for example a 30-year-old holding a pension fund which cannot be accessed for at least 27 years – may have sufficient capacity for loss to accept the greater downside risk.
Another common application for CDI Adventurous is in a “core/satellite” approach. This is where an investor may place most of their portfolio in a medium risk CDI strategy (for example, CDI Balanced Growth) whilst allocating a smaller proportion of the portfolio into a separate account invested in CDI Adventurous. This allows the potential for outperformance whilst holding the bulk of funds in a more balanced pool of assets.
The benefits of a blended approach
The investment approach adopted by many advisory groups and fund managers is all too often “passive only”. Investing solely through passive investments produces an outcome where the investment only tracks the index returns, without room for outperformance. By blending well-managed active funds with a high conviction investment style, investors have the potential to outperform, and through tactical asset allocation and fund positioning, potentially reduce investment risk and volatility when compared to an index tracking approach.
Our independent advisers would be happy to undertake an impartial review of an existing portfolio and provide an unbiased assessment of performance against the CDI portfolio range. Speak to one of the team to start a conversation.
Source : FE Analytics July 2026
