Volatility will always play a part in the performance of the stock market, but you can help mitigate the volatility in your own portfolio by investing in asset allocation mutual funds.

Asset allocation funds are designed to attempt to reduce volatility by spreading assets around to several different types of investments, including a variety of equity securities, bonds and other fixed income securities.

Although diversification – with several asset groups feeding into the performance of the portfolio – does not eliminate risk, it may help reduce losses during stock market fluctuations. For instance, when the prices of small cap stocks are falling, U.S. blue chip stocks or international stocks within the portfolio may be moving up, along with bonds and other debt-related assets.

It is important to note that bonds can also be volatile, particularly in times when credit quality comes under pressure or when interest rates are changing. However, over longer terms, bonds have historically had lower volatility than stocks. The two asset classes can often be correlated in the opposite direction (when stocks go down, many bond sectors tend to rise), so while multi-asset portfolios could have lower returns over the long term than an all-equity index like the S&P 500®, a market-cap weighted index that represents the average performance of a group of 500 large-capitalization stocks, they will usually have lower volatility, too, often resulting in a smoother ride for investors.

The chart below shows the returns and standard deviation of returns (volatility) over a recent period for five different Morningstar Target Risk Indexes that represent various levels of diversification (with a mix of assets that may include stocks, bonds and other types of investments).  The baseline is represented by the S&P 500, which shows an annualized return of 6.42% and a standard deviation of 15.00%. All five indexes had lower standard deviations than the S&P 500. All five had better returns per unit of risk than the S&P 500 as well.

Asset allocation fund choices

Thrivent Mutual Funds offers four different asset allocation funds that range from moderately conservative to aggressive.  Although each of the Funds has an asset allocation target, the actual allocation can vary depending on the outlook and judgment of the Fund managers. The Funds are actively managed by a team of more than 100 investment professionals.

For example, Thrivent Moderately Aggressive Allocation Fund has a target asset allocation of 77% equity securities and 23% fixed income securities, but the actual allocation typically varies somewhat as the Fund manager makes adjustments in the holdings to react to changing market and economic conditions.

Thrivent Moderately Aggressive Allocation Fund typically invests in more than a dozen different asset groups. The largest group has been large capitalization U.S. stocks, which typically accounts for over a third of the Fund’s total assets.  The Fund also invests in several other equity groups, including international, small cap, and mid cap. Bonds and other debt instruments make up the balance of portfolio assets, led by securitized debt, investment grade credit, short-term bonds and cash, and government bonds. Other bond instruments include high yield bonds, floating-rate bank loans and international debt.

The diversification of these asset allocation funds makes them less volatile than the performance of a single equity category, such as a fund that invests primarily in mid-cap stocks. Although the more conservative portfolios would tend to have lower potential returns over the long-term, their losses tend to be more modest and less frequent than the more aggressive investments, and they tend to have lower volatility.

Gauging volatility and risk

To gauge volatility, investors often use a metric known as “beta.” Beta is a statistical measure of the volatility, or market risk, of an investment compared to a benchmark. The lower the beta, the lower the volatility of the investment compared with the benchmark.

The S&P 500 composite index is considered a beta baseline, with a beta of 1.0. Anything over 1.0 is considered more volatile or risky than the market and anything under 1.0 is considered less volatile and less risky. For example, over a recent three-year period through October 30, 2020, Thrivent Moderately Aggressive Allocation Fund – Class S had a beta of 0.74, which indicated that it was 26% less volatile than the S&P 500 during that period.

In addition to the Thrivent Moderately Aggressive Allocation Fund, Thrivent also manages three other asset allocation funds, giving investors with moderately conservative to aggressive risk tolerances the opportunity to choose a portfolio suited to their objectives and threshold for risk:

• Thrivent Moderately Conservative Allocation Fund. The target allocation for this fund is 63% fixed income securities and 37% equity securities. While this fund would probably trail the market and the other Thrivent asset allocation funds during a strong bull market, it would typically be the least volatile, with the lowest risk, during rocky periods in the market.  Over a recent three-year period through October 30, 2020, the Thrivent Moderately Conservative Allocation Fund – Class S has had the lowest beta of the group at 0.39, which indicates that it was 61% less volatile than the S&P 500.
• Thrivent Moderate Allocation Fund. This fund’s target allocation is 57% of assets in equity securities and 43% in fixed income securities. Over the recent three-year period through October 30, 2020, the Thrivent Moderate Allocation Fund – Class S has had a beta of 0.57, which indicates that it was 43% less volatile than the S&P 500.
• Thrivent Aggressive Allocation Fund. This fund is geared to investors who want most of their assets in the stock market, but still prefer some diversification to offset the volatility of the market. The target allocation of the fund is 95% of assets in equity securities and the balance in fixed income securities. Over a recent three-year period through October 30, 2020, the Thrivent Aggressive Allocation Fund – Class S had the highest beta of the asset allocation fund group at 0.93, which indicated that it was 7% less volatile than the S&P 500.