All About Multi-Asset Portfolios (MAPs)

Multi asset funds are made up of a combination of asset classes, including equities, bonds and cash, and are designed with different asset allocations to create a range of low-to-high risk offerings.

Irish Life investments: all about Multi-Asset Portfolios (MAPs)

Irish Life’s MAPS, or Multi-Asset Portfolios, are a range of unit linked investment available across our pension, investment, and savings plans. These funds invest in a mix of different asset classes, such as equities, bonds, property, and cash. MAPs funds aim to provide diversified investment solutions that suit different risk profiles and investment goals.

Each MAPs fund is managed to a specific risk level, designed to suit different attitudes to risk. 

Who manages MAPs funds?

Irish Life’s MAPs funds are managed by Irish Life Investment Managers (ILIM). This investment firm manages funds from a wide range of companies and has done so for over 80 years – as of December 2024, ILIM manages assets worth over €131 billion.

ILIM avoids this change in asset split by rebalancing the fund to keep it in line with its intended split. ILIM rebalances each of the MAPs funds every quarter, which means that each fund will not drift over time.

Diversification refers to the practice of spreading your investment portfolio across different asset classes, sectors, and geographic regions. This is something that multi-asset funds do naturally.

It’s the investment form of not putting all of your eggs in one basket. If the value of one asset falls, simultaneously another might increase, lowering the risk of overall loss. You might invest in different types of assets in the hopes that it will smooth the journey, giving peace of mind in the long run.

Why should you diversify your investments?

By diversifying, investors hope to reduce the impacts of sudden market changes on their overall investment. If one particular investment performs poorly, they won't lose all of your money because they have other investments that can balance out those losses.

By diversifying, investors increase their chances of benefiting from different market cycles and economic conditions, which can help improve the chance of positive returns over the long term.

The “asset” in Multi-Asset Portfolios refers to what the money is actually invested in.

Assets can be all kinds of things from art or antiques to more traditional things like shares, property, and bonds. They can be tangible (physical items) or intangible (things that don’t physically exist but still have monetary value).

Irish Life Investment Managers (ILIM) manages assets worth over €131 billion (as of December 2024) across a broad range of asset classes.

Shares

A company’s ownership is divided into shares. The value of shares can rise and fall in line with the company’s performance. The terms share, stock, and equity are often used interchangeably.

• Global shares: usually stocks representing ownership in companies of varying sizes and in different industries all over the world.
• Global low-volatility shares: these stocks are selected based on their history of relatively stable prices, which aims to reduce overall portfolio risk. There is no guarantee of future stability, but they are considered a safer bet than global shares.
• Emerging market shares: ILIM chooses these stocks from a selection of more than 1,400 companies across 26 developing or emerging economies. These have the potential for higher returns, but this comes with greater risk – this is down to factors like political instability and currency rate changes.
• Emerging market low-volatility shares: similar to the emerging market shares, these stocks are from developing countries. However, the shares or holdings chosen are ones that have historically experienced less volatility and have the potential for a more stable return.
• Infrastructure shares: these stocks are from companies involved in providing essential services or physical structures, such as airports, toll roads, railways, ports, water, gas and many others.

Corporate bonds

These are loans given to various companies that are paid back at an agreed rate of interest over a set period. They are considered to be riskier than government bonds due to the creditworthiness of the issuing company but also have the potential for a higher return over the long run.

Emerging market bonds

These are loans given to various companies and governments in emerging markets that are paid back at an agreed rate of interest over a set period. They’re typically riskier than bonds issued by more established economies due to factors such as political instability or currency fluctuations but have higher potential to generate a bigger return with a long-term investment.

Property

Each Irish Life MAPs fund currently has an allocation to ILIM’s Pension Property fund. The portfolio includes around 70 property assets that are leased to over 300 tenants. It also has a broad mix of commercial property. This includes offices, retail spaces and industrial properties.

Alternatives

Many Irish Life MAPs funds have an allocation to alternatives via external managers. Alternatives is a collective term for non-traditional asset classes as opposed to the traditional shares, bonds, property, and cash. Alternatives tend to have returns that are not correlated with traditional assets – in other words, if traditional asset values fall many alternatives see their values increase.