The volatility in stock markets has been relentless. For nearly two years, investors have watched their portfolios swing sharply while returns have remained muted. The US tariff-related uncertainty in 2025 and the geopolitical tensions in the Middle East in 2026 have kept markets on the edge. An India-US trade deal is yet to be finalized and while a peace agreement has been signed between US and Iran, supply disruptions resulting from the conflict continue to weigh on the global economy and financial markets. At the same time, uncertainties around the trajectory of US monetary policy, foreign institutional flows into India, stock valuations, India’s fiscal and current account deficits, below-average monsoons, higher domestic inflation and weakening consumer demand continue to cloud the investment outlook.
Solving The Market Puzzle With Multi-Asset Investing - Davinder Sethi
Market volatility can make investing feel like solving a complex puzzle. In this article, Davinder Sethi explains how a multi-asset approach combining equity, debt, gold, and silver can help investors build balanced portfolios and navigate uncertain market cycles.
For equity investors, the current market environment can feel like trying to solve a puzzle with too many moving pieces. But what if the trick to solving the puzzle isn’t to predict which piece moves next but to ensure you have all the right pieces in place? Those pieces are equity, debt, gold and silver. Together, they form a multi-asset approach that can help investors navigate an uncertain market environment.
Despite the ups and downs, the first and largest piece of the puzzle remains equity. Through equity investments, investors gain exposure to India’s long term growth story, which continues to remain intact. Over time, business earnings and in turn their share prices tend to reflect this underlying economic growth.*
*Past performance may or may not be sustained in the future.
The second piece, which complements equity, is debt. Debt, with its relatively predictable returns and lower volatility, can provide stability to a portfolio, cushioning stock market declines and making the investment journey more comfortable.
The final piece is precious metals. Gold and silver both have assumed greater portfolio relevance amid rising geopolitical tensions and macroeconomic uncertainty. As traditional safe haven assets, they often attract capital during periods of market stress, acting as counterweights to equity market volatility. Historically, these assets have also served as effective hedges against inflation.
With all these pieces put together, the investing puzzle can become easier to solve. Instead of relying on a single asset class to deliver returns across all market cycles, investors can benefit from the low correlation and complementary strengths of multiple asset classes.
For mutual fund investors, a simple way to adopt this multi asset approach is through a multi asset fund of funds (FoF). These funds provide exposure to equity, debt and precious metals within a single investment solution. This exposure is taken through carefully selected equity, debt, gold and silver mutual funds.
In addition to one-stop diversification, this structure offers several other benefits. The allocations across equity, debt and precious metals funds are not static but are dynamically managed by the fund manager based on market conditions, valuations, investment opportunities and asset class attractiveness. This is guided by rigorous research and disciplined investment frameworks. Also, the fund-level rebalancing between equity, debt, gold and silver funds does not attract taxes for the investor, allowing more capital to stay continuously invested and benefit from compounding. Investors also enjoy the convenience of a single investment that provides exposure to multiple asset classes, eliminating the need to select, monitor and rebalance separate schemes on their own. The result is a simple, diversified, professionally managed portfolio with all the right pieces in place to solve the investing puzzle.
The above article has been written by Davinder Sethi, Founder of Moneycount India Pvt. Ltd. and a financial planner with over 18 years of experience in personal finance and wealth management. He holds the Certified Financial Planner (CFP) designation and is also a Chartered Trust and Estate Planner. His writing focuses on financial planning, investing, and money management for individuals and families.
Disclaimer: The information provided in this article is for informational and educational purposes only. It does not constitute financial, legal, or investment advice. Readers should not rely on this content to make investment decisions. We strongly recommend consulting with a licensed financial advisor or conducting your own due diligence before making any financial commitments.