Aims to deliver a return of 4.5% pa above inflation (after management fees and costs), subject to limiting the risk of negative returns over 7 year periods.  This means there may be times, such as when interestrates are unusually low, when the Trustrequires an extended time period to achieve its return objective. In most circumstances the Trust is expected to provide positive returns over 7 year periods, although there will sometimes be negative returns over shorter periods.

Benefits of investing 

More confidence that you'll achieve your financial goals

We've designed the Trust to give investors more confidence that they'll receive a return above inflation over a three year timeframe, regardless of ups and downs in investment markets.

Most traditional diversified funds aim to match or outperform a market benchmark. However, even an above-benchmark return won't always be the return investors need, especially when markets are weak. Instead, the Trust's focus is maintaining and growing your real wealth.

We aim to achieve a return above inflation by carefully managing risk, particularly by avoiding the big losses that can set back an investment.

We focus strongly on managing the Trust's risk of negative returns over seven years, mainly through:

• flexible asset allocation - as our views on the market evolve, we can change the mix of assets so the Trust is better positioned to achieve its objective, and

• diversification - we invest in a wide range of assets and strategies. This gives us more potential sources of returns.

Although our investment experts carefully manage the Trust, we can't remove all risk that at times, the Trust may not achieve its objective.

A smoother path to your financial goals

Traditional diversified funds usually have tight asset allocation ranges. This prevents the manager making large adjustments to the mix of assets to manage changing market risk. It also means the fund's returns tend to reflect market movements.

In contrast, in managing the Trust our investment experts can move flexibly between asset classes to manage risk. This means we expect the Trust to perform better in weak markets than a traditional diversified fund. As there's a trade-off between risk and return, this may also mean the Trust lags in strong markets.

We anticipate the outcome for investors will be a pattern of returns that's smoother and less influenced by market movements than a traditional diversified fund.

A proven investment strategy

Since 2005, we have successfully used this flexible, outcome-focussed approach to manage an MLC Inflation Plus portfolio.

A market-leading approach to portfolio design

The approach we use to design and manage the portfolio recognises we live in a complex, changing world.

Key to our approach is a unique Investment Futures Framework, which guides our forward-looking approach to managing risk.

Our investment experts constantly explore the many ways events could unfold in markets worldwide and the potential impact on our portfolios.

Through this careful analysis, our experts discover changing risks and opportunities. We can then adjust the portfolio to manage the risks and capture the potential returns.

This means our portfolios are better positioned to deliver more reliable medium to long-term returns to investors.

MLC Real Return Assertive may be suited to you if:

• you’re aiming to achieve a return above inflation but, more importantly, are concerned about losing money over a 7 year period
• you understand the return achieved by the Trust may be significantly higher or lower than its objective
• you want our investment manager to flexibly adjust the Trust’s asset allocation in accordance with their changing view of potential opportunities and risks in investment markets
• you want to manage investment risk by diversifying across asset classes and strategies
• you understand the risks of investing in a portfolio that may be leveraged up to 25% of the Trust's net asset value via derivatives, and 
• you understand you may receive fluctuating levels of income

The key aspects of the Trust’s investment
strategy are:
1. Flexible asset allocation
2. Diversification
3. Strong focus on risk management

MLC's approach to investing

For over 30 years our investment experts have been designing portfolios using a multi-manager approach to help investors achieve their goals.

The four key aspects of this market-leading investment approach are:

1. Portfolio design
2. Managing the portfolio
3. Ongoing review
4. Portfolio implementation

How we invest your money

The key aspects of the way the Trust is managed are:

• flexible asset allocation - the asset allocation is actively managed in accordance with MLC's changing view of potential risks and opportunities in investment markets.

• diversification - the Trust invests across a wide range of assets and strategies. These may include both mainstream (eg shares and government bonds) and alternative investments (eg hedge funds) that may not be widely used in other investment funds. To manage the assets and strategies, MLC carefully selects specialist investment managers from around the world.

• strong focus on risk management - the Trust has the flexibility not to invest in an asset class if that would cause too much risk of a negative return over 7 years. This means the Trust may have no exposure to growth assets in some market conditions.

MLC expects that by managing the Trust in this way, movements in the Trust's value (both up and down) should be less significant.

Asset allocation ranges

• Cash: 0%-100%

• Australian fixed interest: 0%-60%

• Global fixed interest: 0%-60%

• Australian shares: 0%-70%

• Global shares: 0%-70%

• Listed property securities: 0%-50%

• Alternatives: 0%-30%

• Gearing: 0%-40%

TOTAL FIXED INTEREST & CASH: 0%-120%

TOTAL SHARES & LISTED PROPERTY TRUSTS: 0%-120%

TOTAL ASSETS: 100%-140%