Multi-asset funds have become increasingly popular among investors at all life stages - from first-time investors to those who are planning to retire and everyone in between.

As multi-asset products have entered the mainstream, there have been many different versions which promise to target different levels of risk and income.

Navigating the multi-asset offerings can be challenging but for advisers they are a useful way to hand over the investment process to the fund managers, while being able to focus on the financial planning aspect of client relationships.

This guide will address why advisers and clients want to outsource multi-asset investing and tracks the evolution of multi-asset vehicles.

It also considers how volatility can impact the returns generated by a multi-asset fund and how advisers can use different products to meet their clients' life goals.

Contributors to this guide include: Thomas Wells, fund manager, multi-assets at Aviva Investors; Andrew Harman, portfolio manager, multi-asset solutions at First State Investments; Andrew Morgan, co-manager of the Alpha r:2 fund at Walker Crips; Andrzej Pioch, multi-asset fund manager at Legal and General Investment Management (LGIM); Adrian Gaspar, multi-asset investment specialist at Prudential Portfolio Management Group; David Absolon, investment director at Heartwood Investment Management; Eugene Philalithis, portfolio manager, Fidelity Multi Asset Income fund; Bill McQuaker, portfolio manager, Fidelity Multi Asset Open Range; Altaf Kassam, EMEA head of strategy and research in the investment solutions group at State Street Global Advisors; Darius McDermott, managing director at Chelsea Financial Services; David Coombs, fund manager, Rathbone Multi Asset Portfolios; Francis Chua, assistant fund manager, asset allocation at LGIM; Craig Wright, managing director at Tilney for Professionals; Matthew Phillips, managing director at Thomas Miller Investment; Paul Ilott, director multi-asset research at Scopic Research; Rob Hall, head of client portfolio management at Russell Investments; Steven Andrew, multi-asset fund manager at M&G Investments; Aviva Investors.