From the Income Desk

Modernising Defence

Ellie Clapton and Jason Borbora-Sheen unpack why the 60/40 playbook is under pressure, and how to modernise defence for a more volatile world.

29 May 2025

6 minutes

Ellie Clapton
Jason Borbora-Sheen

Developed market assets are behaving in ways investors might expect from Emerging ones with currencies falling as yields rise and political intervention in monetary policy escalating.

The old safe havens aren’t doing the job they used to.

With inflation sticky and reinvestment risk rising, investors must rethink what ‘defensive’ really means – not by chasing labels, but by focusing on quality, resilience, and real income.

In this episode, we unpack why the 60/40 playbook is under pressure, and how to modernise defence for a more volatile world.

Authored by

Ellie Clapton
Portfolio Specialist
Jason Borbora-Sheen
Portfolio Manager

Important Information

This communication is provided for general information only should not be construed as advice.

All the information in is believed to be reliable but may be inaccurate or incomplete. The views are those of the contributor at the time of publication and do not necessary reflect those of Ninety One.

Any opinions stated are honestly held but are not guaranteed and should not be relied upon.

All rights reserved. Issued by Ninety One.

For further information on indices, fund ratings, yields, targeted or projected performance returns, back-tested results, model return results, hypothetical performance returns, the investment team, our investment process, and specific portfolio names, please click here.