The Rules of Investing Simon Doyle on choosing the best assets for protecting portfolios from inflation
Jan 30, 2026
Simon Doyle, outgoing CEO and CIO of Schroders Australia with decades in fixed income and multi-asset investing. He explains why inflation has been so persistent. He outlines objective-based portfolio design and which assets he trusts to protect real returns. He discusses gold, inflation-linked bonds, commodities, pricing power in equities, and the challenges of large funds and active allocation.
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Avoid Holding Cash If It Loses Real Value
- Don't rely on cash to beat inflation; if investment returns trail inflation you lose purchasing power and may be better off spending now.
- Doyle emphasises investing to grow wealth in real terms rather than treading water in cash even when cash rates improve.
How Client Frustration Spawned Objective Based Investing
- Schroders developed objective-based investing after client feedback pre-GFC that relative returns don't protect investors from absolute losses.
- Doyle and Simon Stevenson built a forward-looking return framework to target positive real returns rather than benchmark-relative allocations.
Use Flexible Allocation To Cut Volatility
- Use flexible asset allocation to manage drawdowns and redeploy when risk subsides; aim for absolute returns not benchmark hugging.
- Doyle notes Real Return Fund delivered similar returns to balanced portfolios over three years with about half the volatility.