BNY Mellon Real Return Class U - Income (GBP)

The fund has done much better than cash over the past 10 years. It's also been much less volatile than the broader global stock market. You should remember that unlike cash, the fund can fall as well as rise in value so you could get back less than you put in.

The fund tends to provide some shelter when stock markets fall, but we'd expect it to lag behind when markets rise quickly.

The team places more emphasis on not losing money than making it. If you lose less money in the bad times, you have less ground to make up in the good times. They use diversification, hedging (investing to potentially benefit in a range of outcomes), and liquidity (investing in things that are easy to sell) to help them achieve this, as well as derivatives, which can add risk to the portfolio. The team also has the flexibility to invest in high-yield bonds and emerging markets which, if used, would add further risk.

The team aims to make money in a variety of market conditions. They do this using a mix of assets that broadly fall into two camps. The first is called the 'return-seeking core'. It invests in assets the team think will provide long-term growth, such as shares and bonds issued by well-run, financially secure companies with a unique set of advantages over the competition. They also consider how well those companies manage their impact on the environment and society.

The rest of the portfolio is called the 'stabilising layer' and is invested in government bonds, commodities and cash, with the aim to add stability to returns. The managers can alter the amount invested in each section of the portfolio depending on their view of the world.