For many decades, the default investment portfolio was a 60/40 split – this was seen as the ideal blend of growth and defensive investments for most investors most of the time. Will it continue to deliver in a high inflation, high interest rate environment?

With US inflation at a 40-year high, and the housing and labour markets red hot, the US Fed has finally taken a distinct and meaningful step forward on the path back to normal. Investors need to accept that the days of abnormal monetary policy are over.

Is there such a thing as normal? Steady states are becoming increasingly rare, the belief in 'reversion to the mean' is less relevant than ever and, ultimately, investors are better placed focusing long-term change.

Investing over the next several years is going to be unlike anything we've experienced in decades. It's time to go back to the drawing board to reassess the best approach to both defence and offence in a more volatile, changing market.

Investors shouldn't overlook the potential benefits of focusing on companies in the energy sector. It looks like what's "old" will be “new” again.

Over the long-term, dividend growth and dividend yield are the dominant sources of long-term return. Valuation's importance recedes over time. Sustainable dividend growth companies appear to play defence well.

In a world of rising yields, fixed income investors must know that what's worked in the past might not work going forward. A braver and broader approach is required, by going on the offensive in fixed income.

All the indicia of a colossal equities bubble are in place. But there is a lot to own for the next five years if you are prepared to go where the crowd is thinnest, allowing you to be on offense as you defend your clients' portfolios.

Investors may be facing a regime shift in markets that changes the traditional relationship between growth and defensive allocations. In a low conviction world, an allocation to a blend of public and private credit makes sense.

Global microcaps offer investors an unparalleled opportunity to invest in economic or market recoveries. Global microcaps' asymmetry around large market events provides investors with a powerful offence that is a great portfolio defence.

The game has changed - the 2010s is the wrong analogue for the 2020s. DIG in for an important era, when stakeholder capitalism displaces shareholder capitalism and becomes the main route to boosting shareholder value.

The next decade of decarbonisation is the decade of opportunity to de-risk portfolios and identify green investments. Climate change risk factors are changing asset valuations. Key to success is the need for portfolios to account for climate change risk or risk being obsolete.

Rising interest rates will create casualties and collateral damage in asset prices, but will bring back market discipline, requiring a rethink of what "defensive" even means.

In achieving longer term objectives, climate change demands both a defensive strategy to mitigate longer term risks and an offensive, tactical, approach to capitalising on opportunities.

A great attack scores points, but defence wins premierships. The same principal applies to investment portfolios. By making private debt the centre of a defensive strategy, investors can win in all conditions.

Inflection points in inflation, interest rates and the large-scale monetary distortion of recent decades suggest the future will not repeat the same playbook as recent decades.

Many expect that the end of the pandemic, reopening of economies, tight labour markets and excess consumer savings will push markets higher. Proceed with caution, the best offence is a great defence.

Record low interest rates have fundamentally changed the playbook for income investors. With banks withdrawing from the CRE debt market, other lenders have greater opportunity.

Although traditional barriers to participation in PE are fading, PE remains on the bench for many individual investors. With an end to easy value creation and challenging conditions ahead, don't miss out on PE outperformance in 2022.

Our diverse panel of experts debated which of the high conviction propositions they heard during Markets Summit 2022 resonated most strongly, and which they disagreed with most - and the portfolio construction implications.