Global Moderate-Allocation Funds Built for the Long Haul

Global moderate-allocation funds are often designed for long-term investors who prefer broad diversification across regions and asset classes. That diversification doesn’t necessarily guarantee a perpetually smooth ride, though. The simultaneous selloff in stocks and bonds in 2022 punished many balanced portfolios, and shifting market leadership since then (for instance, between US and non-US equities and between growth and value) has treated funds differently depending on their regional and style tilts.

Regardless of prevailing market conditions, Morningstar analysts assign Medalist Ratings based on their conviction in a fund’s management and process over a full market cycle.

Here’s how four of the funds in the Morningstar Category have fared since their latest rating adjustments.

Gold-rated Vanguard Global Wellington VGWAX is a fund our analysts have been building conviction in for some time. Its People Pillar was upgraded to Above Average in May 2023, and its Process Pillar was raised to High in May 2026, based on greater conviction in the strategy’s disciplined top-down management and rigorous approach across its equity and fixed-income sleeves. From the May 2023 People upgrade through September 2026, the fund’s 13.4% annualized return healthily outpaced the global moderate-allocation category average of 12.5%. The fund’s equity sleeve, mirrored in the separately managed account Wellington Global Quality Value, has consistently added value over its FTSE Developed Index benchmark through security selection.

T. Rowe Price Spectrum Moderate Allocation TRPBX, which earns a Gold rating, received a People Pillar upgrade to High in November 2021, a nod to the firm’s deep multi-asset resources that include capable, experienced leaders and a substantial research platform. Performance since then has been mixed, partly owing to the fund’s above-average loss in 2022. From the upgrade through September 2026, its 5.8% annualized return lagged the average category peer’s 6.5%. The fund’s long-term record remains healthy, though, especially in risk-adjusted terms. Over the decade through September 2026, the fund placed in the best-performing decile by Sharpe ratio. Above-average equity exposure has helped long-term results, and while that edge has been more muted over the past three years, tactical positions in emerging markets and alternatives have provided a tailwind over that stretch.

FPA Crescent FPACX saw its Process Pillar downgraded to Above Average in March 2024, resulting in a Medalist Rating downgrade to Silver. The fund features a capable team, but it hasn’t executed across its expansive investment universe with the same effectiveness it showed in earlier years, particularly relative to contemporary multi-asset peers that charge far less. However, the fund’s go-anywhere approach allows the team to lean into where value resides, and recent results haven’t disappointed. Since the March 2024 downgrade, the fund’s 12.9% annualized return has outpaced the category average of 11.0%.

Bronze-rated Loomis Sayles Global Allocation LGMAX earned a People Pillar upgrade to High in July 2021, given the strength of the team’s leadership and a smooth transition in the fixed-income sleeve. That said, the fund’s aggressive posture cuts both ways, and its deep drawdown in 2022 has weighed on its track record. During that year’s broad stock and bond selloff, the fund dropped 23.1%, far worse than the peer median’s 14.6% loss. Non-US stocks’ 2025 rally also proved a headwind for the strategy’s long-standing US-equity bias. Since the upgrade through September 2026, the fund’s 5.9% annualized return lagged the peer average of 6.6%. Its longer-term record remains stellar, with top-decile returns over the trailing decade.

This article first appeared in the September 2026 issue of Morningstar FundInvestor. Download a complimentary copy of FundInvestor by visiting this website.