JPMorgan Income Builder Fund Class C Shares JNBCX

The experienced team behind JPMorgan Multi-Asset Income follows a thoughtful approach, but the focus on income has compromised downside protection and risk-adjusted total returns over the long term.

Day-to-day managers Michael Schoenhaut and Eric Bernbaum have steered this strategy since its 2007 launch and 2014, respectively, and they were joined by veteran investor Gary Herbert in early 2021. The trio oversees all four vehicles built on this approach—JPMorgan Income Builder (mutual fund), JPMorgan Multi Income (Hong Kong Unit Trust), JPMorgan Global Income (SICAV), and JPMorgan Multi Asset Income (OEIC). Herbert became the firm’s CIO of multi-asset solutions in 2025 and will remain on the strategy as former manager and co-CIO Jeffrey Geller prepares to retire at the end of 2026. Meanwhile, Leon Goldfeld serves as a fourth manager on the Unit Trust, adding valuable depth to that effort.

Schoenhaut and Bernbaum partner broadly across JPMorgan to construct the underlying asset class and sector building blocks that power this global income portfolio. The strategy is highly flexible: It can hold up to 100% in fixed income, 70% in high-yield debt, and no more than 60% in equities. The flagship US mutual fund averaged roughly 40% in equities over the five years through January 2026—about 9 percentage points higher than its typical moderately conservative Morningstar Category peer. The team also maintained a tilt toward non-US and value-oriented stocks, as well as lower-quality bonds, versus the category norm.

The managers execute this multifaceted portfolio with discipline, but the strategy’s income-centric design has not produced a sustained edge over category rivals. Multi-asset income funds consistently face the challenge of delivering attractive, durable payouts without eroding risk-adjusted total returns—and this strategy has struggled to strike that balance consistently.

True, over the past decade ended February 2026, the strategy’s 12-month average yield of 4.7% compared favorably with the average peer’s 2.5%. That said, returns were middling compared with that cohort’s median on a risk-adjusted basis (measured by the Sharpe ratio). The portfolio’s down-capture ratio of 109% was higher than the median peer’s 103% over the past decade, indicating that the strategy drops more than peers when markets dip.

This strategy’s income-first philosophy hasn’t translated into a clear edge versus peers, and it maintains an Average Process rating.

The fund seeks to deliver competitive and consistent income—an objective shared by many income-oriented strategies. Lead managers Michael Schoenhaut and Eric Bernbaum pursue that goal by drawing on JPMorgan’s global multi-asset resources, partnering with specialists across asset classes to source ideas and shape the portfolio’s positioning.

Although the team anchors the portfolio to a 60/40 equity/bond mix, the strategy operates with broad flexibility. The managers can invest across more than 80 countries and the full capital structure, with room to allocate up to 100% of portfolio assets to fixed income and as much as 70% to high-yield bonds. Equity exposure is capped at 60%, while convertible and preferred securities can reach up to 25% of the portfolio.

Multi-asset income funds’ focus on yield can often cause them to struggle compared with non-income-focused allocation peers on a risk-adjusted and total return basis. While this strategy has delivered on its income mandate, it has not distinguished itself from the average peer in the moderately conservative peer category when it comes to delivering attractive risk-adjusted total returns over the long term.

JPMorgan offers this strategy across the globe in various investment vehicles, with modest variations. For example, currency exposure can vary, with the US mutual fund version allowing a maximum of 20% of its underlying exposures to be in non-US dollar currencies. Conversely, for the Hong Kong Unit Trust, SICAV, and OEIC vehicles, foreign-currency exposures are hedged back to Hong Kong dollars, euros, and pounds, respectively, except for emerging-markets currency exposures.

For the flagship US mutual fund, the equity exposure averaged close to 40% in the past five years ending January 2026, which was around 9 percentage points greater than its typical moderately conservative category peer. Within equities, this fund invested around half those assets in non-US equities, while the average peer invested closer to 15% over the same period.

The team also leaned toward value-style stocks and lower-quality bonds. Management invested an average of 40% of the equity sleeve in value stocks over the past five years, about 10 percentage points more than the peer average. US high-yield bonds have consistently made up the largest exposure in the portfolio, reaching around 54% of assets at the beginning of 2009. Over the past five years, high-yield bonds made up an average of 26% of the fund’s assets.

Experienced portfolio managers and sizable resources support this strategy’s renewed Above Average People rating.

Portfolio managers Michael Schoenhaut, Eric Bernbaum, and Gary Herbert run the strategy’s four vehicles (domiciled in the US, the UK, Luxembourg, and Hong Kong), with support from Leon Goldfeld on the Hong Kong Unit Trust. While start dates can vary across vehicles, Schoenhaut, Bernbaum, and Herbert joined the original mutual fund vehicle in 2007, 2014, and 2021, respectively, and the managers average more than 26 years of industry experience. Herbert also serves as the chief investment officer of the broader multi-asset group at JPMorgan, a title he shared with Jeffrey Geller (a former portfolio manager on this mutual fund) until Geller announced his plan to retire at the end of 2026.

Day-to-day managers Schoenhaut and Bernbaum collaborate with various asset-class experts and supporting teams to shape the portfolio. The duo curates and continuously monitors the underlying customized sleeves to ensure they fit the strategy’s overall objective. Through structured discussions, the underlying managers of the fund’s various sleeves provide their market views, which the lead managers consider in making asset-allocation decisions. The portfolio has grown from five sleeves since its 2007 inception to roughly triple that in January 2026. While the strategy saw some underlying manager churn around 2018, the fund has been relatively stable since then.

Building on a solid foundation, J.P. Morgan Asset Management maintains an Above Average Parent rating.

J.P. Morgan is a well-resourced, diligent, and responsible steward of client assets. Investment teams are seasoned and stalwart, especially in equity and fixed income, the latter of which has successfully undergone substantial transformation in recent years. The firm offers competitive compensation that is aligned with fundholders and shows strong retention at senior levels of the organization. It demonstrates a culture of constant innovation and willingness to evolve. For example, J.P. Morgan recently expanded its investment committee process through which senior leaders review various teams and strategies, and it continues to develop proprietary portfolio management and risk oversight tools. Some funds still face high fee hurdles, but the firm has generally lowered expenses as it has grown.

The firm isn't without its complications. J.P. Morgan's product offering is extensive, and some areas need improvement. For instance, its multi-asset business has faced some challenges as a result of complex investment processes. The firm continues to build out its footprint in China, but its efforts there remain unproven. Although not every strategy is the best in its class, J.P. Morgan remains earnest in the pursuit of excellence, and investors are well-served.

This strategy is managed through various vehicles that are available to investors across the globe.

The following performance analysis focuses on the strategy’s flagship US mutual fund.

The strategy has delivered on its income mandate, but its total results relative to peers have been middling. The strategy’s 12-month yield averaged 4.7% over the past decade—significantly higher than the average peer’s roughly 2.5%. However, over the past 10 years ended February 2026, the fund’s I shares’ 6.7% annualized returns slightly edged out the moderately conservative category median and its Morningstar Moderately Conservative Target Risk category benchmark. Returns lagged the category index on a risk-adjusted basis (as measured by the Sharpe ratio). While the portfolio’s greater-than-average allocation to equities and high-yield bonds was a tailwind, greater exposure to non-US securities and value-oriented stocks hurt performance compared with the typical peer over the same period. There were stronger relative results in 2021 and 2025, boosted by prorisk positioning in equity and lower-rated credit, as well as more significant allocations to emerging-markets equities and European equities in 2025.

The portfolio tends to struggle in market downturns, capturing 109% of the market’s dips compared with the median peer’s 103% over the past decade. During the coronavirus-driven selloff from Feb. 20, 2020, to March 23, 2020, the portfolio lost 23.5% compared with the category’s 16.1% loss and underperformed more than 90.0% of peers. The fund’s value tilt helped in 2022’s tough market environment: That year, it lost 12.7% compared with the category average’s 13.3% loss.

JPMorgan Income Builder C's Prospectus Adjusted Expense Ratio is 1.25% per year. It places it in the second-most-expensive quintile of the Morningstar US Fund Global Moderately Conservative Allocation Category, where the median fee is 0.87% per year. This cost positioning translates into a Medalist Rating Price Score of -1.33, which reflects its relative price positioning within the category. The Price Score ranges from -2.50 (most expensive) to +2.50 (cheapest), with higher scores indicating better cost competitiveness.