Multi-asset funds have proliferated over the course of the past decade. 

From a few dozen back in 2008, at the height (or the depth, perhaps more accurately) of the global financial crisis to over 1,000 now domiciled in the UK for retail investors, the growth of this particular product has attracted significant attention.

If you were to add to those 1,000 or so funds all the funds available to UK retail investors, including those managed and domiciled outside of the UK, there would be more than 11,000 from which to choose.

This is all very well and good, but how many of these are actually meeting the needs of the end investor?

What was behind the rise of multi-asset investing as a concept, and why has it become so popular? 

Moreover, what makes for a good multi-asset portfolio, and what sort of developments do advisers expect to see from this area over the next few years?

This guide, which qualifies for an indicative 60 minutes' worth of CPD, addresses these issues.

Contributors to this guide: Andrew Harman, portfolio manager of the First State Diversified Growth Fund, Chris Leyland, deputy chief investment officer for True Potential; Ben Willis, senior investment manager for Whitechurch Securities; Lukas Daalder, chief investment officer for Robeco; James Dowey, chief economist and chief investment officer for Neptune Investment Management; Peter Sleep, senior investment manager for Seven Investment Management; Chris Justham, relationship manager for Seven Investment Management; Camilla Ritchie, senior investment manager for Seven Investment Management; Frank Potaczek, head of UK proposition for Architas; Patrick Norwood, insight analyst at Defaqto; Jonathan Webster-Smith, head of the multi-asset team at Brooks Macdonald, the Investment Association; Defaqto; Financial Express; Morningstar; the Financial Conduct Authority.

Simoney Kyriakou is content plus editor of FTAdviser