252 funds changed risk tier in September. 234 moved up a tier and 18 moved down.
We compared each fund’s tier on 31 August with its tier on 30 September, across the 8,656 funds that had a tier on both dates. A fund that changed in the middle of the month and changed back before the end counts as unchanged.
Balanced funds moved the most. 128 of 3,190 ended the month a tier higher, and none moved down.
Every move was a single step. Most of them, 201, went from MEDIUM to HIGH. The 18 that moved down were all equity funds going from EXTREME to HIGH.
The direction of travel
One-year volatility went up almost everywhere. It was higher at the end of September than at the end of August for 94 in every 100 funds, and for 99 in 100 balanced funds. The median went from 8.51% to 8.73%.
What stayed still
Cash funds. None of the 135 changed tier, and their volatility barely moved.
Fixed income was almost as quiet. 11 of its 1,173 funds moved up a tier.
What this is not
A month is a short window, and a tier change is not an event that asks anybody to do anything. These are measurements of what already happened, published monthly because a pattern is easier to see across a month than across a day.
No fund is named here. Signed-in members can see their own provider’s funds by name.