Tariff turmoil - Are smoothed funds the answer?

Markets are volatile, it's in their nature and so periods like this are to be expected. I've stuck with what we've got for the time being. We've seen indiscriminate selling and we need the dust to settle. At the moment it feels we'd be jumping out of the frying pan into the fire and there's a real danger we could lock in losses.
Clients are understandably frustrated and lay the blame at Trump who is a wild card. We don't even know what things will look like at the end of this 90 day pause. I don't see the value in trying to guess what he'll do next.
For retirement solutions I like including an element of structured products. If the profile looks good you can get strong returns with decent downside protection. They can help soften volatility in the market based part of the portfolio.
I find smoothed funds are a bit like property. They give an illusion of stability by not being under the daily valuation microscope. I'm yet to be convinced they offer genuine value.

As a discretionary manager, we have the mandate to adjust portfolios as we see fit. Having said that, portfolios are managed to the outcomes of a financial plan and are well diversified regardless. It was clear that volatility was going to become more permanant with a Trump presidency although noone knew the extent of this of course. We have always held a Gold allocation within portfolios as it is ussually a good support to portfolios in times of stress. We have increased this position over the last 2 years and it has done extremely well with other drivers influencing its value. Whilst volatility is a function of markets and knee jerk reactions are often the worst thing to do, prior to April 2nd and the following days we did trim US equity allocations and added to our Gold and Defence positions.
Communication is everything so regular mass and client specific communication has meant that any nervous clients calls can be counted on one hand & ussually event driven for them.

We believe in staying the course—provided the portfolio is well-diversified and aligned to the client’s risk profile and goals. Timing the market, especially during tariff turmoil and Trump’s policy flip-flops, is near impossible. We've had few nervous client calls, as our planning ensures clients understand the risks upfront. Some have sensibly opted to use cash reserves instead of portfolio withdrawals. As for smoothed funds, I’m generally not a fan. I liken them to a frog in an iron box—markets naturally jump around, and smoothed funds can give a false sense of calm. The risk is that the “iron box” turns out to be a wet paper bag, and when the frog (the market) breaks out and the smoothing proves not so smooth or secure, investors are shocked. We prefer transparent, well-diversified strategies over artificial smoothing—especially for retirement income.