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George Putnam Balanced Fund

TICKER ASSETS

PGEYX $ 2.1 billion

PERFORMANCE YTD 1 yr. 3 yr. 5 yr. 10 yr. 15 yr.-0.09 % 11.46 % 8.54 % 9.80 % 8.61 % 9.45 %

TOP 5 HOLDINGS Microsoft Corp.; Apple Inc.; Amazon. com Inc.; NVIDIA Corp.; Net Cash

CONTACT INFO

888-225-4250 • franklintempleton. com

SECTOR ALLOCATION( As a % of portfolio)

Information Technology 29.38 % Financials 14.00 % Consumer Discretionary 12.43 % Healthcare 11.18 % Communication Services 10.01 % Industrials 6.46 % Consumer Staples 5.57 % Materials 3.75 % Energy 3.26 % Utilities 2.56 % Real Estate 1.39 %

Performance and asset numbers as of 3 / 5 / 25. Holdings as of 1 / 31 / 25. Performance figures are for the institutional Y-share class. Sources: Putnam Investments / Franklin Templeton and Morningstar.

The George Putnam Balanced Fund has outperformed by sticking to the basics. By Jeff Schlegel

Twain, the venerable American author and humorist, in 1897 responded to a report in which he had“ heard on good authority that I was dead” with the famous quip that news of his death was an exaggeration.

So it was with the 60 / 40 portfolio, whose reputation took a hit in 2022. A time-tested mix of 60 % stocks and 40 % bonds, this portfolio is designed as a happy middle ground for investors that offers growth via equities but also asset protection via( supposedly uncorrelated) fixed income. But in 2022, both stocks and bonds tanked, and the blowback caused investors to question whether this strategy should be put out to pasture. Headlines asking,“ Is the 60 / 40 Portfolio Dead?” were fairly common in the financial press during that trying period and beyond.

The managers at the George Putnam Balanced Fund saw the headlines, too. But they believed the downturn that crushed both stocks and bonds— fueled by high inflation and rising interest rates— was an unusual event, one that belied the positive long-term track record of this asset-allocation strategy.“ It was such an outlier event, and that’ s what helped us stay true to course” despite the negative headlines, says Kate Lakin, one of the fund’ s two portfolio managers.

Putnam’ s balanced fund began trading in 1937, so it’ s no stranger to the vicissitudes of the financial markets. It lost nearly 16 % in 2022, roughly in line with its category average. But the 60 / 40 category as a whole has bounced back since then, helped by robust returns in U. S. equities.

There are no guarantees that the good times will continue; then again, there are never any guarantees with investing. But the George Putnam Balanced Fund has produced consistent topquartile returns in Morningstar’ s moderate-allocation category during all of the measurable time periods for the past 15 years.

Lakin, who oversees the equities portion of the portfolio, be-

APRIL 2025 | FINANCIAL ADVISOR MAGAZINE | 51