Anyone can sell ice cream in the summer but doing so in November when the environment has turned frosty and appetite is limited is a very different proposition altogether.

That said, supermarkets still sell ice cream all year round even if the bulk of demand is seasonal – some people do buy ice cream regardless of what’s happening meteorologically.

These all-weather consumers could be akin to longer term investors who stay the ‘course’ and don’t divest (or should it be digest!) because of cyclical changes – in this case winter!

Fund managers face a similar task marketing bonds in the current chilly economic environment.

Gone are the once double digit returns seen at the end of the last decade, when inflows into fixed income sectors were well above those of equities.

Many firms rode the wave in the UK and built their fund range around the strength of their fixed income offering.

Fast forward seven years and the landscape is fundamentally different with 10-year gilt yields below 1.5% and the UK base rate static at 0.5%. Starting yields are nominal and the outlook for fixed income is ice-age at best.

This comes at a time when the hunt for income could not be greater, and while fund managers have looked to stem flows through “go anywhere” strategic bonds, ultimately investors are looking at the likes of equities and alternatives, to satiate the demand for yield.

Fund managers are feeling the cold. Take M&G for example, it has built a market-leading fixed income proposition with the likes of its corporate bond; strategic bonds and optimal income funds sucking in billions of pounds of investor money when bond markets were roaring along.

In its full year results for 2015, the asset management arm of Prudential said it saw net retail outflows of £10.9bn “due to redemptions from bond funds reflecting softer consumer sentiment on fixed income assets”.

Retaining assets is a totally different challenge to growing them and M&G has looked to stem flows by showing investors how they can use fixed income products across various market environments in a better way to manage investor emotional attachment to funds and, as a consequence, the impact these decisions may have on the performance of their vehicles.

The messaging to investors is crucial in order to outline how to navigate diverging markets and is part of the wider picture of investors becoming more goals-focused rather than chasing the market, this is something investors in the UK, and globally, have recognised in the wake of the global financial crisis.

M&G has siloed its fixed income range across five markets they believe those products are most likely to be suitable for, they are rising rates; low rates/steady growth; economic acceleration; economic slowdown and lastly, all weather conditions.

The aim is to demonstrate there is no right answer but also that changing market conditions do not mean all bonds be
deemed inappropriate clothing for the weather condition at the time.

Our research shows investors want control of their financial journey, but are very receptive to both education and guidance to achieve their goals.

Ultimately the skill of their fund managers will play an integral role, but showing investors how to reach their investment goals and not chase markets will ultimately help fund managers reduce their respective polar ice cap melting of assets.