A passive ‘set and forget’ investing strategy through indexes has become the traditional route to strong returns over the past few decades. Wealth managers and RIAs have taken easy diversification through major indexes for granted, relying on steady growth without needing to focus heavily on forecasting the geopolitical stage.

All this has been possible under the protection of a global order built on free trade, co-operation and peace. However, recent trade tensions between superpowers, tariff wars, and intensifying global conflict are wearing this protection thin.

Geopolitical volatility is increasingly intervening and shaping markets more forcefully, upending the market structures that once provided investors with certainty.

We…