A category of mutual fund that is characterized by portfolio that is made up of a mix of stocks and bonds, which can vary proportionally over time or remain fixed. Morningstar separates hybrid funds into domestic hybrid and international hybrid categories.



In the hybrid category, balanced funds tend to stick to a relatively fixed allocation of stocks and bonds. Actively managed asset allocation funds tend to have portfolios with a mix of stocks and bonds that responds to market conditions as perceived by the fund manager. Passively managed asset allocation, life-cycle and target-date funds generally have a stock-bond mix that changes over a lifetime, moving progressively from aggressive to more conservative structures.