The future is fundamentally unknowable. But fund managers have to apply the art and science of financial soothsaying to outperform the markets for their clients. Many believe investors are in for a bumpy ride over the coming decade. FN examines the three main asset classes and asks the experts what they expect of the coming decade.

For example, Marino Valensise, chief investment officer of Baring Asset Management, believes emerging market equities are poised to be the asset class of the coming decade; direct property investments, after suffering the sharpest downturns in recent memory, will trump developed market stocks over the next 10 years; and bonds will be the worst performing of the main asset classes.