In this article, I list the best performing funds over 10 years and 5 years. I also highlight the best investment fund managers in the UK. Yet you shouldn’t just focus on past performance over 5 or 10 years alone.
As one of the most frequently quoted investment experts in the UK national press, including The Times and The Telegraph, I will show you how to pick the best performing funds to invest now. That is very different from simply opting for the best performing funds over the last 5 or 10 years.
In fact I would invest in hardly any of the top performing funds over the last 5 or 10 years and neither should you
Funds are inconsistent and you should invest in funds that suit the current economic and investment environment. I will show you how I successfully identify the best funds to invest in with an increased chance of performing well going forward.
First of all...the funds to avoid
Before I move on to the best funds to invest in it's also important to be aware of the funds to avoid. Unfortunately, there are a number of popular funds that should be avoided as they will hit your returns. You can download a useful list of these funds which the research calls 'dog funds'. So feel free to download the guide and use it as a reference point.
Best performing investment funds to invest in
The 10 Top Performing Fund Managers
Fund managers seldom outperform the market in the short term and almost never over the long term. Yet that doesn't mean you should just invest in index trackers or Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs). There is still a place for picking the best active investment fund managers. However, the top performing investment fund managers historically won't outperform the market or their peers all of the time. The table in the next section of this article emphasises the impact on the returns of your misplaced loyalty to even the best fund managers. The key is to invest in the best funds when the investment environment suits them and to ditch them when it doesn't, in favour of their peers most likely to outperform. You should NEVER invest your money with a fund manager for the long term.
The table below shows the 10 top performing fund managers over the last five years (up to the start of April 2023). I analysed the returns of thousands of fund managers versus the level of risk they took with investors' money to arrive at the final table. The best investment fund managers do not gamble with investors' money, instead, they invest it strategically to minimise any losses. The Sharpe Ratio is a measure of the level of excess return the fund manager earns for the extra risk he/she has taken. The higher the figure the better.
| Fund Manager | Main fund managed | Sharpe ratio |
| Will Kenney/Peter Rutter | Royal London Global Equity Select | 0.71 |
| James Carke | Royal London US Growth Trust | 0.65 |
| Chris Ford/Tim Day | SVS Sanlam North American Equity | 0.64 |
| Stephen Kelly/David Shaw | AXA Framlington American Growth | 0.61 |
| Michael Clarfield/Peter Vanderlee | FTF ClearBridge US Equity Income | 0.57 |
| John Bowler | Schroder Global Healthcare | 0.56 |
| Robert Hay | BNY Mellon Global Income | 0.55 |
| Mike Willans | LF Canlife Global Equity Income | 0.55 |
| Joseph Wolfe/Todd Burnside | BlackRock US Dynamic | 0.55 |
| Brad Weafer | IFSL Marlborough US Multi-Cap Income | 0.55 |
How to pick the best performing funds to invest in now
The key to successful investing is to pick the funds most likely to outperform their peers in the future. That is not the same as picking the funds or fund managers with the best performance over the last 5 or 10 years.
By way of example if you had picked the 10 best performing funds over 10 years leading up to January 2017 (from the UK All Companies sector) and then invested in them over the next 5 years you'd have been in for a surprise. As the table below shows, over the next 5 years you would have been better off investing in alternative funds within the same sector.
| Fund | Fund performance rank 2007 to 2017 (out of 134) | Fund performance rank 2017 to 2022 (out of 178) |
| Slater Growth | 1 | 3 |
| Liontrust Special Situations | 2 | 20 |
| IFSL Marlborough Special Situations | 3 | 8 |
| Royal London UK Mid-Cap Growth | 4 | 22 |
| ASI UK Unconstrained Equity | 5 | 90 |
| FTF Franklin UK Mid Cap | 6 | 25 |
| Unicorn Outstanding British Companies | 7 | 153 |
| BMO UK Mid-Cap | 8 | 152 |
| Schroder UK Opportunities | 9 | 168 |
| Schroder Recovery | 10 | 123 |
So how can you choose the best funds to invest in right now? The world of fund management brainwashes investors into thinking that you have to buy and hold a fund manager or fund. Yet why should you? The evidence overwhelmingly shows that no fund manager outperforms in every market condition. The fact that a fund manager or fund might top a table of the best performing managers (or funds) over 5 years is just a coincidence of the timeframe used. Use another timeframe (as shown above) and they won't come anywhere near the top. This is true of every fund, even the most popular investment funds.
So if you can't rely on long term performance tables to pick funds that are more likely to perform well in the future then how can you do it?
The key to investing is to choose the best funds to invest in for the current environment and to use a process that screens out the noise and emotional headlines and focuses on the fundamentals. It's a very simple process that I explain in a short email series How to become a successful DIY investor. In the emails I show you:
- The most important investment lesson you will ever learn based on over 100 years of research and experience
- The simple and easy to use tool that will help you beat the market
- The investment process fund managers want to keep to themselves.
- How to know which funds to buy and which to sell, in minutes.
I have used the technique to help investors outperform the market and professional fund managers using only a few minutes a month, using 80-20 Investor. You can read their reviews of 80-20 Investor as well as see the performance in the widget at the foot of this article. I also successfully run £50,000 of my own money live on the site to show how simple it is. 80-20 Investor helps you to simply decide the funds to invest in via your existing fund platform. Find out more about how the service works and take advantage of a 30 day FREE trial.
The top-performing funds over 5 years and 10 years
The tables below show the best performing funds to invest in over 5 years and 10 years. All these funds can be held in a Stocks and Shares ISA or a Self Invested Personal Pension (SIPP). The percentage return shown is the total return figures which assumes all income and dividends are reinvested. The funds are grouped by fund sector so you can see the best performing funds for the most popular fund sectors.
While the funds below would have been the best funds to invest in over the last 10 years and 5 years, within their respective sectors, there is no evidence that they will continue to perform well as I explained earlier. In fact, taking such a long term view masks long periods of underperformance as I explained in the section above, titled How to pick the best performing funds to invest in now.
The data below shows the 5 and 10 year performance periods up to April 2023.
The top-performing funds over 10 years
Asia Pacific Excluding Japan
| Fund | 10 Year Fund Performance % |
| Baillie Gifford Pacific | 159.76 |
| Invesco Asian (UK) | 146.93 |
| Fidelity Sustainable Asia Equity | 136.64 |
| JGF-Jupiter Merian Asia Pacific | 129.28 |
| Ninety One Asia Pacific Franchise | 120.85 |
| Average | 87.31 |
Europe Excluding UK
| Fund | 10 Year Fund Performance % |
| IFSL Marlborough European Special Situations | 237.73 |
| BlackRock Continental European | 214.15 |
| BlackRock European Dynamic | 212.80 |
| SVM Continental Europe | 201.57 |
| Liontrust European Dynamic | 196.44 |
| Average | 118.23 |
Japan
| Fund | 10 Year Fund Performance % |
| FTF Martin Currie Japan Equity | 216.81 |
| Baillie Gifford Japanese | 141.42 |
| Fidelity Japan | 136.94 |
| M&G Japan | 133.67 |
| Janus Henderson Japan Opportunities | 132.70 |
| Average | 102.78 |
Mixed Investment 0%-35% Shares
| Fund | 10 Year Fund Performance % |
| Royal London Sustainable Managed Growth Trust | 50.86 |
| Omnis Investments Ltd Omnis Managed Cautious | 44.05 |
| L&G Mixed Investment 0-35% | 40.17 |
| BlackRock Consensus 35 | 37.61 |
| 7IM Income Portfolio | 36.73 |
| Average | 21.61 |
Mixed Investment 20%-60% Shares
| Fund | 10 Year Fund Performance % |
| Royal London Sustainable Diversified Trust | 105.84 |
| Artemis Monthly Distribution | 100.97 |
| AXA Global Sustainable Distribution | 83.19 |
| Courtiers Total Return Cautious Risk | 74.12 |
| Huntress IFSL Ravenscroft Balanced | 74.00 |
| Average | 36.89 |
Mixed Investment 40%-85% Shares
| Fund | 10 Year Fund Performance % |
| Royal London Sustainable Diversified Trust | 100.05 |
| Artemis Monthly Distribution | 80.70 |
| AXA Global Sustainable Distribution | 72.99 |
| Rathbone Active Income and Growth Fund | 65.78 |
| Courtiers Total Return Cautious Risk | 62.13 |
| Average | 63.32 |
North America
| Fund | 10 Year Fund Performance % |
| AXA Framlington American Growth | 319.84 |
| UBS US Growth | 300.92 |
| Ninety One American Franchise | 295.45 |
| JGF-Jupiter Merian North American Equity | 278.42 |
| CT North American Equity | 278.22 |
| Average | 212.53 |
Sterling Corporate Bond
| Fund | 10 Year Fund Performance % |
| Schroder Sterling Corporate Bond | 41.17 |
| Royal London Corporate Bond | 34.27 |
| Royal London Sterling Credit | 31.17 |
| BlackRock Corporate Bond | 29.37 |
| L&G Active Short Dated Sterling Corporate Bond | 28.54 |
| Average | 17.71 |
Sterling High Yield
| Fund | 10 Year Fund Performance % |
| Schroder High Yield Opportunities | 58.40 |
| abrdn High Yield Bond | 42.65 |
| AXA Global High Income | 37.27 |
| Invesco High Yield (UK) | 35.65 |
| IFSL Marlborough High Yield Fixed Interest | 32.39 |
| Average | 28.50 |
Sterling Strategic Bond
| Fund | 10 Year Fund Performance % |
| AXA Framlington Managed Income | 55.23 |
| Artemis High Income | 42.88 |
| Invesco Monthly Income Plus (UK) | 40.35 |
| Schroder Strategic Bond | 39.36 |
| JGF-Jupiter Monthly Income Bond | 36.80 |
| Average | 20.92 |
UK All Companies
| Fund | 10 Year Fund Performance % |
| Slater Recovery | 175.69 |
| Royal London Sustainable Leaders Trust | 162.25 |
| Slater Growth | 151.10 |
| TB Evenlode Income | 141.59 |
| ES R&M UK Recovery | 135.78 |
| Average | 67.28 |
UK Smaller Companies
| Fund | 10 Year Fund Performance % |
| Liontrust UK Smaller Companies | 200.43 |
| Fidelity UK Smaller Companies | 185.95 |
| LF Gresham House UK Micro Cap | 183.20 |
| ES R&M UK Listed Smaller Companies | 181.57 |
| TB TB Amati UK Listed Smaller Companies | 153.97 |
| Average | 99.80 |
The top-performing funds over 5 years
Asia Pacific Excluding Japan
| Fund | 5 Year Fund Performance % |
| Fidelity Asia Pacific Opportunities | 65.00 |
| Schroder Institutional Pacific | 48.37 |
| Jupiter Asian Income | 47.72 |
| Baillie Gifford Pacific | 47.22 |
| BNY Mellon Asian Opportunities | 45.07 |
| Average | 26.18 |
Europe Excluding UK
| Fund | 5 Year Fund Performance % |
| BlackRock Continental European | 88.99 |
| Liontrust European Dynamic | 78.24 |
| BlackRock European Dynamic | 70.18 |
| Premier Miton European Opportunities | 69.83 |
| LF Brook Continental European | 69.38 |
| Average | 35.77 |
Japan
| Fund | 5 Year Fund Performance % |
| Fidelity Japan | 59.65 |
| CT Japan | 29.47 |
| Janus Henderson Japan Opportunities | 28.95 |
| M&G Japan | 25.39 |
| FSSA Japan Focus | 23.00 |
| Average | 17.38 |
Mixed Investment 0%-35% Shares
| Fund | 5 Year Fund Performance % |
| SJP Conservative International Growth | 24.02 |
| VT Chelsea Managed Cautious Growth | 19.76 |
| 7IM Income Portfolio | 15.66 |
| True Potential Investments True Potential Close Brothers Cautious Income | 14.21 |
| Fidelity Multi Asset Open Defensive | 13.81 |
| Average | 4.38 |
Mixed Investment 20%-60% Shares
| Fund | 5 Year Fund Performance % |
| Royal London Sustainable Diversified Trust | 35.01 |
| VT Chelsea Managed Monthly Income | 32.79 |
| LF Ruffer Total Return | 30.55 |
| Schroder MM Diversity | 28.17 |
| SJP Balanced International Growth | 26.33 |
| Average | 10.42 |
Mixed Investment 40%-85% Shares
| Fund | 5 Year Fund Performance % |
| Royal London Sustainable World Trust | 60.09 |
| COIF Charities Investment | 53.25 |
| BNY Mellon Multi-Asset Balanced | 49.45 |
| BNY Mellon Growth and Income For Charities | 45.86 |
| Thesis Juniper | 45.41 |
| Average | 22.02 |
North America
| Fund | 5 Year Fund Performance % |
| AXA Framlington American Growth | 110.50 |
| Ninety One American Franchise | 102.14 |
| SVS Sanlam North American Equity | 97.38 |
| Natixis Loomis Sayles U.S. Equity Leaders | 94.17 |
| UBS US Growth | 91.68 |
| Average | 71.86 |
Sterling Corporate Bond
| Fund | 5 Year Fund Performance % |
| Schroder Sterling Corporate Bond | 9.13 |
| M&G Short Dated Corporate Bond | 6.30 |
| Fidelity Short Dated Corporate Bond | 3.87 |
| AXA Sterling Credit Short Duration Bond | 3.07 |
| L&G Active Short Dated Sterling Corporate Bond | 2.74 |
| Average | -2.73 |
Sterling High Yield
| Fund | 5 Year Fund Performance % |
| M&G Global Floating Rate High Yield | 11.27 |
| abrdn High Yield Bond | 10.7 |
| Schroder High Yield Opportunities | 9.02 |
| AXA Global High Income | 8.23 |
| Invesco High Yield (UK) | 5.79 |
| Average | 5.17 |
Sterling Strategic Bond
| Fund | 5 Year Fund Performance % |
| JGF-Jupiter Merian Global Strategic Bond | 20.32 |
| JGF-Jupiter Monthly Income Bond | 18.03 |
| Allianz Strategic Bond | 16.11 |
| Schroder Strategic Bond | 14.85 |
| Invesco Tactical Bond (UK) | 14.56 |
| Average | 2.09 |
UK All Companies
| Fund | 5 Year Fund Performance % |
| Royal London Sustainable Leaders Trust | 54.76 |
| VT Sorbus Vector | 51.31 |
| Allianz UK Listed Opportunities | 46.90 |
| Slater Recovery | 46.05 |
| VT Cape Wrath Focus | 44.98 |
| Average | 17.67 |
UK Smaller Companies
| Fund | 5 Year Fund Performance % |
| VT Teviot UK Smaller Companies | 54.64 |
| Liontrust UK Micro Cap | 54.60 |
| Fidelity UK Smaller Companies | 45.91 |
| Liontrust UK Smaller Companies | 31.72 |
| ES R&M UK Listed Smaller Companies | 25.57 |
| Average | 7.79 |
