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
Episode 411 - On this week's episode I explain what money market funds are and their drawbacks. I also discuss...
This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.AcceptRejectRead More
Privacy & Cookies Policy
Privacy Overview
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.