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 (last updated December 2020). 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 |
| Nigel Ashfield |
Freehold Income Authorised |
1.76 |
| Gary Robinson |
Baillie Gifford American / Baillie Gifford Global Stewardship |
1.49 |
| Tom Slater |
Baillie Gifford Long Term Global Growth Investment |
1.48 |
| Mark Urquhart |
Baillie Gifford Long Term Global Growth Investment |
1.36 |
| Helen Xiong |
Baillie Gifford UK and Worldwide Equity |
1.32 |
| David J. Eiswert |
T. Rowe Price Global Focused Growth Equity |
1.25 |
| Jeremy Gleeson |
AXA Framlington Global Technology |
1.23 |
| Alison Porter |
Janus Henderson Global Technology Leaders |
1.19 |
| Ewan Markson-Brown |
Baillie Gifford Pacific |
1.19 |
| Anthony Srom |
Fidelity Asia Pacific Opportunities |
1.16 |
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 March 2016 (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 |
Performance rank March 2006 to March 2016 (out of 132) |
Performance rank March 2016 to March 2021 (out of 230) |
| Slater Growth |
1 |
6 |
| ASI UK Unconstrained Equity |
2 |
155 |
| Franklin UK Mid Cap |
3 |
56 |
| Liontrust Special Situations |
4 |
17 |
| Threadneedle UK Mid 250 |
5 |
102 |
| BMO UK Mid-Cap |
6 |
167 |
| SVM UK Growth |
7 |
61 |
| Marlborough Multi-Cap Growth |
8 |
20 |
| Schroder UK Opportunities |
9 |
180 |
| EdenTree Responsible and Sustainable UK Equity Opportunities |
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 ending 3rd March 2021.
The top-performing funds over 10 years
Asia Pacific Excluding Japan
| Fund |
10 Year Fund Performance % |
| Baillie Gifford Pacific |
379.44 |
| Schroder Asian Alpha Plus |
231.52 |
| Barings Eastern Trust |
211.57 |
| Merian Asia Pacific |
210.67 |
| Allianz Total Return Asian Equity |
205.74 |
| Average |
150.32 |
Europe Excluding UK
| Fund |
10 Year Fund Performance % |
| Baillie Gifford European |
290.62 |
| BlackRock European Dynamic |
237.65 |
| Marlborough European Multi-Cap |
228.27 |
| Allianz Continental European |
218.21 |
| BlackRock Continental European |
198.61 |
| Average |
117.48 |
Japan
| Fund |
10 Year Fund Performance % |
| Legg Mason IF Japan Equity |
633.71 |
| Baillie Gifford Japanese |
239.01 |
| JPM Japan |
221.10 |
| Fidelity Japan Smaller Companies |
176.19 |
| AXA Framlington Japan |
175.47 |
| Average |
141.03 |
Mixed Investment 0%-35% Shares
| Fund |
10 Year Fund Performance % |
| Omnis Investments Ltd Omnis Managed Cautious |
79.03 |
| Sarasin Income & Reserves |
68.88 |
| Fidelity Multi Asset Income |
62.00 |
| Threadneedle Managed Bond Focused |
59.72 |
| BM Brooks Macdonald Defensive Income |
57.72 |
| Average |
45.40 |
Mixed Investment 20%-60% Shares
| Fund |
10 Year Fund Performance % |
| Royal London Sustainable Diversified Trust |
144.16 |
| AXA Global Distribution |
104.64 |
| Premier Miton Multi-Asset Distribution |
93.63 |
| Premier Miton Multi-Asset Monthly Income |
87.92 |
| M&G Episode Income |
86.31 |
| Average |
61.64 |
Mixed Investment 40%-85% Shares
| Fund |
10 Year Fund Performance % |
| Royal London Sustainable World Trust |
254.04 |
| Baillie Gifford Managed |
211.44 |
| Liontrust Sustainable Future Managed |
187.10 |
| COIF Charities Investment |
155.45 |
| Omnis Investments Ltd Omnis Managed Adventurous |
143.57 |
| Average |
88.57 |
North America
| Fund |
10 Year Fund Performance % |
| Baillie Gifford American |
885.02 |
| UBS US Growth |
414.03 |
| AXA Framlington American Growth |
373.83 |
| Franklin US Opportunities |
345.65 |
| Merian North American Equity |
336.04 |
| Average |
273.24 |
Sterling Corporate Bond
| Fund |
10 Year Fund Performance % |
| Janus Henderson Inst Long Dated Credit |
113.29 |
| Schroder Sterling Corporate Bond |
97.72 |
| Royal London Corporate Bond |
87.27 |
| L;G Managed Monthly Income Trust |
84.69 |
| Morgan Stanley Sterling Corporate Bond |
82.32 |
| Average |
66.17 |
Sterling High Yield
| Fund |
10 Year Fund Performance % |
| Invesco High Yield (UK) |
81.85 |
| Baillie Gifford High Yield Bond |
75.81 |
| AXA Global High Income |
75.00 |
| Schroder High Yield Opportunities |
73.77 |
| AXA Pan European High Yield Bond |
72.04 |
| Average |
61.40 |
Sterling Strategic Bond
| Fund |
10 Year Fund Performance % |
| Allianz Strategic Bond |
103.09 |
| Baillie Gifford Strategic Bond |
86.67 |
| Royal London Ethical Bond |
85.49 |
| Artemis High Income |
84.76 |
| Fidelity Extra Income |
73.71 |
| Average |
57.30 |
UK All Companies
| Fund |
10 Year Fund Performance % |
| Merian UK Mid Cap |
252.78 |
| Slater Growth |
237.44 |
| Premier Miton Ethical |
206.63 |
| Liontrust Special Situations |
198.85 |
| Barclays UK Lower Cap |
196.94 |
| Average |
93.63 |
UK Smaller Companies
| Fund |
10 Year Fund Performance % |
| Liontrust UK Smaller Companies |
368.33 |
| ES R&M UK Equity Smaller Companies |
360.21 |
| LF Gresham House UK Micro Cap |
341.85 |
| Marlborough UK Micro Cap Growth |
303.66 |
| AXA Framlington UK Smaller Cos |
293.85 |
| Average |
207.38 |
The top-performing funds over 5 years
Asia Pacific Excluding Japan
| Fund |
5 Year Fund Performance % |
| Baillie Gifford Pacific |
245.85 |
| JPM Asia Growth |
185.83 |
| Fidelity Asia Pacific Opportunities |
159.45 |
| Barings Eastern Trust |
158.83 |
| Schroder Asian Alpha Plus |
156.17 |
| Average |
112.09 |
Europe Excluding UK
| Fund |
5 Year Fund Performance % |
| Premier Miton European Opportunities |
183.52 |
| Baillie Gifford European |
155.43 |
| Marlborough European Multi-Cap |
133.32 |
| BlackRock European Dynamic |
119.90 |
| BlackRock Continental European |
110.45 |
| Average |
64.66 |
Japan
| Fund |
5 Year Fund Performance % |
| FSSA Japan Focus |
131.58 |
| Legg Mason IF Japan Equity |
123.28 |
| Baillie Gifford Japanese |
112.58 |
| JPM Japan |
98.09 |
| Liontrust Japan Equity |
93.14 |
| Average |
70.40 |
Mixed Investment 0%-35% Shares
| Fund |
5 Year Fund Performance % |
| Royal London Sustainable Managed Growth Trust |
43.91 |
| Omnis Investments Ltd Omnis Managed Cautious |
34.86 |
| True Potential Investments SVS TPI Cautious 1 |
32.12 |
| BlackRock NURS II Consensus 35 |
32.07 |
| True Potential Investments SVS TPI Cautious 3 |
30.69 |
| Average |
22.49 |
Mixed Investment 20%-60% Shares
| Fund |
5 Year Fund Performance % |
| Royal London Sustainable Diversified Trust |
67.67 |
| Liontrust Sustainable Future Defensive Managed |
55.78 |
| AXA Global Distribution |
51.63 |
| Barclays Wealth Global Markets 3 |
49.87 |
| Rathbone Active Income and Growth Fund |
47.89 |
| Average |
29.36 |
Mixed Investment 40%-85% Shares
| Fund |
5 Year Fund Performance % |
| Baillie Gifford Managed |
117.46 |
| Royal London Sustainable World Trust |
106.73 |
| Liontrust Sustainable Future Managed |
96.94 |
| Liontrust Balanced |
81.14 |
| Premier Miton Diversified Growth |
80.11 |
| Average |
46.10 |
North America
| Fund |
5 Year Fund Performance % |
| Baillie Gifford American |
439.01 |
| AXA Framlington American Growth |
168.41 |
| UBS US Growth |
166.64 |
| Ninety One American Franchise |
152.68 |
| Franklin US Opportunities |
150.90 |
| Average |
112.45 |
Sterling Corporate Bond
| Fund |
5 Year Fund Performance % |
| Schroder Sterling Corporate Bond |
53.52 |
| Janus Henderson Inst Long Dated Credit |
48.38 |
| Merian Corporate Bond |
36.50 |
| Liontrust Sustainable Future Corporate Bond |
36.36 |
| Rathbone Ethical Bond Fund |
36.06 |
| Average |
27.15 |
Sterling High Yield
| Fund |
5 Year Fund Performance % |
| Schroder High Yield Opportunities |
44.41 |
| L&G High Income Trust |
43.70 |
| AXA Global High Income |
40.08 |
| Fidelity Global High Yield |
38.09 |
| Baillie Gifford High Yield Bond |
36.59 |
| Average |
32.15 |
Sterling Strategic Bond
| Fund |
5 Year Fund Performance % |
| Allianz Strategic Bond |
53.64 |
| GAM Credit Opportunities GBP |
43.25 |
| Legg Mason IF Brandywine Global Income Optimiser |
40.03 |
| Aegon Strategic Bond |
39.32 |
| Schroder Strategic Bond |
38.94 |
| Average |
25.24 |
UK All Companies
| Fund |
5 Year Fund Performance % |
| MI Chelverton UK Equity Growth |
158.95 |
| VT The Beagle |
128.36 |
| Slater Recovery |
97.93 |
| Baillie Gifford UK Equity Alpha |
95.56 |
| Premier Miton UK Growth |
79.78 |
| Average |
37.53 |
UK Smaller Companies
| Fund |
5 Year Fund Performance % |
| FP Octopus UK Micro Cap Growth |
174.08 |
| TB TB Amati UK Smaller Companies |
132.32 |
| Liontrust UK Smaller Companies |
119.18 |
| Marlborough UK Micro Cap Growth |
117.77 |
| Jupiter UK Smaller Companies |
114.61 |
| Average |
76.59 |
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.
