Which funds have proven most popular with users of investment platforms this year?
We’ve asked some of the top investment platforms which funds have proven most popular with their users in 2014. All of the funds listed below featured on more than one of their top 10 best-selling funds list.
Woodford Equity Income
This fund popped up on each and every list from the platforms, which tells its own story about the ‘superstar’ status of fund manager Neil Woodford.
This year Woodford broke out on his own, moving away from Invesco Perpetual to set up Woodford Investment Management. And investors’ money followed him – the fund is now worth more than £3.5 billion.
What's more, the fund has rewarded those who have backed him – so far it has given a return of 7.4%, compared to an average return of just 0.7% among other equity income funds.
Fund price at time of writing: 105.03p
Annual management charge: 0.65%
Historic yield: n/a
Artemis Income
This fund made the best buy lists among users of Hargreaves Lansdown, The Share Centre and Fidelity.
It’s another income-focused fund too, co-managed by Adrian Frost and Adrian Gosden, both of who have steered the fund for more than a decade.
Over the last year, the fund has delivered a return of 5.47%.
Fund price at time of writing: 213.26p
Annual management charge: 1.5%
Historic yield: 3.6%
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Threadneedle Equity Income
Another equity income fund, this time proving popular with both Hargreaves Lansdown and Bestinvest users.
The fund has been around since 1985, and is again co-managed, this time by Leigh Harrison and Richard Colwell. Over the past 12 months it has grown 7.71%, a performance even better than that of the Neil Woodford fund.
Fund price at time of writing: 137.31p
Annual management charge: 0.7%
Historic yield: 3.92%
Marlborough UK Micro Cap
The Marlborough UK Micro Cap fund popped up in the best buy lists from both Hargreaves Lansdown and The Share Centre.
The fund looks to invest in the smaller listed companies in the UK – generally those valued at less than £250 million. As this is an area of investment that can be rather volatile, the fund is invested across 256 different companies, compared to the dozen or so that the other funds mentioned so far are invested in.
[SPOTLIGHT]The Marlborough UK Micro Cap fund is managed by Giles Hargreave, who was this year named the top equity fund manager in the UK by Bestinvest. This year it has grown 3.45%.
Fund price at time of writing: 429.67p
Annual management charge: 0.75%
Historic yield: 0.26%
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Standard Life Investments Global Absolute Return Strategies (GARS)
This fund pops up in the top sellers at both Bestinvest and Charles Stanley Direct.
It’s an ‘absolute return’ fund. The idea with an absolute return fund is that the fund manager will deliver a positive return for investors, no matter what’s happening in the markets in the background. To do that they may employ all sorts of exotic tactics, like ‘shorting’.
These types of funds don’t have the best reputation, but the Standard Life GARS clearly has its fans, having delivered a return of 5.15% over the last 12 months.
Fund price at time of writing: 74.76p
Annual management charge: 1.50%
Historic yield: 0.79%
AXA Framlington Biotech
This fund is a top performer with users of Interactive Investor (iii) and Charles Stanley Direct. As the name suggests, it focuses mainly on companies in the biotechnology, genomics and medical research industries across the globe.
It has had an extraordinary couple of years, delivering a return of 53.61% last year, following a return of 56.83% the year before. Remember though, past performance is no guarantee of future returns!
Fund price at time of writing: 152.70p
Annual management charge: 1.75%
Historic yield: N/A
Unicorn UK Income
The Unicorn UK Income fund is popular with iii and The Share Centre folk. It has actually delivered a loss to investors this year of 2.84%, though that follows two bumper years of returns of 41.13% and 33.56%.
The fund managers Fraser Mackersie and Simon Moon tend to focus on smaller companies.
Fund price at time of writing: 218.41p
Annual management charge: 1.50%
Historic yield: 4.97%
Invesco Perpetual Income
The fund was previously in the hands of Neil Woodford, but is now managed by Mark Barnett, and remains popular with investors using iii and The Share Centre.
Over the last 12 months it has delivered a return of 9.66%
Fund price at time of writing: 1,674.72p
Annual management charge: 1.66%
Historic yield: 3.08%
M&G Optimal Income
The Optimal Income fund from M&G made the best-selling lists from iii and Bestinvest.
It’s a strategic bond fund, which means your money may be invested in anything from traditional government bonds to high-yield bonds which act like shares, and it may also be invested overseas.
The fund has delivered returns of 5.15% over the last 12 months.
Fund price at time of writing: 193.90p
Annual management charge: 0.75%
Historic yield: 2.92%
Don’t forget about index trackers
All of the funds highlighted today are managed funds. They each have a manager (or collection of managers) who are actively making decisions on exactly where to invest, in order to try to beat the market.
But index trackers are also important to consider. Index trackers simply track a specified index, investing in all (or most) of the shares in that index. So, for example, if you go for a FTSE 100 tracker, your fund’s performance should then replicate the performance of the FTSE 100. You’ll never beat the market, but you shouldn’t be too far off it either. Crucailly, these funds are also much cheaper than managed funds.
Check out Top, cheap index trackers for more on these.
Thanks to Hargreaves Lansdown, Bestinvest, Charles Stanley Direct, The Share Centre, Interactive Investor and Fidelity for their help with this article.
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