Top 10 most-bought investment funds: April 2025

As investors moved to top up ISAs before tax year end and early birds prepared to invest their new tax year’s allowance as soon as the clock ticked over to 6 April, US President Donald Trump’s Liberation Day tariffs on 2 April, sent markets into a nosedive.

Fund investors, however, seemingly didn’t flinch and the top 10 table of most-bought funds has only experienced some minor reshuffling. However, there are new entrants in the most-bought active funds’ list, as explained below.

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Meanwhile, Royal London Short Term Money Market kept its place in the top spot of the overall list of most-bought funds for the fifth consecutive month. Money market funds are a low-risk type of investment, and they aim to deliver a cash-like return. Yearly charges for the Royal London fund are 0.10%.

As our fixed income lead Sam Benstead explained in his monthly column, “a key point to note about money market funds is that yields will rise and fall alongside interest rates. So, while yields are currently around 4.5%, if the Bank of England interest drops below 4% by the end of this year, as many market experts expect, then returns will also fall.”

In the same article, Sam explores other alternatives to traditional savings account including gilts and short-term bonds. The value of money held in a traditional savings account can be eroded by inflation, and over the long term the returns from investing tend to trump cash.

The only other active fund in the top 10 is Fundsmith Equity. The popularity of Terry Smith’s global equity fund has waned somewhat as short-term returns disappoint. The £20.3 billion fund does, however, have a very robust long-term performance track record. Smith and his team’s philosophy is to hold “a small number of high-quality, resilient, global growth companies that are good value and which we intend to hold for a long time”. Top 10 holdings, according to its factsheet dated 30 April, include cosmetics brand L'Oreal SA (EURONEXT:OR), tobacco firm Philip Morris International Inc (NYSE:PM), and Automatic Data Processing Inc (NASDAQ:ADP), a tech firm which provides human resources-related solutions, such as payroll administration.

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The second-most bought fund according to the number of buys among ii customers, Vanguard LifeStrategy 80% Equity, was also unchanged in second place. Fund and investment education editor Kyle Caldwell, carried out some analysis of different fund types and how they held up during the market sell-off triggered by Trump’s tariffs.

The data showed that multi-asset funds with a higher weighting to defensive bonds, limited losses, with the average fund in the Investment Association (IA) Mixed Investment 0-35% Shares sector down just -1%, while the figure for the IA Mixed Investment 20-60% Shares sector was -2.3%. Equities and bonds are negatively correlated, so when one falls, the other usually rises.

Other LifeStrategy funds also appear in April’s top 10 table, including the 60% Equity and 100% Equity options in eighth and fourth place respectively.

Three low-cost global trackers, HSBC FTSE All World Index(third place), Vanguard FTSE Global All Cap Index(sixth place) and Fidelity Index World(seventh place) regularly appear in the top 10 most-bought funds’ table. Although their names suggest that they all invest in the same way, it’s important to look at the factsheet, as some funds exclude emerging markets, for example.

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US fund leviathan Vanguard has a total of five funds in the top 10, including its US Equity Index offering. This fund, which investors can own for an ongoing charges figure of 0.10%, has retained its position in ninth place. Although, this passive fund offers exposure to 3,550 stocks in America, IT comprises a substantial weighting, currently 28.1%, with financials being the second-largest weighting at 15.2%.

L&G Global Technology Indexfell from third to fifth place in April. This pure-play tech fund has an 85% weighting to the US. Some commentators have called time on the years of “US exceptionalism”, with global fund manager surveys showing a rotation out of US stocks.

Top 10 most-popular funds in April 2025

Source: interactive investor. Performance data to 1 May 2025. Note: the top 10 is based on the number of “buys” during the month of April. Past performance is not a guide to future performance.

The top 10 most-bought active funds

While passive strategies hold sway in the most-bought funds’ list overall, we have started sharing the data on the most-bought active funds to give readers a more nuanced understanding of what investors are buying.

A few new names appear in the top 10 most-bought funds’ list for April. One, Fidelity Global Dividend, was the subject of this week’s Fund Spotlight article. As our research teams explains, “the fund aims to achieve a mix of growth and income with low volatility”. The largest regional exposure is to Europe. Interestingly, the fund has no position in the Magnificent Seven stocks, which differentiates it from many global equity funds. Top 10 holdings, according to the latest factsheet dated 31 March, include National Grid (LSE:NG.), Unilever (LSE:ULVR) and Roche Holding AG (SIX:ROG).

This fund, which is one of interactive investor’s Super 60 investment ideas, was also recently cited in a feature about income investors by one of our specialist writers.

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The other newcomers to the most-bought active funds’ list were money market funds, including one from the Vanguard stable, namely the Vanguard Sterling Short-Term Money Markets fund. The other is the distribution version of the popular Royal London Short Term Money Market fund. The accumulation share class means dividends are reinvested, while distribution means investors receive the payouts. Money market funds now comprise half the most-bought active list.

On theii Community app, a place for investors to talk about their investments, one individual in drawdown who had topped up Royal London Money Market fund, said: “I expect equities to remain exceptionally volatile for some time, so have increased the ballast in my portfolio.”

Jupiter Gold & Silver fell outside the top 10, but the gold price briefly passing $3,500 an ounce in April – a record high. It has been reported that JPMorgan has predicted the price to surpass $4,000 by Q2 2026. The precious metal is a reliable store of value and a haven for some investors in turbulent times.

The funds that exited the top 10 were: Artemis SmartGARP European Equity, Artemis UK Select, and Jupiter Gold & Silver.

Top 10 most-bought active funds in April 2025