Top 10 most-bought investment funds: May 2025

Passive funds account for 80% of this month’s top 10 table, as was the case last month.

We recently reported that around 25% of the UK funds industry is now invested passively compared with half that figure 10 years ago. The fact that passive funds are both simple to understand, and low cost accounts for their popularity.

Two funds that have these qualities in spades are multi-asset funds Vanguard LifeStrategy 80% Equity (ranked second) and Vanguard LifeStrategy 60% Equity (eighth). As one commentator on the ii Community app said, such funds are “a one-stop shop and will auto-rebalance, [so] it makes a lot of sense if you want to concentrate on earning money” and investing isn’t a particular passion. Both the 60% and 80% versions have a place on our Quick-start Funds list.

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As well as being the most-bought fund in May, Royal London Short Term Money Market made the top 10 list of most-bought investments among early bird ISA investors (those buying in April). We recently published a short explainer video on how money market funds are a potential place to grow your cash. The low-risk Royal London fund is one of only two actively managed funds in the top 10, although its yearly fees are refreshingly low for an active fund, at 0.10%.

Another trend apparent in the top 10 is that half the funds are global, namely HSBC FTSE All-World Index, Fidelity Index World, Vanguard FTSE Global All Cap Index, Vanguard LifeStrategy 100% Equity, and Fundsmith Equity I Acc. The latter fund rose by one place to ninth on last month, pushing Vanguard US Equity Index down to 10th place. All the other funds retained their places on last month.

Among those buying Vanguard’s US Equity Index fund and L&G Global Technology Index may be investors buying the tail end of the market dip. At the end of May, there was hope that perhaps reconciliation over Trump’s trade tariffs was on the cards, but comments over the weekend suggested otherwise. Richard Hunter, ii’s head of markets, wrote in his morning note today that while“US markets have repaired much of the damage wrought over the last few months...sentiment remains fragile”.

Top 10 most-popular funds in May 2025

Source: FE Analytics. Performance data to 30 May 2025. Note: the top 10 is based on the number of “buys” during the month of May. Past performance is not a guide to future performance.

The top 10 most-bought active funds

Specialist writer Douglas Chadwick recently covered Ranmore Global Equity fund, which entered the top 10 most-bought active funds table in fifth place. Chadwick explained that, over three years, it has managed to rise by 5% or more in six out of six periods. Ranmore Global Equity actually returned double-digit figures of 15.6% and 16.6% for two of those periods. Over one, and three years, its total return figures are 21.7% and 75%.

This concentrated self-declared “contrarian” fund invests in undervalued global companies and is domiciled in the Republic of Ireland but available to retail investors in the UK. The institutional share class (the one that ii investors are buying) has an ongoing charges figure (OCF) of 1%, while the investor share class is 1.13%.

Chadwick explains that while it still has “a reasonably large exposure to the US, it is significantly less than many other funds in its sector”. So, for those who believe the period of US exceptionalism is over, this fund could appeal.

Sean Peche, its manager, has overseen the £638.5 million fund since inception in 2008. Its largest sector exposures include consumer discretionary (28%), financials (17%) and consumer staples (11%). Its largest geographic exposures are to Europe (31%), Asia-ex Japan (25%) and the US (16%) and top 10 holdings include the likes of Tesco (LSE:TSCO), Barbie-maker Mattel Inc (NASDAQ:MAT), and Brazilian energy firm Petroleo Brasileiro SA Petrobras ADR (NYSE:PBR).

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Commentary from the fund’s April 2025 factsheet explains that the recent turmoil in markets was seen as an opportunity by the team to pick up a UK share.

“Global markets fell sharply in early April as concerns spread that tariffs would cause a slowing of economic growth. This environment of fear created an opportunity for us to buy easyJet (LSE:EZJ) on 6 times forward earnings.

“easyJet is a leading European low-cost, short-haul airline that is well managed and growing. Unlike many other airlines, the company also has a very strong balance sheet with a net cash position. Their Airbus fleet insulates them from any retaliatory tariffs, and they aren’t affected by the declining strength of the US consumer.

“On the contrary, they should benefit from this crisis - a lower $ jet fuel price bought with a stronger £/€ means future costs should fall (although they are largely hedged in the short term). Furthermore, the recent trend of Europeans preferring to holiday in Europe over travelling to the US is supportive of stronger ticket prices and may also benefit their fast-growing package tour division.”

The only other new entrant in this month’s list of top 10 most-bought active funds, was growth fund Artemis SmartGARP European Equity. “GARP” in the fund’s title stands for “growth at a reasonable price”. The £781.5 million has a 42% exposure to financials, followed by industrials at 13% and healthcare at 8.8%. Top 10 holdings include Societe Generale SA (EURONEXT:GLE), Novartis AG Registered Shares (SIX:NOVN) and Banco Santander SA (LSE:BNC). Investors can own it for 0.86%.

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Money market funds remain popular, with both Royal London Short-Term Money Market (accumulation and distribution share classes) and L&G Cash Trust I Acc in the top 10.

Out fixed income lead Sam Benstead recently explained that “these are funds that are professionally managed to give an ultra-safe ‘cash-like’ return. They use bonds maturing within just a couple of months alongside an array of short-term savings tools offered by banks.” Yields are slightly above the Bank of England base rate and such funds can be held inside an ISA or a self-invested personal pension (SIPP).

Dividend strategies Artemis Global Income and Fidelity Global Dividend made up the rest of the top 10 alongside specialists Jupiter India and Fidelity Global Technology.

The two funds that exited the top 10 were Vanguard Sterling Short-Term Money Market and Fidelity Cash.

Top 10 most-bought active funds in May 2025

This article was updated on 4 June to amend the three-year return figure for Ranmore Global Equity.