Top 10 most-bought investment funds: June 2025

Passive funds dominate the list, but actively managed global value funds are also proving popular.

1st July 2025 09:45

Seven of the 10 most bought funds last week were passively managed, tracking the up and down fortunes of technology and global shares.

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.

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Performance has also generally been better than actively managed alternatives, driven by large stocks becoming even larger, particularly in the US where giant tech shares dominate indices.

These funds all regularly feature in our monthly most-bought lists and with exception of the tech fund, are often used as “core” allocations to global markets.

Interestingly, they are all global funds, rather than passive funds that track domestic markets, such as British or American shares. This shows how many investors are drawn to a “set and forget” investment approach, often just using a handful of funds to gain exposure to stock markets from around the world.

While this has proven a simple but effective strategy, there is a hidden risk in going global: too much concentration in US shares.

For example, the MSCI World index, which Fidelity Index World tracks, is 71% invested in US shares, and therefore also in US dollars. This has hurt the fund this year, as the US dollar has dropped 8% against the pound, and US shares were very volatile in March and April as Donald Trump lined up punitive tariffs against its closest trading partners.

Of the three active funds in May’s most-bought list, two were global equity funds and one was a money market strategy.

Royal London Short Term Money Market fund was the most popular fund. It aims to generate a “cash-like" return of just above the Bank of England interest rate, which is currently 4.25%. It does this by buying ultra-safe bonds about to mature, and also by making use of short-term savings instruments offered by banks.

It has been a very popular fund over the past couple of years, as investors opt for steady returns with next to no volatility, rather than taking stock or bond market risk. We recently published a short explainer video on how money market funds are a potential place to grow your cash.

Artemis Global Income was the ninth most popular fund and Ranmore Global Equity was tenth.

The Artemis strategy yields 2.53%. It typically contains around 60-80 company shares from around the world, selected from a universe of over 8,000 shares. The managers look for companies they believe can keep growing their dividends, and the largest bets currently include defence stocks Rheinmetall and BAE Systems. It has just 25% invested in the US.

Ranmore Global Equity is a value fund, with the price-to-earnings (p/e) ratio at just 8.2 times, compared with 19.1 for the MSCI World index. Top stocks include Alphabet, EasyJet and Tesco. The fund has been a strong performer, ranking in the top 25% of global funds over one, three, five and 10 years.

Fund	IA sector	Change on last month	One-year return (%)	Three-year return (%)
Royal London Short Term Money Market (Accumulating)	Short Term Money Market	No change	4.9	14.1
Vanguard LifeStrategy 80% Equity	Mixed investment 40%-85% shares	No change	6.7	30.3
HSBC FTSE All World Index	Global	No change	6.5	39.7
L&G Global Technology Index Trust	Technology	Up one	5.3	89.8
Vanguard LifeStrategy 100% Equity	Global	Down one	7.3	38.4
Vanguard FTSE Global All Cap Index Global		No change	6.4	38.1
Vanguard LifeStrategy 60% Equity	Mixed investment 40%-85% shares	Up one	6.1	22.6
Fidelity Index World	Global	Down one	6.1	42.6
Artemis Global Income	Global Equity Income	New entry	29.7	75.2
Ranmore Global Equity	Global	New entry	24.5	85.9

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

The top 10 most-bought active funds

Another global value fund made the most-bought active funds list in June: Orbis Global Balanced Standard. The fund invests in both stocks and bonds.

We interviewed the manager, Alec Cutler, recently in our studio. He gave the investment case for gold and UK shares, as well as defence stocks despite their strong run. The links to the two video interviews are below.

Also with a value tilt is Artemis SmartGARP European Equity, the fifth most popular fund in May. It deploys a data-driven algorithm that highlights undervalued shares, so that with the oversight of active fund managers, it can go against the trend and find undervalued opportunities. It is currently very overweight financials, at 41.6% of the fund, followed by industrials and healthcare at a little more than 10% each of assets. The fund has risen 31% this year compared with a 14% gain for European equities.

Another Artemis fund made the list: Artemis UK Select. It takes a high-growth approach to the UK market, owning names across the market cap spectrum, including Barclays, Rolls-Royce and Marks & Spencer. It has returned 15% this year compared with a 10% gain for the FTSE All Share index.

There were other familiar funds in last month’s most-bought active list, including Fundsmith Equity and Jupiter India.

Fundsmith Equity, run by renowned investor Terry Smith, has been struggling recently but remains popular with customers. It has is now a bottom quartile performer among its global equity peer group over one and five years, but since launch in 2010 it is still ahead of its peer group and benchmark.

Jupiter India is one of the leading active Indian equities funds. It is a top quartile performer versus peers over one, three and five years. Despite being a well run fund, the steam has come out of Indian shares, and this fund is flat over the past 12 months.

Rounding off the list were Jupiter Gold & Silver and Royal London Short Term Money Market (distributing).

Jupiter Gold & Silver is benefitting from a rising gold price, while Royal London Short Term Money Market (distributing) appeals to investors looking for a cash like income. The income is paid out each quarter in these fund units, which is in contrast to the most-bought “accumulation” version, where the income is automatically reinvested.

Fund	One-year return (%)	Three-year return (%)
Royal London Short Term Money Market (accumulation)	4.9	14.1
Artemis Global Income	29.7	75.2
Ranmore Global Equity	24.5	85.9
Orbis Global Balanced Standard	17.1	49.4
Artemis SmartGARP European Equity	33.1	98.7
Royal London Short Term Money Market (distributing)	4.9	14.1
Jupiter Gold & Silver	61.9	85.6
Fundsmith Equity	-3.8	21.4
Jupiter India	0.3	89.6
Artemis UK Select	27.5	75

Source: Interactive Investor, FE FundInfo (data to 29 June 2025)

These articles are provided for information purposes only. Occasionally, an opinion about whether to buy or sell a specific investment may be provided by third parties. The content is not intended to be a personal recommendation to buy or sell any financial instrument or product, or to adopt any investment strategy as it is not provided based on an assessment of your investing knowledge and experience, your financial situation or your investment objectives. The value of your investments, and the income derived from them, may go down as well as up. You may not get back all the money that you invest. The investments referred to in this article may not be suitable for all investors, and if in doubt, an investor should seek advice from a qualified investment adviser.

Full performance can be found on the company or index summary page on the interactive investor website. Simply click on the company's or index name highlighted in the article.

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