Top 10 most-bought investment funds: November 2024

The movement of two funds in the top 10 table speaks to the fluctuating fortunes of the US and India.

2nd December 2024 13:52

For the second consecutive month, Terry Smith’s Fundsmith Equity fell outside the top 10 monthly most-bought funds’ list, according to the number of buys among interactive investor customers.

Fundsmith Equity’s performance has suffered, according to Smith, because he does not own artificial intelligence darling NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA), which has overtaken Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) to become the world’s biggest company. As my colleague Sam Benstead explained in a piece detailing the 10 most-popular investments added to ISAs on the ii platform during the past week, Fundsmith Equity’s “performance trails global tracker funds”, which are cheaper to own.

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Unchanged in first place is multi-asset fund Vanguard LifeStrategy 80% Equity. Other LifeStrategy funds, the 100% Equity and 60% Equity options, also feature in seventh and ninth place, respectively. These low-cost funds were suggested as possible core equity holdings for investors who feel comfortable managing their own de-risking of equity portfolios in the run-up to retirement.

Royal London Short Term Money Market fund remains in second place. The yield on this low-risk income fund closely follows the Bank of England base rate, so any lowering of interest rates will impact returns.

L&G Global Technology Index trust is static in third place. As specialist writer Douglas Chadwick reports, this growth fund has been the top performer in the Investment Association (IA) Technology and Technology Innovation sector over six months, despite the sector suffering its largest drop of the year in July. Its three-year total return figure is 48.6% and the one-year figure is 37.8%.

Vanguard US Equity marched up the ranking to the fourth spot as investors digested the likely impact of Donald Trump’s second term in the White House. The Wall Street Journal reported that US stocks posted their biggest monthly gains of 2024 in November.

The low-cost passive fund, which can be owned for an annual fee of 0.10%, tracks the performance of the S&P’s Total Market Index, which is comprised of large, mid, small and micro-sized US firms. The fund offers exposure to 3,584 stocks and has a 29.7% weighting to technology, with financials the second-highest exposure at 14%.

Jupiter India, one of only two actively managed funds in this month’s top 10, fell six places to 10th place. The country’s stock market has been a stellar performer over the past few years, outperforming most major indices, but lately it has come under pressure, which could explain Jupiter India’s waning popularity among ii investors.

The fund has been much discussed on ii’s new app, ii Community, with some investors taking a short-term view and taking profits or buying on the dip, and others viewing the fund as a long-term holding in a Junior ISA.

Jupiter India’s three-year total return figure to date is 72.2%, while its one-year return is 30%.

Chadwick recently suggested that “there are probably several contributing factors” behind current weakness in the Indian stock market, including fears of a full-blown war between Israel and Iran. Chadwick adds that the Middle East is both an important trade partner for India, and an export market. India also sources “about 85% of its crude oil needs from abroad, with a significant portion coming from the Middle East”. He also suggests that the stimulus package unveiled by China’s central bank this autumn could have “shifted fund flows away from other emerging markets, like India, in favour of China”.

Three index funds make up the rest of the table, HSBC FTSE All-World Index (sixth place), Fidelity Index World (fifth place), and Vanguard FTSE Global All Cap (eighth place).

Top 10 most-popular investment funds in November 2024

Fund	IA sector	Change on last month	One-year return (%)	Three-year return (%)
Vanguard LifeStrategy 80% Equity	Mixed investment 40%-85% shares	No change	18.55%	18.49%
Royal London Short Term Money Market	Short Term Money Market	No change	5.29%	11.40%
L&G Global Technology Index Trust	Technology	No change	37.88%	48.61%
Vanguard US Equity Index	North America	Up six places	32.21%	39.41%
Fidelity Index World	Global	Up one	26.66%	35.37%
HSBC FTSE All World Index	Global	Down two places	25%	31.78%
Vanguard LifeStrategy 100% Equity	Global	No change	22.04%	28.27%
Vanguard FTSE Glb All Cp Idx £ Acc	Global	Up one place	24.08%	28.53%
Vanguard LifeStrategy 60% Equity A Acc	Mixed investment 40%-85% shares	Down one place	15.06%	9.37%
Jupiter India	India/Indian Subcontinent	Down six places	30%	72.20%

Source: interactive investor. Performance data to 2 December 2024. Note: the top 10 is based on the number of “buys” during the month of November.

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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