Investors have had mixed success with their equity fund picks last year, according to recent Trustnet research, which showed some of the most popular funds of 2024 have shone, while others have struggled.
Joseph Hill, senior investment analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said this mixed success demonstrates that it is “vital to look beyond the most popular funds” when investors are considering what to add to their portfolio, rather than just following the herd.
Below, Trustnet examines how 2024’s most bought and sold active funds have performed so far in 2025.
IA Global
In the IA Global sector, the most bought and sold funds of 2024 have experienced mixed success but there were some clear correct decisions.
On the buying side, investors added a further £1.1bn of net inflows to the Vanguard LifeStrategy 100% Equity fund in 2024, bringing its total assets under management (AUM) to more than £8bn.
Although the fund invests primarily in passive vehicles, it is actively managed with the team adjusting the portfolio weightings. Investors who bought the fund have made a 7% total return on their investment this year, a top-quartile result in the IA Global sector.
On the sell side, around £3.3bn was pulled from Terry Smith’s Fundsmith Equity fund last year as the fund posted its third year of underperformance versus the IA Global sector. So far this year, it has continued to underperform and is currently down 2.4%, while the average peer is up 4.3%.
However, investors did not always get it right. For example, the most purchased active fund in 2024 was the Royal London Global Equity Diversified fund. So far this year it has delivered a total return of 3.2%, underperforming compared to the MSCI World (up 4.6%).
Meanwhile, four of the five Baillie Gifford strategies that investors shied away from last year are rallying and have shot into the top quartile of the IA Global sector in 2025 (Baillie Gifford Positive Change, Baillie Gifford Long Term Global Growth Investment, Baillie Gifford International, Baillie Gifford Global Alpha Growth).
IA UK All Companies
In the UK, investors' success rate is better. Of the most purchased active UK funds last year, just one (HL Multi-Manager UK Growth) has failed to beat the IA UK All Companies sector average so far this year.
The most popular fund last year was the Artemis UK Select fund, led by FE fundinfo Alpha Manager Ed Legget and Ambrose Faulks.
With a total return of 20.4% year-to-date (YTD), it is the single best-performing fund in the IA UK All Companies sector. Investors have already poured a further £1.3bn into it so far this year in recognition of this outperformance.
Similarly, investors who pulled out of Lindsell Train’s UK Equity fund may consider this a successful trade. The fund has slid 1.6% so far this year – the only negative return of the most bought and sold UK funds in 2024.
However, investors did not have a 100% success rate. Investors pulled out of the Jupiter UK Dynamic (formerly Jupiter UK Value fund) as lead manager Ben Whitmore departed, with its AUM sliding to below £1bn.
However, under new manager Alex Savvides, the fund is up 14.2%, outpacing the FTSE All Share. Forvis Mazars James Rowlinson attributed this to investors pivoting away from growth stocks to more defensive and cautious stocks earlier this year.
IA North America
Despite the dominance of passive funds in the most bought and sold US funds of 2024, some active funds also proved popular.
However, investors’ track record in the US was not as hot as in the UK. Of the four active funds to gather more than £200m in inflows, just one (BNY Mellon US Equity Income) has posted a positive return in sterling terms so far this year.
By contrast, some relatively unpopular funds have started to rally. Only two of the active funds that investors shied away from last year (JPM US Equity Income and SJP North American) have failed to make a profit in 2025 so far, with the rest delivering a second-quartile return or better.
Despite a top-quartile effort in 2024, investors pulled £556m from Alpha Manager Tom Slater’s Baillie Gifford American fund.
However, it remains a favourite for experts who identified its punchy, high-conviction growth strategy as a compelling way for investors to access US equity markets. For investors who kept the faith, the fund is up 6.8% so far this year, a top-quartile return in the IA North American sector.
IA Europe ex UK
Finally, we turn to the most popular and shunned funds of 2024 in Europe. Out of the most bought and sold funds of 2024, only Premier Miton European Opportunities is in the black so far this year.
Liontrust European Dynamic had the most inflows in 2024 and so far this year investors have been rewarded with a total return of 18.3%, narrowly beating the IA Europe ex UK sector average.
Investors shied away from Invesco European Equity last year, with the fund dropping almost £724m in AUM and delivering the third worst performance in the sector.
However, 2025 has been much more favourable for the fund, which has now surged 17.6%, outpacing the average peer by around 3 percentage points.
This strong performance from many European active funds is the result of increased investor interest in the region, due to concerns over US trade policy and positive macro developments in Europe, such as the increased defence expenditure from NATO countries.