There are no funds in the four main mixed-asset sectors with an unblemished record of avoiding the bottom quartile over the past decade, Trustnet research shows, although a few have come close.
In this series, Trustnet has examined the quartile rankings of every fund in the Investment Association universe in each quarter of the past decade to find those that stayed out of the fourth quartile in every one of them.
When we look at IA Flexible Investment, IA Mixed Investment 40-85% Shares, IA Mixed Investment 20-60% Shares and IA Mixed Investment 0-35% Shares sectors – which have a combined 361 funds with long enough track records – every fund has spent at least one quarter at the bottom of the peer group.
However, as the table below shows, there are 29 mixed-asset funds that have had three or fewer quarters in the fourth quartile of their sector in the past 10 years.
Source: Finxl. All funds have a minimum track record of 10 years. Total return in sterling between 1 Apr 2016 and 31 Mar 2026
Four funds have spent just one quarter at the bottom of their peer group: Barclays Global Markets Adventurous, TrinityBridge Growth Tactical Passive, MI Verbatim Multi-Index Portfolio 6 and Janus Henderson Multi-Manager Active. All reside in the IA Flexible Investment sector.
Barclays Global Markets Adventurous is the only one of the four that has combined this with a top-quartile total return over the 10 years under consideration. It has made 152.5% over this period, compared with a sector average of 91.4%.
Like all of the funds in the Barclays Global Markets, it is managed by Finlay Macdonald, who took over in 2021 following the departure of former manager and chief investment officer for multi-asset strategies Will Hobson. The strategy uses an active asset allocation investment process but implements this primarily through passive funds, typically ETFs managed by iShares.
Barclays Global Markets Adventurous was recently highlighted in a Trustnet study looking for multi-asset funds that have consistently beaten their average peer. It was the only fund to have outperformed the sector average in each of the past 10 calendar years.
Performance of Barclays Global Markets Adventurous vs sector over 10yrs
Source: FE Analytics. Total return in sterling between 1 Apr 2016 and 31 Mar 2026
Vanguard is well-represented on the list, with six funds making the cut. The most notable of these is the £17.5bn Vanguard LifeStrategy 80% Equity, which is a core holding for many investors.
The fund has only been in the IA Mixed Investment 40-85% Shares sector's bottom quartile for two quarters of the past decade, combining this with a first-quartile total return of 142.1% over the same period.
The Vanguard LifeStrategy range uses a static asset allocation implemented through the firm's passive funds, meaning it avoids placing strong bets on particular countries or sectors. However, it does have a structural bias to the UK.
Analysts at Rayner Spencer Mills Research said: "Vanguard are one of, if not the, leading provider of index-based solutions and the Life Strategy funds represent a strong offering in the UK retail market with an extremely competitive pricing structure.
"The investment process is easy to understand and the funds' asset allocations will stay very close to the strategic asset allocation with re-balancing carried out when necessary, so an investor will have a very good understanding of their portfolio positioning."
The other five Vanguard funds that had avoided the bottom quartile over the past 10 years are all in the firm's Target Retirement range. These funds use a 'lifestyling' approach, which automatically adjusts the balance of shares and bonds depending on how far the investor is from retirement.
Legal & General Investment Management has three funds in the table: L&G Mixed Investment 0-35%, L&G Mixed Investment 20-60% and L&G Mixed Investment 40-85%. They all invest in Legal & General index trackers but with an active asset allocation from co-managers Bruce White, Christopher Teschmacher and Joe Firth.
Jupiter Merlin Conservative Select is another fund liked by analysts, specifically for its track record in protecting investors' capital. Titan Square Mile, which gives the fund an 'AA' rating, said the Jupiter Merlin team (John Chatfeild-Roberts, Amanda Sillars, David Lewis, George Fox) is "one of the most respected and experienced fund of funds teams in the UK market".
"One of the key features of this fund is its conviction-led portfolio that is built without reference to the peer group benchmark. However, the managers are acutely aware of their investors' requirements and the central tenet of their investment philosophy is based around the principle that the preservation of capital is considered equally important as capital growth," Titan Square Mile said.
"Over the years, this has largely been achieved by using a simple and common-sense approach and without exposure to more complex investments or instruments. The majority of the portfolio tends to be invested in experienced fund managers with established track records."