22 May 2026
S&P 500 and beyond: how popular US trackers and ETFs compareThe US is the second most popular equity market to track, bested only by global options, with the most popular passive options housing billions in investors’ money.
Having previously gone under the bonnet of the global passive funds AJ Bell customers favour most, we’re turning our attention to the US.
As our research shows, the top 10 most popular...
18 May 2026
Why a fund manager calls it quits on a stockAny fund manager will always be keen to chat about what they’re optimistic about, whether that’s the next AI leader they think everyone else has missed or why they’re backing the market leaders.
Which is great, you want to know why they think that investment is going to deliver sizeable returns. Yet equally as important as knowing why you want to...
14 May 2026
Why invest in income funds (even when you don’t need income)For those investors who are still focused on growing their wealth instead of spending, an income focused fund might intuitively seem like the wrong choice. However, despite the name, income funds can act as an important diversifier for a portfolio with a main goal of growth.
In this context, we aren’t talking about the version of a fund you choose...
12 May 2026
Why it matters if your fund manager retires or quitsWhile Warren Buffett is not strictly a fund manager, he was considered a/the key decision maker for buying and selling stocks in Berkshire Hathaway’s public markets portfolio, as well as buying private companies, and the success of that portfolio, an affiliation his retirement has not yet dampened.
Over the first weekend of May, Berkshire Hathaway...
11 May 2026
What changes have been made to the Favourite funds list?We keep our Favourite funds list under constant review to ensure we have the highest conviction in the funds we’ve selected. Following a recent review, in the Global Equities sector we have taken the decision to add the WS Guinness Global Equity Income fund and the Schroder Global Sustainable Value fund to the list.
The WS Guinness Global Equity...
11 May 2026
Why F&C shareholders suddenly have more sharesInvesting in F&C Investment Trust might notice they now hold four times as many shares as before, without having bought any more. They might also spot the share price is much lower than it was before. There is no reason to worry.
F&C has undertaken a share split. It’s a common tool used by companies to help keep the cost of one share at an...
8 May 2026
Why some of the biggest UK fund managers look outside the FTSEIt'd be a fair assumption that portfolios invested in UK equity sectors and benchmarked to the FTSE would only be buying UK-listed companies. But in fact, many of the biggest players invest outside UK as well.
From the UK Equity Income and UK All Companies sectors, 21 portfolios had the ability to invest in non-UK assets, according to data from...
8 May 2026
The top performing UK funds and trustsInvesting in the UK stock market isn’t just about broadening the pool of people to help fund UK company growth plans, it’s also about building personal wealth. The UK has been a more fruitful place to make money than its unloved reputation would suggest.
Over the past 10 years, an investment in the broader UK market would have generated nearly...
3 May 2026
Income funds are a popular choice – how are they changing?Income funds are consistently popular among DIY-retail investors, and even the disruption markets saw during the first three months of the year failed to dampen investor appetite for some of the biggest income funds.
Among AJ Bell customers since the start of the year, the JPMorgan Global Growth & Income trust and Artemis Global Income funds were...
2 May 2026
How to get the most out of a fund’s factsheetIf you’ve already invested in a fund or you’re looking at funds to invest in, then the regular monthly factsheets they produce can be invaluable.
Every fund or trust has a myriad of documents that sit alongside it, all of which are important. The monthly factsheet is the one that offers regular insights into the manager’s thoughts and updates on...
30 April 2026
Time for your portfolio’s checkup? Test these vital statsOne of the perks of investing is that it doesn’t require much work to be successful. In fact, an industry adage is to ‘invest and forget’. But doing a check under the bonnet once in a while ensures that your investments are still serving their purpose.
You can view this like a visit to the dentist. Once or twice a year, you head in to identify any...
24 April 2026
Investors have started spring dialling up their defensive investmentsAJ Bell DIY investors have been adding to their more defensive portfolio options over the past few weeks as they responded to the volatility created by conflict in the Middle East.
Looking at net flow data across AJ Bell’s platform since the start of March and the past two weeks in particular, and among its suite of managed funds, net flows into...
23 April 2026
How to avoid doubling up with popular funds from the same providerWe’ve all had the experience of finding the perfect shirt and opting to buy one in every colour, thinking that this eradicates all fashion dilemmas from our lives.
And while it is great to find a style that works for you, often you have to shop around a bit to find other options which are appropriate for other situations. For example, you’re...
22 April 2026
How to pick an ‘all-in-one’ fundNot all of us want, or have time, to become investment gurus. While it’s important to know the basics to understand your own situation, delving into the details of how much you should invest in each part of the market can be time consuming. Fortunately, there are certain types of investments designed to take the stress out of investment research.
A...
21 April 2026
How the AJ Bell funds performed in the first quarter of 2026James Flintoft, Head of Investment Solutions, talks to Danni Hewson about market activity over the first quarter of 2026 and how AJ Bell funds have performed.
21 April 2026
How AJ Bell funds performed in the first quarter of the yearDespite a rocky March for markets due to the war in Iran, six of the nine funds in the AJ Bell range ended the first quarter of the year with a positive return.
Across the past month, we’ve seen the effects of the US-Iran conflict trickle down through the market, most prominently through the rise of energy prices and a shift in interest rate...
11 April 2026
Property funds are coming out of limbo: here's what's changingProperty funds are getting a long-awaited shake up in a bid to keep this shrinking part of the market alive and increase appeal to investors in the long-term.
Most of us are familiar with investing in property through owning a home. Ideally, you’d get on the property ladder and, down the line, sell your house for more than you paid or rent it for...
10 April 2026
Explaining the difference between the most popular global tracker fundsGlobal tracker funds and ETFs are one of the most popular ways for investors to gain access to the market.
These passive instruments track an underlying index. Tracking refers to the strategy of building an investment portfolio designed to mimic rather than beat the performance of a specific market, giving exposure to all the companies in that...
6 April 2026
All-in-one funds are getting creative to maintain diversificationDiversification is one of the cornerstones of investing and multi-asset funds, sometimes called ‘all-in-one' or ‘one-stop-shop' funds, are one of the simplest ways to gain exposure to a broad spread of investments.
But amid a few years of testing market environments, multi-asset fund managers have been expanding their investment horizons to...
25 March 2026
You might not be as diversified as you thinkIf you’ve been keeping an eye on your investments in the past few weeks, you may have experienced a nasty shock. Despite all the work you’ve put into creating a diversified portfolio, the market turmoil of March may have put a dent in your investments.
This isn’t a reason to panic. Even well diversified portfolios aren’t immune to falls in the...
23 March 2026
Why some of the biggest tech investors are moving away from the Mag 7The Magnificent Seven, a collection of the biggest US technology firms, have been a key feature of global equity funds for the better part of the decade. This is in part because their market dominance demanded a place, and high returns made it hard to argue against holding them.
Made up of Meta, Alphabet, Amazon and Apple joined by Microsoft...
20 March 2026
The funds that could help you avoid sleepless nightsThere’s plenty of news to keep investors' brains buzzing right now. The ongoing message from an investment perspective is to ignore the noise and not panic. But there are some funds designed to provide exactly the sort of reassurance and wealth preservation some people will be looking for, not just during a crisis, but against any market backdrop.
...
19 March 2026
How top fund managers are responding to renewed inflation risksThe rise in oil and gas prices has sparked fears of a 2022-style inflation crisis reemerging, with energy costs set to rise as the war in Iran continues.
A repeat of this could be painful for investors because 2022 saw both equities and bonds experience negative returns for the first time since 1977. This meant even portfolios which were...
2 March 2026
The defence sector is booming. Can investors still jump in?The defence sector has been booming the past 18 months, driven by a peak in geopolitical conflicts and governments dedicating higher budgets to military and cyber security resources.
Global military expenditure hit £2.7 trillion in 2024, the highest level on record, according to data from HanETF. Investors who took up holdings in defence off the...
27 February 2026
Europe is back in demand – meet the funds out in frontEurope has captured investors’ attention over the past year, thanks to a strong equity market and people looking for an alternative to sky-high valuations in the long-favoured US tech space.
Since January 2025, European markets in general have delivered better returns than those in the US. Comparing the Stoxx Europe 600 – the broad measure of the...
