A handful of funds in the IA Global sector have never spent a single quarter of the past decade in the bottom quartile of their peers, research by Trustnet has found, although none of these are active strategies.
For many investors, avoiding the bottom quartile matters as much as reaching the top. Consistently poor relative performance is a sign that a fund is failing to keep pace with its peers, which can quietly erode returns over time even if the fund is technically making money.
To this end, Trustnet ran the quartile rankings of every fund in the Investment Association universe for each quarter going back 10 years, then identified how often each had avoided the bottom quartile.
In the IA Global sector – the most popular sector among investors – just seven funds had never been in the bottom quartile over this period, and all invest passively. They can be seen in the table below, ranked by their total return over the full period.
Source: Finxl. All funds have a minimum track record of 10 years. Total return in sterling between 1 Apr 2016 and 31 Mar 2026
Most of these funds track a broad global equity index, such the MSCI AC World or FTSE All World, a strategy which has generally paid off for investors. Over the past decade, the global equity index has been powered forward by the explosive growth of US technology giants such as Apple, Microsoft, Nvidia, Amazon, Alphabet and Meta), which was supercharged more recently by the rise of AI.
Beyond the technology sector, several broader forces have driven equity markets higher. Following the 2008 global financial crisis, central banks held interest rates near zero for many years, making equities far more attractive than cash or bonds, while low discount rates mathematically increased the present value of future corporate earnings.
Plus, outside of brief downturns in 2020 and 2022, the global economy broadly expanded across the decade, with rising employment, consumer spending and GDP growth underpinning strong corporate revenues. All of this helped push stocks higher.
Vanguard FTSE Developed World ex-UK Equity Index, which is at the top of the table thanks to its top-quartile 242.6% total return over the 10 years under consideration, is slightly different as it excludes UK equities from the global equity universe.
Such products are designed to help investors with home bias gain exposure to global stocks without further adding to their UK equity weighting. Its lack of UK stocks has helped the fund outperform since 2016, a period of lacklustre returns for the domestic market that coincided with Brexit, political uncertainty and persistent economic weakness.
BlackRock Consensus 100 is another fund with a different approach in that it tracks the allocation of the average multi-asset fund in the ABI Flexible Investment sector, rather than the market, and replicates it through index funds.
At present, it has close to one-third of its portfolio in iShares North American Equity Index and another 23.4% in iShares US Equity Index, with 18.5% and 13.2% in iShares products tracking European and UK stocks, respectively.
Another 23 funds have spent three or fewer quarters from the past 10 years in the IA Global sector’s bottom quartile and they can be seen in the following table, with their total returns over the entire period.
Source: Finxl. All funds have a minimum track record of 10 years. Total return in sterling between 1 Apr 2016 and 31 Mar 2026
Again, passive funds account for the bulk of the list – showing just how powerful the dominant market trends have been over the past decade – but some active strategies can be seen.
GS Multi-Manager Global Equity Portfolio is the highest-ranking active fund, with just one quarter in the fourth quartile and a 233% total return over 10 years. The portfolio is split between multiple investment managers who are unaffiliated with Goldman Sachs Asset Management, although the exact managers are not readily available on the fund’s factsheet or webpage.
Schroder Global Equity is next, thanks to just two quarters in the bottom quartile and 10-year total return of 251.9%. Square Mile Investment Consulting & Research gives the fund an ‘A’ rating because of its consistent performance, strong team and “thoughtful” process.
Analysts said: “The strategy’s focus on identifying a ‘growth gap’ is both intuitive and repeatable, and has proven effective across a range of market environments. The team's disciplined approach to stock selection and portfolio construction, grounded in long-term fundamentals, has consistently delivered strong risk-adjusted returns, with a clear emphasis on earnings as the primary driver of outperformance.”
Capital Group has two funds on the list: its Luxembourg-domiciled Capital Group Global Equity and Capital Group New Perspective funds.
Both funds are run using the firm’s ‘Capital System’, which involves putting multiple managers on a portfolio and having each invest in their strongest convictions. “By reflecting diverse viewpoints, portfolios offer the potential for more consistent results across market cycles,” Capital Group said.
Capital Group Global Equity is tasked with achieving long-term growth of capital by investing in global stocks and currently has a significant underweight to the US, with overweights to Europe and Japan. Capital Group New Perspective, meanwhile, invests in “opportunities generated by changes in global trade patterns and economic and political relationships”.
On the New Perspectives fund, analysts at Rayner Spencer Mills Research said: “The strategy has a long track record, with good results across many cycles and investment regimes. Part of the focus is finding future global champions and part of the results achieved have been through the successful identification of these at a relatively early stage and owning them for the long term.”
Other active funds with a track record of avoiding the bottom quartile of the IA Global sector include Quilter Investors Global Dynamic Equity, Quilter Investors Global Equity Growth and Ninety One Global Equity.