Strong performance and sustained investor demand have kept global equity trackers at the centre of many investor portfolios.
Vanguard’s LifeStrategy suite has proven especially popular. These are mixed-asset portfolios of underlying trackers offering different weightings to equities – so investors can pick according to their own risk appetite.
Vanguard LifeStrategy 100% Equity is the most aggressive option in the suite and has delivered one of the highest average decile scores in the IA Global sector for the three years to the end of 2025. Last year it attracted £839.1m in net new money, making it one of the most bought global equity funds in 2025.
For investors looking to build around that all-equity core, Trustnet asked fund selectors for complementary strategies.
Paul Angell, head of investment research at AJ Bell, pointed to Polar Capital Global Technology for investors seeking even higher risk/reward characteristics.
It is run by a deep bench of sector specialists – co-managers Ben Rogoff, Nick Evans, Fatima Iu and Xeusong Zhao. They blend top-down thematic views with bottom-up stock selection to formulate its 60-85 holdings with no benchmark constraints.
“The team seeks to unearth the next generation of technology leaders by identifying the technology industry’s core themes and inflection points alongside deep, fundamental, stock analysis and selection,” said Angell.
He noted the fund has delivered “remarkable returns” in recent years. In 2025 it gained 43%, placing it in the first quartile for returns in the IA Technology & Technology Innovation sector. This run has continued into 2026, with the fund gaining 59.3% so far this year.
Angell said its 2025 performance was “aided by a large underweight to the software sector in favour of sectors of the market deemed to more clearly benefit from, rather than be challenged by, the mass adoption of AI”.
Polar Capital Global Technology was also recently highlighted for its strong returns during the Iran ceasefire. This strong run has not gone unnoticed by investors. Indeed, since April 2026, the fund’s assets have jumped from $12bn to $19.6bn.
It also has a strong long-term record, having posted a first quartile 10-year return to the end of April 2026, making 1,152.2%.
“Despite these stellar returns the managers remain positive on the sector’s outlook from here, believing a vast amount of the economy is still to be disrupted by AI,” said Angell.
“An almost 10% weighting to Nvidia is the largest holding in the fund, whilst two more semiconductor chip designers – Broadcom Inc and AMD – and major chip manufacturer TSMC make up the rest of the fund's largest holdings.”
Performance of the fund vs sector over 10yrs
Source: FE Analytics
In contrast, Sheridan Admans, founder and chief investment strategist at Infundly, looked for options ensuring increased diversification. He suggested HANetf’s $1.7bn The Royal Mint Responsibly Sourced Physical Gold, noting that it “adds a genuine alternative exposure to an all-equity core”.
Admans said the fund’s role is “clear and uncomplicated”, as a physically backed gold ETC that can be used as a hedge rather than a return engine.
The gold the fund invests in is custodied at The Royal Mint’s vault outside the London banking systems, providing an attractive option for investors. It is also partially backed by 100% recycled gold bars. Recycled gold is far less carbon-intensive than mined gold.
“The appeal is the purity of the exposure: physically backed gold, responsibly sourced, with no need to take equity, credit or active manager risk to get the hedge,” Admans noted.
Gold can provide a ballast when equities sell off, inflation anxiety rises or geopolitical stress increases demand for defensive real assets.
“It also diversifies away from corporate earnings, equity valuations and market beta,” Admans added.
For those that wish to stick with equities, he also pointed to the $2.5bn Redwheel Next Generation Emerging Markets Equity fund, which should be viewed as a return enhancer as opposed to a defensive diversifier.
The fund adds specialist emerging and frontier market exposure beyond a broad global equity core, targeting under-researched economies where structural growth, valuation gaps and market inefficiencies may create higher long-term return potential.
It has been managed by FE fundinfo Alpha Manager James Johnstone since 2019 and is on the more expensive side, with an OCF of 1.40%.
Titan Square Mile analysts said they have “high regard” for Johnstone, noting he is “an experienced investor and co-head of Redwheel’s frontier and emerging markets team”.
“The attraction is its index-agnostic, high-active-share approach,” Admans added. “Macro themes shape the opportunity set but stock selection remains valuation-aware and governance-focused.”
Admans said Redwheel Next Generation Emerging Markets Equity will offer an adventurous Vanguard LifeStrategy 100% investor “a differentiated growth satellite rather than a more conventional emerging markets exposure”.
In its six-year track record, the fund has posted a first quartile return in the IA Global Emerging Markets sector in four years.
Performance of the fund vs sector and benchmark over 5yrs
Source: FE Analytics
Darius McDermott, managing director at Chelsea Financial Services, also turned to emerging markets, noting that Vanguard LifeStrategy 100% Equity has just 7.8% invested across the region.
“It is structurally underweight what we believe is one of the highest-growth regions in the world,” McDermott noted. As such, he suggested pairing Vanguard LifeStrategy 100% with the $2.1bn GQG Partners Emerging Markets Equity fund.
The fund has been managed by Alpha Manager Rajiv Jain since 2017. He has been joined by co-managers Brian Kersmanc, Sudarshan Murthy and Sid Jain.
It seeks to invest in high-quality, attractively priced companies exhibiting competitive advantages, with the management team evaluating prospective holdings on their financial strength, earnings growth and quality of management.
The fund’s biggest position is in state-owned Brazilian energy company Petrobas at 9%. It also counts TSMC, BP and Axia Energia in its top 10 holdings.
“Jain takes a high-conviction, quality-focused approach – a genuine counterweight to Vanguard LifeStrategy’s passive construction, and one well-positioned to access the long-term structural growth story playing out across the region,” McDermott said.
Performance of the fund vs sector and benchmark over 5yrs
Source: FE Analytics