Jason Hollands, Managing Director at Bestinvest, the DIY investing and coaching service, comments:
“October was a difficult month for investors with continued volatility in the bond markets and most equity regions delivering negative returns over the month. The MSCI World Index returned -2.3% in GBP terms, while the UK’s FTSE All Share Index shed -4%. Against this backdrop, Bestinvest clients who invested during the month firmly backed equities, perhaps spying an opportunity in market weakness, with all the top 10 most purchased funds – excluding our Ready-made Portfolios* – focused on equites rather than other asset classes. Six of these had global investment remits, three were US equity funds and a single UK equity fund made the list.
“Notably, only two actively managed funds – Fundsmith Equity and Loomis Sayles US Equity Leaders - featured in the top 10 with clients instead opting for low-cost tracker funds. The most popular fund, however, remained Terry Smith’s eponymous Fundsmith Equity fund, a concentrated, high conviction portfolio of developed market ‘quality’ companies. While the fund has slipped down a little in the relative performance rankings over the last three years, as ‘value’ managers have had a better run, Fundsmith clearly has a loyal band of fans.
“For clients who like to invest in direct equities rather than funds it was an altogether different story, with only one US listed company – Elon Musk’s Tesla – making it into the top 10. Instead, UK-listed financials proved popular among our DIY investors during the month with banks Lloyds and Barclays and insurers Legal & General, Phoenix Group and Aviva among the most purchased stocks. Notably, leading aerospace and defence group BAE Systems, was the third most-purchased stock. Its shares are up by a quarter since the start of the year and have recently hit a record high as defence spending rises across NATO countries in response to the conflict in Ukraine and brewing concerns about China’s assertive in Asia. BAE recently won a lucrative £3.95 billion contract to provide Australia with nuclear powered submarines.”
Top 10 investments purchased on Bestinvest in October 2023
Fund/ Investment Trust / ETF | Equity | |
1 | Fundsmith Equity Fund | Legal & General Group PLC |
2 | Fidelity Index World Fund | Lloyds Banking Group PLC |
3 | Loomis Sayles U.S. Equity Leaders Fund | BAE Systems PLC |
4 | Vanguard LifeStrategy 100% Equity Fund | Phoenix Group Holdings PLC |
5 | Vanguard FTSE Developed World ex UK Equity Index Fund | Barclays PLC |
6 | HSBC American Index Fund | BP PLC |
7 | Legal & General Global Technology Index Trust | easyJet PLC |
8 | Legal & General US Index Trust | Aviva PLS |
9 | Vanguard LifeStrategy 80% Equity Fund | Tesla Inc |
10 | Fidelity Index UK Fund | Diageo PLC |
Source: Bestinvest |
* The above table excludes three Ready-made Portfolios (RMPs) which were among the most-purchased investments. These are multi-asset fund of funds run by Bestinvest’s parent company Evelyn Partners and are aimed at investors who prefer to have a fully managed portfolio.
The RMPs omitted from the Top 10 funds list are:
Bestinvest by Evelyn Partners is a multi-award-winning, digital investment platform and coaching service for people who choose to make their own investment decisions but with the support of tools, insights and qualified professionals. It offers access to thousands of funds, investment trusts, ETFs and shares through a range of account types, including an Individual Savings Account, a Junior ISA for children, a Self-Invested Personal Pension and General Investment Account.
Alongside providing investors access to an extensive choice of investments, Bestinvest also offers a wide range of ready-made portfolios for people seeking a managed approach that suits their risk profile, saving them the need to select and monitor their funds themselves. These include a highly competitively priced ‘Smart’ range that invests through low-cost passive funds, as well as an ‘Expert’ range that invests with ‘best-of-breed' managers.
Bestinvest provides investors with a unique range of new features to help people better manage their long-term savings, including free investment coaching from qualified financial planners, low-cost fixed fee advice packages and advanced tools to help people plan goals and monitor progress towards achieving them.
Bestinvest is part of Evelyn Partners, the UK’s leading wealth management and professional services group created by the merger of Tilney and Smith & Williamson in 2020. Evelyn Partners is trusted with the management of £62.2 billion of assets (as of 30 June 2024) by its clients, who are private investors, family trusts, entrepreneurs, businesses, charities, financial advisers and other professional intermediaries.
Bestinvest is a trading name of Evelyn Partners Investment Management Services Limited, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.
For more information, please visit https://www.bestinvest.co.uk
Some of our Financial Services calls are recorded for regulatory and other purposes. Find out more about how we use your personal information in our privacy notice.
Please complete this form and let us know in ‘Your Comments’ below, which areas are of primary interest. One of our experts will then call you at a convenient time.
*Your personal data will be processed by Evelyn Partners to send you emails with News Events and services in accordance with our Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Your form has been successfully submitted a member of our team will get back to you as soon as possible.
Ireland 
USA 