Investors using Tilney’s online service favoured funds focused on equities in January, as the group revealed its 10 most popular investments in the first month of the year.
So far in 2017, equities have leapt to new heights, with the FTSE 100 embarking on a winning streak for 12 days in a row while the FTSE 250 has also reached a record high.
While the political uncertainty has kept markets on their toes, Jason Hollands, managing director of the Tilney Group, said volatility has actually been incredibly low.
Two of Tilney's multi-asset offerings, the Growth and Aggressive Growth portfolios, made it to first and fourth place on the popular fund list, but it was largely equity-focused funds which came out as the winners last month.
Those using Tilney’s online investment service ploughed money into equity funds, with the £9.4bn Fundsmith Equity, which was the most popular vehicle last year, maintaining the top spot in January if you exclude Tilney's own offering.
Mr Hollands said: “City big gun Terry Smith has an invest-and-hold strategy focused on concentrated portfolio of 29 quality growth stocks from across developed markets."
According to the Tilney boss, Mr Smith sums this strategy up as: “Buy shares in good companies; don’t overpay; do nothing.”
The fund has a high weighting to consumer staples at 35 per cent, healthcare at 27 per cent, and technology at 24 per cent.
However, according to FE, Fundsmith has returned 37 per cent over the past year, underperforming the IA Global sector return of 42 per cent.
The planned launch of the new Woodford fund may come at the expense of support for his existing fund Jason HollandsTaking the next spot, despite a relatively tough 2016, was Woodford's flagship £9.3bn Equity Income fund, managed by Neil Woodford.
Mr Hollands said: “While his flagship fund does dabble in riskier small growth businesses, it primarily focuses on resilient companies that are less affected by the global economic cycle and are more in charge of their own destiny.
“With a highly loyal fan base, we expect the planned launch of the new Woodford Income Focus fund in March to prove popular, although some of this may come at the expense of support for his existing Woodford Equity Income fund.”
The Woodford Equity Income has returned 15 per cent over the past year, lagging behind the IA UK Equity Income sector return of 23 per cent, according to FE.
Despite the caution towards emerging markets and Asia at the moment, given President Trump’s views on raising import tariffs to protect American jobs, the Stewart Asia Pacific Leaders fund managed to make it to third place on the list.
The £9.6bn fund, managed by David Gait, focuses primarily on investing in large companies with sustainable cash flows and strong balance sheets.
Its highest weighting remains India at 29 per cent, followed by Taiwan at 18 per cent, but it has negligible exposure to China where concerns persist about the level of debt.
Yet the fund has also underperformed against its peers, returning nearly 36 per cent against the IA Asia Pacific Excluding Japan sector which has scooped up nearly 49 per cent.
Meanwhile, US equity funds have seen increased interest since the election of Donald Trump, as investors make bets on aggressive tax cuts, deregulation and massive infrastructure spending to boost the US economy.
The HSBC American Index fund, which is a tracker fund that follows the S&P 500 index, has been the most popular choice for investing in the US.
Mr Hollands said: "The US stock market is notoriously hard for active fund managers to beat and this tracker has a very low ongoing charges figure of 0.08 per cent."
Other funds to make it to the top 10 are Liontrust's Special Situations fund, and Threadneedle's Equity Income and European Select vehicles.
The £3.5bn Artemis Global Income fund has reappeared in the league table after several months of absence.
Mr Hollands pointed out that fund manager Jacob de Tush-Lec chooses top holdings that are typically very different from competitor funds, which usually hold very large US-based companies.
The fund has returned more than 42 per cent over the past year, beating the IA Global Equity Income peer group average of 36 per cent.
Funds to feature in the top 15 were the Vanguard LifeStrategy 80 per cent and 100 per cent equity funds, Standard Life's Global Absolute Return Strategies (Gars) vehicle, and the Linsdell Train Global Equity fund.
