Investors have continued to hunt for income this Isa season as interest rates remained low, Willis Owen fund sales data has shown.
Fundsmith Equity, managed by Terry Smith, was the biggest selling fund on the investment platform during the last month of the 2018/19 Isa season.
This was followed by the Lindsell Train UK Equity fund and the Artemis Income fund.
Rounding out the top five best selling funds were Aberdeen Emerging Markets Equity and Threadneedle UK Equity Income.
According to the data, based on gross sales of funds on the platform between March 1 and April 5, 2019, Asia and Emerging Markets funds were also popular with investors, with the First State Asia Focus and Schroder Asian Income Maximiser both featuring in the top 10.
But investors snubbed funds focussing on the USA this Isa season, with none appearing in the 20 best selling funds.
Japan was also out of favour, with the Schroder Tokyo fund being the only one to make the top 20 best selling, according to Willis Owen.
Adrian Lowcock, head of personal investments at Willis Owen, said: "Income and especially equity income were popular generally in the last Isa season with our customers, which we would expect as interest rates remain low and many investors still need an income to pay the bills.
"Terry Smith’s Fundsmith was by far the most popular fund while investors preferred Nick Train’s UK fund rather than his global vehicle, which was eleventh in our rankings."
He added: "Japan only appeared once in the top 20, although valuations on its stock market are looking quite attractive. Japan has historically been a market investors avoided as it suffered decades of underperformance due to deflationary pressures and an ageing population, however its future performance which matters now.
“Our list is also predominantly comprised of active funds with just one tracker. Whilst trackers are cheap and give investors diversification they also expose them to the good, the bad and the expensive areas of the market, whereas active managers are better able to protect investors money in volatile markets.”
Martin Bamford, a chartered financial planner at Informed Choice, said: “Investors are increasingly looking for actively managed funds where the manager has real conviction. There’s little sense in paying the extra for active management unless you’re getting a high active share.
“Index trackers continue to grow in popularity, but human psyche being what it is, I suspect truly actively managed funds like Fundsmith Equity will continue to play a big role in portfolios for a long time.”
