Top 10 best-selling ISA and SIPP funds in July

July was a big month for the stock market. The FTSE 100 and the S&P 500 both hit all-time highs, fuelled by Donald Trump’s trade deals and upbeat company announcements. But what have Fidelity’s personal investors been buying?

Money market funds

Equities may be climbing, but ISA and SIPP customers are still prioritising cash-like returns. The Fidelity Cash Fund topped the charts again in July. This ‘money market’ fund is very low risk and aims to track to UK interest rates. This has been lucrative work since the pandemic: the fund has delivered returns of about 5% for the past two years. Please remember past performance is not a reliable indicator of future returns.

The Royal London Short Term Money Market Fund is another popular option in this space, as is the Legal & General Cash Trust - a Select 50 pick.

Money market funds are an interesting alternative to traditional cash ISAs. They invest in different forms of short-term debt, including Treasury bills and certificates of deposit. Crucially, the holdings are very high quality, liquid, and diversified. This means the funds themselves are low-risk and stable - albeit slightly more adventurous than a traditional savings account.

• Read: How to make cash-like returns - without a cash ISA

Demand could shift next week, however. On Thursday 7 August, the Bank of England will decide whether to lower interest rates again. If it pushes ahead with a cut, the returns offered by these money market instruments will become less generous.

Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future returns

Source: Morningstar from 30.6.20 to 30.6.25. Basis bid to bid with income reinvested in GBP. Excludes initial charge.

Dividend heroes

Cash is just one part of the story, however. Personal investors also want dividends, and two income funds stormed up the SIPP and ISA rankings in July: the Fidelity Global Dividend Fund and the Artemis Global Income Fund.

The Fidelity fund tries to combine income with share price growth. Portfolio manager Dan Roberts has run the fund for over a decade, and hunts for companies with predictable, steady cash flows and manageable levels of debt. Payouts need to be sustainable, and share prices need to have an ‘adequate level of safety’ built in.

The fund aims to beat the MSCI All Country World - a broad global index - while avoiding volatility. It also seeks to pay out at least 25% more income than that produced by the benchmark. 

Its exposure to US stocks is low at 25%, versus 63% in the index. There is a simple reason for this: among the American mega-stocks, dividend yields are typically small, and valuations are high. Instead, the fund focuses on the UK and Europe, favouring names such as Unilever and the French industrial group Legrand. It holds 44 companies in total.

Despite the lack of Big Tech, the Fidelity Global Dividend Fund has had an excellent run, outperforming its benchmark for the past three years. Its historic yield sits at roughly 2.5%. Please note this yield is not guaranteed.

The ‘highly contrarian’ Artemis Global Income Fund also shuns US stocks and has a historic yield of about 2.5%. Whereas the Fidelity portfolio focuses on the developed world, however, almost a fifth of the Artemis portfolio is in emerging markets.

The fund’s performance has varied over the years, but it has had a strong run since 2023, with annual returns hovering around 30%. Recently, aerospace and defence stocks - which represent a fifth of the portfolio - have been driving its outperformance.

German defence giant Rheinmetall is the fourth biggest holding, while the South Korean engineer Hanwha Techwin is the second biggest.

Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future returns

Source: Morningstar from 30.6.20 to 30.6.25. Basis bid to bid with income reinvested in GBP. Excludes initial charge.

European bargains

People have been fretting about the status of European equities for years. They are very cheap compared with their US cousins and are generally considered ‘unloved’.

This might be changing, however. Funds that cherry-pick these stocks are yielding some excellent results - and are attracting more and more attention.

The Fidelity Special Situations Fund, for example, is an ISA favourite. Managed by Alex Wright and Jonathan Winton, the fund mainly invests in the UK and targets cheap companies with recovery potential. Top holdings include British American Tobacco, the Irish distributor DCC, and the Asia-focused bank Standard Chartered. Smaller players also feature, as there are no size constraints.

The returns delivered by Wright and Winton have clearly piqued investor interest, and the wider environment is supportive: the FTSE 100 hit a high of 9,000 points last month.

• Read: FTSE 100 at 9,000 - six key questions answered

What of Europe more widely? In July, the Artemis SmartGARP European Equity Fund made its debut on the 2025 ISA best-seller list. ‘GARP’ stands for growth at a reasonable price, and this fund looks for cheaper-than-average companies which are upgrading their profit forecasts.

Holdings are mainly based in Italy, Germany, France and Spain, and there is a heavy skew towards financials. (French bank Société Générale is the fund’s biggest holding).

Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future returns

Source: Morningstar from 30.6.20 to 30.6.25. Basis bid to bid with income reinvested in GBP. Excludes initial charge.

Tech titans

For all this talk of diversification, however, American mega-caps remain very popular. The Legal & General Global Technology Index Trust has been an ISA favourite all year, and re-entered the SIPP list last month. This is a passive fund which tracks the FTSE World -Technology Index.

As such, it is heavily weighted towards the ‘Magnificent Seven’. In fact, Microsoft, Nvidia, Apple and Meta represent nearly half of the portfolio. This has yielded some spectacular results in the past, with annual returns frequently exceeding 30%. The year to June 2025 was more subdued, however, with returns sitting at just 4.9%.

The fund is at the riskier end of the spectrum - ranked 6 out of 7 by Fidelity - but taps into some of the world’s biggest trends.

Tech lovers have also been buying the Fidelity Global Technology Fund - but this is a different kettle of fish. For starters, it is actively managed, with portfolio manager HyunHo Sohn striving to beat his benchmark.

Sohn’s strategy involves reducing the fund’s exposure to the Magnificent Seven and upping its exposure to Asia. Its top holding is Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), which makes chips for Nvidia.

Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future returns

Source: Morningstar from 30.6.20 to 30.6.25. Basis bid to bid with income reinvested in GBP. Excludes initial charge.

Cheap trackers

The hardest product to budge from the best-sellers list, however, is the Fidelity Index World Fund. This is because it offers a straightforward, low-cost way to access stock markets everywhere. Remember, though, that global trackers are heavily skewed towards North America. At the time of writing, over 70% of the fund’s portfolio is allocated to US equities, and 5% is invested in Nvidia alone.

Other passive giants are also popular. The Fidelity Index US Fund fell out of the rankings in June, but staged a comeback for both ISA and SIPP investors in July. As the name suggests, it tracks the performance of the S&P 500. In recent years, the US has outperformed the world as a whole, but in the past year this trend has reversed.

Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future returns

Source: Morningstar from 30.6.20 to 30.6.25. Basis bid to bid with income reinvested in GBP. Excludes initial charge.

Multi-asset funds

Last but not least are multi-asset funds. These are a popular choice for SIPP customers, who tend to be more conservative than ISA customers.

Investing solely in equities is risky business, however geographically diversified you are. Buying a multi-asset fund is an easy way to dilute some of this risk, while bagging a decent amount of income.

The Fidelity Multi Asset Allocator Growth Fund is split roughly 60/40 between stocks and bonds. In this way, it offers exposure to both higher and lower risk assets. Overall, it is considered a 4 out of 7 for risk.

Fidelity Multi Asset Allocator Adventurous Fund - as its name suggests - takes a similar approach but is a little bit spicier: a 5 out of 7 for risk. It divides its portfolio 80/20 between stocks and bonds.

In today’s strange times, diversification - whether professionally orchestrated or do-it-yourself - looks more important than ever. However, Fidelity investment director Tom Stevenson has flagged that diversification could be getting more complicated, as outlined in the article below.

• Read: Why the 60/40 approach may not be diversified enough

Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future returns

Source: Morningstar from 30.6.20 to 30.6.25. Basis bid to bid with income reinvested in GBP. Excludes initial charge.

Best-selling ISA funds in July

1. Fidelity Cash Fund
2. Fidelity Index World Fund
3. Royal London Short Term Money Market Fund
4. Fidelity Global Dividend Fund
5. Legal & General Global Technology Index Trust
6. Artemis Global Income Fund
7. Fidelity Index US Fund
8. Fidelity Global Technology Fund
9. Artemis SmartGARP European Equity Fund
10. Fidelity Special Situations Fund

Source: Fidelity International. Gross ISA sales 1 July to 31 July 2025 for Personal Investors only.

• Open a Fidelity Stocks and Shares ISA

SIPP - Best-selling funds

1. Fidelity Cash Fund
2. Fidelity Index World Fund
3. Royal London Short Term Money Market Fund
4. Artemis Global Income Fund
5. Fidelity Global Dividend Fund
6. Fidelity Index US Fund
7. Fidelity Multi Asset Allocator Growth Fund
8. Fidelity Multi Asset Allocator Adventurous Fund
9. Legal & General Cash Trust
10. Legal & General Global Technology Index Trust

Source: Fidelity International. Gross SIPP sales 1 July to 30 July 2025 for Personal Investors only.

• Open a Fidelity Self-Invested Personal Pension

Important information - investors should note that the views expressed may no longer be current and may have already been acted upon. Before investing into a fund, please read the relevant key information document which contains important information about the fund. Eligibility to invest in a SIPP or ISA and tax treatment depends on personal circumstances and all tax rules may change in the future. Withdrawals from a SIPP will not normally be possible until you reach age 55 (57 from 2028). Overseas investments will be affected by movements in currency exchange rates. Investments in emerging markets can be more volatile than other more developed markets. Reference to specific securities should not be construed as a recommendation to buy or sell these securities and is included for the purposes of illustration only. There is a risk that the issuers of bonds may not be able to repay the money they have borrowed or make interest payments. When interest rates rise, bonds may fall in value. Rising interest rates may cause the value of your investment to fall. An investment in a money market fund is different from an investment in deposits, as the principal invested in an money market fund is capable of fluctuation. Fidelity’s money market funds do not rely on external support for guaranteeing the liquidity of the money market funds or stabilising the NAV per unit or share. An investment in a money market fund is not guaranteed. This information is not a personal recommendation for any particular investment. If you are unsure about the suitability of an investment you should speak to one of Fidelity’s advisers or an authorised financial adviser of your choice.