On The Money The most-popular ISA funds today vs five years ago
Mar 19, 2026
Dave Baxter, Senior Fund Content Specialist at interactive investor who analyses funds and investor trends, explores how ISA favourites have changed. He contrasts five-year-old growth winners with today’s top picks like precious metals and income funds. The conversation warns about performance chasing, highlights money market and ETF roles, and flags overlooked areas such as UK, Japan and smaller companies.
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Growth Mania In 2021 Then Reversal
- Growth-focused strategies dominated ISA buying in early 2021, driven by lockdown-era rallies in funds like Scottish Mortgage.
- Many of those winners then hit the buffers as inflation and rising rates from late 2021 punished high-valuation growth names.
Avoid Chasing Past Theme Returns
- Avoid performance chasing: past big returns (eg iShares Global Clean Energy ETF) did not guarantee continued gains.
- Treat thematic or country bets as satellite holdings, not core positions, to limit concentration risk.
Use Regular Investing To Smooth Timing
- Use regular investing to reduce timing risk when buying hyped thematic or niche funds.
- Regular contributions smooth entry over highs and lows and help manage the strong stomach needed for volatile holdings.