Home • Top Performing Ready-Made Investments

Top performing ready-made investments

Every quarter, Boring Money collects performance data to bring you the latest insights into how ready-made investment portfolios across different risk categories have performed. Read on below to see who came out on top!

July - September 2025

High Risk Q3 2025

The average high risk portfolio returned 8.3%, with returns ranging from 6.9% - 8.9%. Halifax, the lowest performer last quarter, topped the leaderboard in Q3, closely followed by Aviva and Quilter Invest.

Medium Risk Q3 2025

The average medium risk portfolio returned 5.7% in Q3. Charles Stanley, who was top of the charts last quarter, was the lowest performer this time around - although its 4.3% return was still higher than all the medium risk portfolios in Q2.

Low Risk Q3 2025

The average low risk portfolio returned 3.0% in Q3, led by Halifax who grew by 3.7%. Halifax hold roughly 77% of its portfolio in bonds, with 44% held internationally and 33% held in the UK. There is also a small allocation to emerging markets which have performed particularly well since the de-escalation of the global tariff tension in April.

April - June 2025

High Risk Q2 2025

Despite the chaos and political uncertainty, high risk portfolios performed strongly over Q2, with an average return of 4.7%. Charles Stanley, Aviva, and HL all grew by over 5%, whilst Halifax - the lowest performer over the quarter - still returned a healthy 3.5%

Medium Risk Q2 2025

The average medium risk portfolio returned 3.4% in Q2, with an overall range spanning from 2.6% - 4.2%. Charles Stanley was the only provider to surpass the 4% mark. Its Moderate solution has roughly 55% of its assets in equities, and close to 40% in bonds.

Low Risk Q2 2025

The average low risk portfolio returned 2.1% in Q2, posting a range of returns from 0.4% - 3.1%. Over half the providers exceeded the 2% mark, with Charles Stanley the only provider to return more than 3% this quarter. Aviva was the standout over the 1-year period.

January - March 2025

High Risk Q1 2025

The average high risk portfolio in this content series returned -3.1% over Q1, with all providers showing negative performance over the period. AJ Bell did the best, with a loss of -0.3%, whilst Aviva and Moneybox had the weakest quarterly performance in this category with returns below -5%.

Medium Risk Q1 2025

The average medium risk portfolio returned -1.2% in Q1, with Bestinvest being the standout performer over this period and the only provider to not register negative growth after fees. Bestinvest are also the best performer over the last year, returning 4.7%, in comparison to the average of 3.4%.

Low Risk Q1 2025

The average low risk portfolio returned -0.1% in Q1. There was a range of 1.5% between the top and bottom in this category, with Aviva (0.6%) and Halifax (0.4%) performing the best, whilst AJ Bell (-0.7%) and Moneybox (-0.9%) were at the bottom.

October - December 2024

High Risk Q4 2024

The average high risk portfolio returned 2.8% over the quarter, with individual provider outcomes ranging between -1% and 5.3%.

Medium Risk Q4 2024

The average medium risk portfolio returned 1% over Q4, making the quarter pretty lacklustre in comparison to 2024.

Low Risk Q4 2024

he average low risk portfolio returned -0.6% in Q4, with Moneybox's Cautious Portfolio being the only positive outlier, and the only provider to return over 0%.

July - September 2024

High Risk Q3 2024

The average high risk portfolio in our content series returned 1.2% in Q3 and over 16.7% in the past 12 months.

Medium Risk Q3 2024

The average medium risk portfolio returned 2.1% in the last quarter, and 13.9% over the past 12 months.

Low Risk Q3 2024

The average return of low risk portfolios in Q3 was 2.5%, and 10.3% across the past 12 months.

April - June 2024

High Risk Q2 2024

The average high risk portfolio in our content series returned 2.3% in Q2 and over 15.7% in the past 12 months.

Medium Risk Q2 2024

The average medium risk portfolio returned 1.4% in the last quarter, and 11.3% over the past 12 months.

Low Risk Q2 2024

The average return of low risk portfolios in Q1 was 0.5%, and 7.3% across the past 12 months.

January - March 2024

High Risk Q1 2024

The average high risk portfolio in our content series returned 6.4% in Q1 and over 15% in the past 12 months.

Medium Risk Q1 2024

The average medium risk portfolio returned 3.9% in the last quarter, with Q1 playing a successful part in the 10.3% average return we've seen for these ready-made solutions over the past 12 months.

Low Risk Q1 2024

The average return of low risk portfolios in Q1 was 1.3% - and 5.8% across the past 12 months - although average returns over a 2-year period are still negative overall with -0.5%.

October - December 2023

High Risk Q4 2023

Performance of high risk portfolios in Q4 ranged from 4.9% to 7.4%. These portfolios will hold very high proportions of shares, and global stock markets typically posted strong gains in the last three months of 2023.

Medium Risk Q4 2023

The top-performing medium risk portfolio across 2023 was Moneybox’s Balanced option, returning a chunky 12.2% for the year - of which 6.6% was clocked up in the last three months.

Low Risk Q4 2023

The adage for low risk portfolios in Q4 is that every dog has its day. Santander ready-made portfolios have a very high proportion of bonds, and their portfolios suffered in 2022 and 2023. However in Q4, it was precisely this allocation to these bonds which propelled the humble low risk portfolio, with just 17% in shares, to the top of the charts

July - September 2023

High Risk Q3 2023

In general, global shares went down in Q3, after a promising first 6 months of 2023. Despite poorer performance over the last quarter, 2023 has been a much better year for shares than 2022. The average high risk portfolio in our content series has returned 7.4% across the past 12-months, compared to 0.04% in the past 24-months.

Medium Risk Q3 2023

The medium risk portfolios have lost an average of -5.5% over the past 2 years, with only AJ Bell's balanced fund posting a positive return over this timeframe. Interestingly, when looking over only the past 12-months instead, every portfolio has positive returns, which range from 2.9% - 7.5%. This is a more typical year and what we would expect for these mid-range portfolios which are a mix of shares and bonds.

Low Risk Q3 2023

Low risk portfolios have lost an average -9.2% in the past 2 years, which is over 16% lower than the average high risk portfolios in this content series. Say what?! If high negative returns from a 'low risk' investment over such a short timeframe feels bizarre to you - don't worry, it is. Research from Deutsche Bank suggests that 2022 had the worst combined total return for stocks and bonds, in an annual assessment that goes as far back as 1872!

April - June 2023

High Risk Q2 2023

Vanguard and AJ Bell have performed the best in this risk profile over the last 2 years, returning 6.9% and 6.6% respectively after all charges. At the other end of the scale, True Potential and Charles Stanley's portfolios struggled, with respective losses of 2.2% and 6.7% after charges.

Medium Risk Q2 2023

AJ Bell, Moneybox and HSBC have been the top performers here, whilst Nutmeg and Vanguard's LifeStrategy 40 have struggled. With around 40% in shares, we would expect solutions like Vanguard LifeStrategy 40 and Bestinvest’s Smart Cautious option to perform less strongly than others in this category with higher allocations to shares.

Low Risk Q2 2023

Amongst the low risk portfolios, Moneybox, AJ Bell and Charles Stanley have performed the best over the past 2 years, although they have posted losses 3.8%, 4.7% and 6.8% respectively. For context, the average low risk portfolio in our coverage returned -9.2%.

January - March 2023

High Risk Q1 2023

After a less-than-stellar year in 2022, ready-made portfolio results from Q1 2023 have been decidedly more positive. All of the high risk portfolios we track recorded growth between 1 January and 31 March.

Medium Risk Q1 2023

After disappointing results at times during 2022, ready-made portfolios have had a decidedly more positive time of it in Q1 2023. Every single one of the medium risk portfolios we track booked positive returns.

Low Risk Q1 2023

Following a less-than-stellar 2022, ready-made portfolio results from Q1 2023 have been decidedly more positive. Out of all of the low risk portfolios we track, only one booked negative growth between 1 January and 31 March.

October - December 2022

High Risk Q4 2022

Mostly thanks to the poor performance of UK bonds, high risk ready-made portfolios recorded slightly higher returns in Q4 2022 than the medium and low-risk options.

Medium Risk Q4 2022

With a typically higher weighting in bonds than the high risk options, medium risk ready-made portfolios recorded sore losses in 2022, posting average losses of 10.7% for the year. These options typically have a range of between 40% and 60% in shares.

Low Risk Q4 2022

The greatest victim of the tumbling bond prices we saw towards the end of September in 2022, which hammered returns. Things then bounced back in the last three months of the year as a semblance of calm returned.

What is a ready-made portfolio?

Ready-made portfolios are the investing equivalent of a ready meal. Quick, easy, all done for you. Discover more about these premade investment portfolios, including how they work and who they're good for, in our no-nonsense guide.

Holly and the team have worked in the finance industry for many years but we are not regulated to give you personal financial advice. For every story on this website about a good investment, or something which went up by 10% or made someone £200, we could also share a story about a bad investment, something which fell in value or lost someone £200. We aim to provide general information and pointers – and btw we are totally agnostic about which providers you might pick – but if you have complex affairs, want personalised advice or need specific recommendations, please look at advice pages and see if regulated digital or traditional financial advice would be the best solution for your needs. Boring Money Ltd is a limited company registered in England and Wales under registration number 09459832 and we have our registered office at 10 Lower Thames Street, London, England, EC3R 6AF.

Subscribe Now