ISAs (individual savings accounts) turn 26 this month after the then-chancellor Gordon Brown launched them back in April 1999.
The arrival of the tax-free accounts included cash ISAs and stocks and shares ISAs, plus a £7,000 allowance.
Over the past few decades, the ISA family has been widened to include junior ISAs, lifetime ISAs and innovative finance ISAs. The annual ISA allowance has also been bumped up to £20,000.
Subscribe to MoneyWeek
Subscribe to MoneyWeek today and get your first six magazine issues absolutely FREE
Sign up to Money Morning
Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter
Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter
ISAs have become a valuable cornerstone for millions of savers and investors, both young and old.
The latest HMRC data reveals that £71.6 billion was paid into 12.4 million adult ISAs during the 2022-2023 tax year. Meanwhile, £1.5 billion was subscribed to junior ISAs, which are available for those aged under 18.
Stocks and shares ISA holdings account for about 60% of the market value of adult ISAs.
Thousands of people have become ISA millionaires through making the most of the tax-free allowance and a smart investment strategy.
Stocks and shares ISAs tend to outperform cash ISAs over the long term.
According to Hargreaves Lansdown, if you invested £1,000 into a cash ISA in April 1999 when ISAs first launched, it would be worth £1,949 based on a typical interest rate (as at April 2025). If you invested £1,000 in a global tracker fund within a stocks and shares ISA, it would be worth £5,110.
With this in mind, we reveal the best-performing funds and investment trusts over the past 26 years.
Best-performing funds and investment trusts since stocks and shares ISAs were launched
We asked Hargreaves Lansdown for the top-performing funds and investment trusts since April 1999, and to show how much an ISA customer could be sitting on if they had invested £1,000 back then.
Fund | % total return over 26 years | £1,000 investment |
|---|---|---|
abrdn SICAV I - Indian Equity A Acc USD | 2,342 | £24,419.26 |
IFSL Marlborough Special Situations A Accumulation | 2327 | £24,269.41 |
HSBC GIF Indian Equity AD | 2189 | £22,889.34 |
SKAGEN Global A NOK | 1818 | £19,184.43 |
Artemis UK Smaller Companies R Acc GBP | 1631 | £17,316.79 |
Investment trust | % total return over 26 years | £1,000 investment |
|---|---|---|
Scottish Oriental Smaller Companies Trust PLC | 4211 | £43,107.76 |
abrdn Asia Focus PLC Ord 5P | 3964 | £40,643.64 |
HGCapital Trust PLC | 3860 | £39,601.76 |
CT Private Equity Trust PLC | 2441 | £25,414.95 |
3i Group PLC | 2357 | £24,570.42 |
Source: Hargreaves Lansdown. Returns are from 06/04/1999 to 06/04/2025
The figures show that the biggest returns came from investment trusts. Someone who had invested £1,000 in the Scottish Oriental Smaller Companies Trust back in 1999 would now be sitting on more than £40,000.
The second-best return came from abrdn Asia Focus.
Victoria Hasler, head of fund analysis at Hargreaves Lansdown, tells MoneyWeek: “The top two investment trusts on the list invest in Asia. This is a dynamic area of the market and one in which things have evolved a lot over the last 26 years.
“The two giants of the region, India and China, may differ in character but both have implemented reforms in their stock markets over the last 26 years, making them much more open to foreign investors.”
She adds: “The other three trusts making it into the top five are focused on private equity investments. Private equity markets tend to see higher returns over very long periods of time in compensation for the higher risk that investors generally assume in them.”
In the open-ended fund space, abrdn SICAV I - Indian Equity boasts the best performance over 26 years, with a 2,342% return. IFSL Marlborough Special Situations takes the second spot.
Hasler comments: “Of the open-ended funds on the list, two are focused on India. Again, these would have benefited from the structural reforms implemented in the Indian stock markets.
“A further two of the funds are focused on UK smaller companies. Smaller companies in general, and particularly in a relatively small market such as the UK, are higher risk investments.”
Anyone who had invested in these funds and trusts with an ISA back in 1999 would have been very lucky to have got such sparkling results – and would have had to deal with a fair amount of volatility along the way. Investing in sectors like smaller companies and private equity, and regions like India and the rest of Asia, can be risky.
Hargreaves Lansdown advises that the figures don’t show realistic returns for the average investor, and that you shouldn’t lose sleep over the growth they've missed.
"Instead, it’s worth looking to the future, and taking advantage of ISAs now. The right assets and approaches will depend on your circumstances and objectives, but these figures show that if you’re putting money away for the long term, it’s well worth considering a stocks and shares ISA.”
-
How to invest during stagflationTrump’s tariffs look poised to push the global economy into a period of stagflation. We look at how to ensure your investments can survive a global slowdown.
-
Dividends: Reliability in uncertain timesDividends have formed over half of the total return of the UK market over the last 20 years. Dividend strategies have been under-appreciated while investors have focused on US mega cap technology. Income strategies may have more appeal in a tougher investment climate
