The choice of online fund managers is massive and often leaves investors perplexed about which companies are consumer-friendly and offer the best deals.
One simple measure is data from the Association of Investment Companies (AIC) web site which ranks the most viewed companies visited from the AIC in the first three months of the year.
Most of the names are familiar to savvy investors but less popular with newcomers.
Often they are below the radar for less experienced investors as bigger companies drown their voice with much larger marketing budgets.
The most viewed companies are global funds Murray International and Scottish Mortgage, which have taken the top two places in the first quarter for two year’s running.
UK equity income
Many of the companies in the top 20 are British equity income funds.
The AIC says a lot of the companies in the rankings pay well-performing dividends that meets demand from investors for regular income.
UK equity income firm City of London has a track record of 47 years of dividend increases, while Temple Bar, another UK equity income company, can show 30 years of rising dividends.
Other top ranking firms with good dividend records in other sectors include Foreign & Colonial Investment Trust, with a 43 year record of dividend increases, and Witan Investment Trust, with 39 years of rising yields.
Diversified investments
Neither of these companies featured in the 2013 rankings, and the AIC considers their dividend records have propelled them to the top of the list.
“We can see from our user data that investors are attracted to large and diversified investment companies with their roots in the retail sector,” said an AIC spokesman.
“Another interesting sector is commodities and natural resources making a show through BlackRock. The sector has not had the best of times recently.”
Here’s the list of the top 20 ranked companies viewed through the AIC web site for the first three months of 2013:
| Ranking | Company | Sector |
| 1 | Murray International | Global Equity Income |
| 2 | Scottish Mortgage | Global |
| 3 | Finsbury Growth & Income | UK Equity Income |
| 4 | City of London | UK Equity Income |
| 5 | RIT Capital Partners | Global |
| 6 | Alliance Trust | Global |
| 7 | Temple Bar | UK Equity Income |
| 8 | Edinburgh Investment | UK Equity Income |
| 9 | BlackRock World Mining | Commodities & Natural Resources |
| 10 | BlackRock Commodities Income | Commodities & Natural Resources |
| 11 | Aberdeen Asian Smaller Companies | Asia Pacific - excluding Japan |
| 12 | European Assets | European smaller companies |
| 13 | Aberdeen Asian Income | Asia Pacific - excluding Japan |
| 14 | Henderson Far East Income | Asia Pacific - excluding Japan |
| 15 | Henderson Smaller Companies | UK Smaller Companies |
| 16 | Bankers | Global |
| 17 | Witan | Global |
| 18 | Foreign & Colonial Investment Trust | Global |
| 19 | Perpetual Income & Growth | UK Equity Income |
| 20 | Templeton Emerging Markets | Global Emerging Markets |
| Source: Association of Investment Companies | ||
