Five global funds have managed to navigate periods of above-average volatility to deliver supranormal returns to investors, according to recent data from FE fundinfo.
In the past five years, investors have had to grapple with post-pandemic recoveries, bear markets and explosive geopolitics. A handful of funds have dealt with this better than others, doubling investors’ money with relative stability, a group we analysed earlier this year.
See also: The equity funds doubling your money with low volatility
Today, we examine the group of funds that have also delivered an average return of more than 100% but took a more turbulent journey to get there.
Holding onto a fund that can swing widely up and down is not for the faint of heart, but for investors who were willing to stick to their guns, some funds delivered exceptional rewards.
To capture the start of the recent conflict, the data below is from the end of Q1 2021 to the end of Q1 2026.
Heading up the table is the Schroder ISF Global Energy fund, which delivered a 227.6% total return in the past five years.
Run by Mark Lacey, Alex Monk and Felix Odey, the strategy aims to outperform the MSCI World Energy Net index by holding companies involved in energy production, such as oil and gas companies. This has been a massive tailwind this year, with the closure of the Strait of Hormuz near the end of the first quarter causing crude oil to surge.
By the end of the first quarter, the strategy had climbed 44%, while the average IA global fund was down 2%.
Similarly, 2021 and 2022 were both very strong years (51.3% and 52.1%), respectively, as the Russian invasion of Ukraine also sent oil prices skyrocketing.
However, it has not been smooth sailing for the fund. In 2024, it was one of the worst in the sector, losing investors’ money while the average IA Global peer was up 12.6.
Elsewhere in the table, two ETFs appeared. These included the State Street SPDR MSCI World Energy UCITS ETF, which has experienced similar trends in the energy price, as well as the iShares Gold Producers UCITS ETF.
The latter has risen 209%, the second fund in this group to triple investors’ money, but it came with a 30.8 volatility.
The yellow metal entered 2026 on a significant bull run, with the previous year and-a-half seeing increases in central bank purchasing and less faith in the dollar as a reserve currency, which contributed to the S&P GSCI Gold Spot rising more than 51% last year.
See also: Gold hits $5,000 as geopolitics defines global markets
However, as conflict broke out in the first quarter of this year, the precious metal sold off sharply. On top of this, in 2023 and 2022, the gold spot rose just 6.5% and 11.8%, respectively, far lower than 2025’s exceptional returns.
Bringing up the rear of the table is Ben Rogoff’s and Nick Evans’ Polar Capital Artificial Intelligence fund.
The strategy has delivered a 108% total return over the past five years, partially driven by a 14% relative overweight to information technology stocks compared with the MSCI All Country World index.
The fund has delivered top-quartile returns each year since 2023 and has held up well during this year’s software sell-off and geopolitical volatility, with a 35.6% total year-to-date return.
However, poor years for the fund could prove particularly difficult, as demonstrated by 2022, when the fund slid 25.1%, while the benchmark fell just 8%.
One fund from the IA Global Equity Income sector also made the cut – Artemis Global Income. Led by Jacob de Tusch-Lec and James Davidson, the strategy prides itself on its differentiated portfolio compared to peers, which is weighted heavily towards financials (28.6%) and materials (16.3%).
Analysts on the Titan Square Mile team said: “Although the emphasis of the strategy is on uncovering attractive companies, the manager believes that not taking a top-down view can result in important global trends (and subsequent opportunities) being missed, and so could expose the portfolio to unintended risk.”
See also: Why 2025’s top income fund has gone big on emerging markets
The strategy differentiates itself by not exclusively relying on traditional income stalwarts, such as the UK, the analysts added.
However, the fund can often contain concentrated positions and so may experience “prolonged periods of underperformance if these positions are out of favour”.
“As a result, investors should expect a bumpy ride,” the analysts concluded.
