Boring Money, the independent financial and investment research, data and publishing business, has published its Investment Trust Report 2026, examining why investment trusts are losing ground in a growing UK DIY investing market, and what asset managers can do about it.

Key findings:

  • Fewer than one in 10 investors now owns an investment trust: Investment trust ownership among UK investors has fallen to its lowest level since Boring Money started to track adoption in 2021, dropping from 12% to 9% in the past year alone. There are currently an estimated 2.18 million investment trust holders in the UK.

  • By contrast, ETF ownership has surged from one in 20 investors to almost one in five in six years.

  • Trust ownership among 35–54-year-olds has fallen sharply: adoption has dropped from 12% to 7%, a decline of more than 40%

  • Younger investors offer a glimmer of hope as investment trust ownership among under-35s has increased from 7% to 9%

  • Fund ownership has also fallen over the same period, from 23% to 19%, though the longer-term trend for funds has been broadly stable.

Holly Mackay, CEO of Boring Money, comments: “Saba created upheaval in the industry and highlighted the importance of the retail investor vote. This coupled with declining levels of adoption is a real call to action for Boards to engage with the customers of tomorrow, and demonstrate the role that trusts have to play in an investor’s portfolio.”

Despite falling adoption, particularly among those aged between 35-54, for whom it has almost halved (12%-7%), there are some green shoots for trusts.

Mackay adds: “Interestingly we have seen a small 2% increase (from 7%-9%) in adoption from the under-35s. To try to capture some of the growth going to ETF providers, investment trusts have more to do to communicate their benefits to a broader investor base which has higher expectations for simple, compelling messaging and competitive price points.”

Notes

Boring Money drew on four data sources for this report:

  1. Survey of 6,000 nationally representative UK adults, January 2026 (1,717 non-advised investors)

  1. Survey of 853 DIY platform investors, June 2026 (including 306 investment trust holders)

  1. Survey of 782 self-directed investors from the Boring Money panel, June–July 2026 (including 240 investment trust holders)

  1. Survey of 481 self-directed investors from the Boring Money panel, July 2026 (including 240 investment trust holders)



Brokers Commentary » Commentary » Latest



Leave a Reply