Where to go next? Global ideas for your ISA

By Juliet Schooling Latter on 19 March 2026 in Global

The weather might not feel very spring-like just yet, but that hasn’t stopped my thoughts drifting straight to the summer holidays. The only problem? Deciding where to go and what to do.

There are so many tempting options it’s hard to know where to begin. A beach escape in Thailand? A cruise around the Med? Exploring Copenhagen? Or a city break in Rome or Barcelona? I’d happily do them all — but time and budget mean I’ll have to choose just one.

It’s a bit like picking an ISA investment at this time of year. The deadline to use up your tax allowance is fast approaching, yet with markets feeling a little unsettled, it’s not always easy to know where to put your money.

So, to help spark a few ideas, here are eight of our favourite funds from around the world.

IFSL Marlborough Special Situations

Starting close to home, investors looking at opportunities in UK equities this year might like to consider the IFSL Marlborough Special Situations fund, which has a small and mid-cap focus and is co-managed by Eustace Santa-Barbara and Guy Feld. Relatively small positions are usually taken initially, and holdings added to as the team becomes more comfortable with a company and the management delivers on plans.

Janus Henderson European Focus 

Janus Henderson European Focus is a long-only portfolio of typically 30 to 40 stocks, but is still well-diversified, with a framework that is driven by both sector themes and stock specifics. The managers’ pragmatic approach means they consider the overall macroeconomic environment and sector trends, as well as the criteria of individual companies – a style that has led to outstanding performance.

T. Rowe Price US Smaller Companies Equity 

The manager looks for both growth and value opportunities in the small and mid-cap space, to build a diverse portfolio of the best ideas from the vast analyst resource at his disposal. The manager will allow his winners to run as long as he still believes there is a return opportunity. As such, the portfolio is likely to have more of a mid-cap bias than its peers.

Baillie Gifford Japanese

One of the oldest Japan funds in the sector, the fund has historically delivered strong returns, although has struggled recently, with its style being out of favour. Baillie Gifford has a very strong Japanese equity team and a significant amount of local knowledge built up over decades. This is a well-managed portfolio with a clear investment strategy and a long-standing manager.

Schroder Oriental Income

Launched in July 2005, the trust’s investment objective is to provide income and capital growth, primarily through investment in equity and equity-related securities of Asian companies, which offer attractive yields and growing dividend payments. We like the relative stability that the income focus offers this trust versus many others in the region, especially when paired with the manager’s total return mindset.

GQG Partners Emerging Markets Equity 

Rajiv Jain, founder of the company and lead manager of this fund, has over 25 years’ investment experience. GQG Partners Emerging Markets Equity is a concentrated portfolio of high quality companies with durable earnings. The emphasis is on future quality, rather than companies which have simply done well historically.

Ashoka India Equity Investment Trust

Launched in 2018, the Ashoka India Equity Trust aims to achieve long-term capital growth by investing in Indian companies of all sizes. The trust adopts a bottom-up stock-picking approach to target scalable businesses with sustainable superior returns on capital. Aided by a huge bank of experienced research analysts, covering companies of all sizes, this trust has comfortably been the best performer in its sector since inception.

CT Global Extended Alpha

And finally, if you can’t choose one destination why not try them all? This global equity fund invests in companies from all over the world and has a specific structure which allows the manager to extend investors’ potential returns by buying stocks he expects to do well and also looking to make money on stocks he expects to do badly (shorting). He describes this as “lining up on the starting grid for a motor race with an engine 50% bigger than everyone else’s”.