It found that around 9% of UK investors own an investment trust - the lowest level since Boring Money began collecting its data in 2021.

The investment Trust Report 2026 revealed the number of investors who owned a London-listed fund dropped from 12% to 9% over the past year, while the total number of people with one in their portfolio fell to 2.18 million, representing around 3.1% of the UK population.

However, it found that one in five UK investors owned an exchange-traded fund (ETF) in their portfolio, increasing from one in 20 five years ago.

Holly Mackay, chief executive at Boring Money, claimed retail investors better understood ETFs, as trusts are often seen as “old-fashioned, confusing and more expensive” - calling for the idea to be quickly dispelled by the industry.

She added: “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.

“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.”

In the past year, open-ended funds followed a similar trend, falling from 23% to 19% ownership among investors, with the sharpest decline in trust ownership noted among people aged 35-54, dropping from 12% to 7%.

Ms Mackay claimed there was a “glimmer of hope” among investors under 35 as the number of trust owners increased from 7% to 9%.

She added: “There’s quite a lot of work to do to turn attitudes, awareness and engagement around, particularly with younger investors, whose love of ETFs is as much about availability and prominence on their chosen platforms as it is about the essence of ETFs.”