Legal & General International Index Trust Class C - Income (GBP)

The fund's tracked its index very closely since it launched. That's because its charges are low, and lower fees hold back performance less than higher ones. Because of the charges, however, the fund's performance will typically be slightly behind the index. On occasion it has ended up slightly ahead of the index due to the strategies used by the team, although this won't necessarily happen in future and isn't an aim of the fund.

Tracker funds are one of the simplest ways to invest. They aim to match the performance of an index, rather than beat it. They usually do this by investing in every company in the index. This means they don't need analysts to research individual companies, which keeps costs to a minimum. If the fund's costs are low it's likely to track the index more closely.

Legal & General is one of the largest and best resourced tracker fund managers in the UK. This fund invests in a 'basket' of companies that represent the majority of the index. They prefer to invest in all the companies in the index, however this is not always possible because it's difficult to buy and sell the smallest companies quickly or at low cost, and this could ultimately impact performance The fund invests predominantly in the US but also diversifies into other developed and advanced, although still higher-risk, emerging markets. If the index changes and they have to buy and sell companies to follow suit, they'll often look for opportunities to reduce costs. The team can use derivatives to manage the smaller positions which can increase risk, although these usually form a very small part of the portfolio.