WELCOME TO RUFFER

All-weather investing

Seeking consistent positive returns.

Come rain or shine.

Ruffer provides investment management services for institutions, pension funds, charities, financial planners and individual investors.
Location
Select your Location
Visitor Type
Select investor type
Select investor type
London
Ruffer LLP
80 Victoria Street
London SW1E 5JL
Paris
Ruffer S.A.
103 boulevard Haussmann
75008 Paris, France
New York
Ruffer LLC
300 Park Avenue
New York NY 10022
Edinburgh
Ruffer LLP
31 Charlotte Square
Edinburgh EH2 4ET

WS Ruffer Total Return Fund

Seeking positive absolute returns with low volatility
The WS Ruffer Total Return Fund is our flagship fund. An established and popular choice.

It has a simple aim – consistent positive returns, regardless of how the financial markets perform.

We try not to lose money in any 12 month period, and to grow the value of our investors’ wealth over the long haul.

If we can do this, we should outpace inflation, protecting and increasing the real value of our investors’ income and capital.

Please note the WS Ruffer Total Return Fund is a UK domiciled fund and only registered for distribution in the UK.

Latest fund report
Download the latest fund report
DOWNLOAD
Back to the future (but which one?)
Whilst the impact of AI is likely to be deflationary in the very long term, existing economic imbalances and political realities suggest we will first suffer an era of higher inflation and volatility.
Read
Against the odds
Dec 2025: Prediction markets are entering the financial mainstream, offering crowd-sourced forecasts on real world events. But could they end up adding yet more risk to the system?
Read
What to expect?

We focus on the absolute risk of losing money, not the relative risk of underperforming the stock market.

Consider a year when the market falls by 25%. A fund manager focused on relative returns could lose 20% of their investors’ money and still claim to have done well by ‘outperforming’ the index.

At Ruffer, we take on the responsibility for managing risk, and for the returns we deliver. If we ever lost 20% of our investors’ money, we would have failed.

While our track record is strong, it should definitely not be seen as evidence the fund is immune to shocks or unexpected events. During the next market panic, our protective investments may not protect us.

Our investment approach is tried and tested but sometimes can seem a bit dull. We don’t apologise for that.

For example, we never own shares just because they are currently popular. What’s more, when markets are rising strongly, investing with Ruffer can be like riding a tractor on the motorway, plodding in the slow lane. It’s only when the motorway sinks into boggy marshland that a tractor proves to be a wise way to travel.

INVESTMENT APPROACH
Portfolio management team

WS Ruffer Total Return Fund follows the Ruffer philosophy and strategy. These are unchanged since the firm started in 1994.

The investment strategy and asset allocation is set by Henry Maxey and Neil McLeish, Co-Chief Investment Officers. A team of portfolio managers are collectively responsible for implementing this strategy across all our core funds.

The lead portfolio managers for the fund are Matt Smith, Alexander Chartres and Steve Russell.

GET IN TOUCH
Joshua Gunson
Director – UK Wholesale
Joined Ruffer in 2010, working in the Product and Fund Relations teams. He holds a degree in philosophy from the University of Nottingham and an MBA with distinction from Bayes Business School, and focuses on building relationships with financial planners and wealth managers throughout the UK.
Pause icon
0.00
0:00
Volume icon
Fullscreen icon
Play icon
At a glance
10 Dec 2025
Launch date 29 Sep 2000
Launch price 100.00p
  C class I class
Accumulation shares 584.30p 624.42p
Income shares 344.31p 367.77p
ASSET AND CURRENCY ALLOCATION
Asset %
Gold and precious metals exposure 4.6
Long-dated UK inflation-linked bonds 4.0
Short-dated nominal bonds 45.3
Long-dated nominal bonds 10.7
Cash 3.7
Credit and derivative strategies -0.5
Consumer discretionary equities 4.7
Healthcare equities 3.7
Financials equities 3.6
Industrials equities 3.4
Other equities 15.7
Commodity exposure 1.2
Currency %
Sterling 71.0
Yen 11.7
US dollar 9.5
AU dollar 1.7
Other 6.1

Data as at 30 November 2025. Totals may not equal 100 due to rounding

Largest equity holdings
Largest equity holdings (excludes holdings in Ruffer funds) %
BP ADR 1.9
iShares MSCI China EUR H acc 1.3
Alibaba Group 0.8
ArcelorMittal 0.8
Prudential 0.8
Data as at 30 November 2025
 
How to invest

The fund is available to buy on the following platforms, among others. Click a logo to be directed to the platform.

Alternatively, if you would like to invest directly with us please get in touch with one of the contacts listed above.

KEY DOCUMENTS
SUSTAINABILITY DISCLOSURE REQUIREMENTS

Sustainable investment labels help investors find products that have a specific sustainability goal. The fund does not have a UK sustainable investment label because, whilst it considers sustainability factors, it does not have a specific sustainability objective. 

CONSUMER FACING DISCLOSURE (CFD)

London
Ruffer LLP
80 Victoria Street
London SW1E 5JL
Paris
Ruffer S.A.
103 boulevard Haussmann
75008 Paris, France
New York
Ruffer LLC
300 Park Avenue
New York NY 10022
Edinburgh
Ruffer LLP
31 Charlotte Square
Edinburgh EH2 4ET