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.
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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
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Let them have cake – and circuses!
President Trump faces an affordability paradox, and his attempts to solve it before the mid-terms are likely to cause severe political, economic, market and inflation volatility.
Read
Strait lines, narrow choices
Apr 2026: With oil prices soaring, what will the impact on the global economy be? And how will policymakers react? We make the case for a stagflationary shock, but not all economies will be affected equally.
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.
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At a glance
15 Apr 2026
Launch date 29 Sep 2000
Launch price 100.00p
  C class I class
Accumulation shares 597.70p 639.18p
Income shares 349.30p 373.36p
ASSET AND CURRENCY ALLOCATION
Asset %
Gold and precious metals exposure 3.4
Long-dated UK inflation-linked bonds 2.5
Short-dated nominal bonds 44.8
Long-dated nominal bonds 16.8
Cash 5.1
Credit and derivative strategies -0.5
Consumer discretionary equities 4.5
Industrials equities 4.1
Financials equities 3.5
Energy equities 3.4
Other equities 12.3
Currency %
Sterling 74.1
Yen 15.9
US dollar 3.1
Hong Kong dollar 1.4
Other 5.5

Data as at 31 March 2026. Totals may not equal 100 due to rounding

Largest equity holdings
Largest equity holdings (excludes holdings in Ruffer funds) %
BP ADR 1.7
Coinbase 1.1
Alibaba Group ADR 0.7
Alibaba Group 0.7
Swire Pacific 0.6
Data as at 31 March 2026
 
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