Top performing investment options ranked by return

Technology continues to be a theme in markets, and large technology companies, particularly those linked with the growth in Artificial Intelligence (AI), delivered significant earnings growth over the 12-month period to the end of October.

However, it’s always important to be alert to risk especially when performance is strong, Ben says.

“In recent periods there has been more uncertainty around technology share price increases, coinciding with investor concerns about how significant capital expenditure related to the build out in AI is both funded and monetised,” Ben says.

This included a circular transaction involving OpenAI paying Oracle for cloud computing, then Oracle buying GPUs from NVIDIA, and NVIDIA investing in OpenAI.

Australian share performance overall has lagged that of global and US shares over the past year, affected by weaker earnings growth and limited exposure to the technological advancements in AI.

However, Australian smaller companies have outperformed larger companies.

Gold prices surged as a defensive measure over the past year and peaked in October, reflecting investor fears related to global trade and policy uncertainty, and weaker US economic data.

“This has played its way into Australian small companies, where gold is now one of the largest sectors within the benchmark,” Ben says.

China generated growth of 15% just in the September quarter, while global emerging markets returned over 25% for the year to October. “Emerging markets performance has been robust, led by technology related exposure in Korea and Taiwan, as well as stronger performance in China,” he says.

Meanwhile, returns from property have been affected by “flat or falling asset values,” he adds. “Infrastructure has continued to deliver stable returns.”

Sustained higher inflation has resulted in higher levels of interest rates, including in Australia.

Bond prices move inversely to interest rates, meaning that when interest rates rise, bond prices tend to fall, and bond yields, or returns, tend to rise.

“Persistent, elevated inflation throughout much of the world including Australia has resulted in sustained higher levels of interest rates, reflected in attractive nominal and inflation-adjusted bond yields,” says CFS Head of Fixed Income and Alternatives Rob Graham-Smith. 

“Unorthodox government policy, tariff-driven uncertainty and concerns about levels of government debt in specific countries has created some volatility during 2025,” Rob says.

“However, in turn this has also created a much richer opportunity set for fixed income managers across interest rate and currency markets compared with much of the last 10-15 years.”

Corporate bonds have also performed strongly. “Corporate fundamentals also remain generally solid, which has translated to strong performance from non-government bond markets,” Rob says.

Read on for our top-performing investment options in key investment types including global shares, Australian shares, emerging markets, fixed income, cash and more.

_{Inception date: *21 Nov 2022 ^ 13 Dec 2021. As at 31 October 2025.}

_{Inception date: *21 Nov 2022 ^ 13 Dec 2021. As at 31 October 2025.}

_{Inception date:  ^ 13 Dec 2021} ^## _{17 Jun 2024. As at 31 October 2025.}

_{Inception date:}  ^† _{15 Mar 2024^ 13 Dec 2021. As at 31 October 2025.}

_{Inception date:  † 15 Mar 2024^ 13 Dec 2021. As at 31 October 2025.}

_{Inception date:  ^ 13 Dec 2021. As at 31 October 2025.}

_{As at 31 October 2025.}

_{As at 31 October 2025.}

_{As at 31 October 2025.}

_{As at 31 October 2025.}

_Inception: ^# _{22 May 2023 *21 Nov 2022. As at 31 October 2025.}

_{Inception: ^^ 17 Jun 2024 ** 20 Nov 2023. As at 31 October 2025.}

_{Inception: ^ 21 Nov 2022 * 30 Nov 2020. As at 31 October 2025.}

_{As at 31 October 2025.}

_{Inception: # 22 May 2023. As at 31 October 2025.}

_{As at 31 October 2025.}

_{As at 31 October 2025.}

Investors should always consider a range of factors before investing, including your goals, investment strategy and risk appetite.

It’s also important to understand the minimum recommended investment timeframe for the type of investment considered, your diversification strategy, and how soon you might need to access your money, particularly when markets are volatile.

CFS offers more than 200 funds to choose from. Explore our investment options. Already know what you want to invest in? Get started now.