What are we Looking for
Where have Canadian investors put their money this year?
The screen
If you’ve spent any time in Canada’s investment fund landscape, you’ve probably noticed that the sheer breadth of choice can be deceiving. According to Morningstar data, there were 4,785 Canadian-domiciled mutual funds and ETFs as of the end of October, spanning almost every conceivable strategy. Yet despite this abundance, most new money continues to flow into a small set of familiar names.
To dig a little deeper – and to show where investors are actually putting their dollars – I examined estimated asset flows in the Canadian mutual fund and ETF sectors. Morningstar estimates these asset flows by removing the effect of distributions and performance from reported changes in total net assets, effectively estimating how much new money has entered each product over a given period.
For this analysis, I looked at data for the 10 months ended Oct. 31, 2025, ranking each fund (across all share classes) from those with the largest inflows to those with the largest outflows. I then tallied the inflows to see how far down the list I’d need to go to account for half of the total new money invested this year.
The answer might surprise you: just 46 funds. That is, out of nearly 4,800 funds, a mere 46 captured half of asset flows over the first nine months of the year. Taking it one step further, I tested the often-quoted 80/20 rule: the idea that 20 per cent of products capture 80 per cent of assets. In Canada, it’s closer to an 80/2 rule. Roughly 100 funds – about 2 per cent of the total by count – attracted 80 per cent of asset flows during the first 10 months of 2025.
There is some nuance here as I have included fund-of-funds structures (mutual funds and ETFs that invest in other funds), which means there is an element of double-counting (flows are captured at both the feeder and parent-fund level). This inclusion was intentional, as the goal was to understand where investors chose to allocate capital, regardless of product structure.
All this said, these figures highlight a simple truth: despite the wide array of options available, Canadian investor capital continues to concentrate in a very small number of funds. Fund selection therefore remains critical, as both mutual funds and ETFs must achieve a certain degree of scale to remain viable and cost-effective over the long term.
What we found
The table accompanying this article lists the top 20 funds and ETFs that captured the most new assets in 2025, drawn from the broader analysis above sorted by biggest inflows for the first 10 months of the year.
The table also includes tickers, categories, management expense ratios (MERs), Morningstar ratings, trailing returns and inception dates. Together, these data points provide a clear snapshot of which funds Canadians favoured in 2025 – and how those choices have performed so far this year.
Readers will notice that many of the funds perform well, as indicated by the Morningstar Rating for Funds – a look back at risk-adjusted returns after fees relative to peers. Also of note is the Morningstar Medalist rating, which stems from a qualitative analysis of a fund’s ability to outperform peers after fees in the future, based on an assessment of the parent company (stewardship qualities of the firms), people (track record and experience of managers) and process (the robustness and consistency of strategy execution).
This article is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. Investors should conduct their own independent research before buying or selling any of the investments listed.
Ian Tam, CFA, is director of investment research for Morningstar Canada.