Ivy Funds can make sense for investors who want active mutual funds and accept higher fees, but value, risk, and fit depend on the specific fund.
Plenty of investors still type “are ivy funds a good investment?” into a search bar, even though the Ivy brand has changed hands. Ivy Funds grew under Waddell & Reed and now sit inside the Delaware Funds by Macquarie family, with many portfolios renamed or merged over the past few years. You are not choosing a single product; you are choosing from a wide shelf of strategies that carry different levels of risk, cost, and complexity.
Before you place any money, you need a clear sense of what these funds are today, how they charge you, how they have behaved in markets, and whether an Ivy or Delaware Ivy product fits better than a simpler index alternative. This guide walks through those issues in plain language so you can make a calmer decision with your own goals in mind.
Are Ivy Funds A Good Investment? Big Picture View
The short answer is that Ivy Funds, now branded as Delaware Ivy in many cases, can work for some investors but are far from a default choice for everyone. These are actively managed mutual funds. A professional team chooses securities, adjusts positions, and tries to beat a benchmark or deliver a smoother ride than the broad market.
That approach can appeal if you want help handling security selection and you are comfortable paying higher ongoing fees for that effort. It can disappoint if the fund fails to keep up with its benchmark after costs, or if its style falls out of favor for long stretches. The honest answer to “are ivy funds a good investment?” always circles back to which fund you pick, what you pay, and how that slot fits inside your wider portfolio.
There is also a branding wrinkle. Macquarie Asset Management acquired Waddell & Reed in 2021 and folded Ivy mutual funds into the Delaware Funds by Macquarie lineup, with Ivy portfolios now managed by Delaware Management Company and distributed by Delaware Distributors.1 You will still see the Ivy name on some prospectuses and tickers, but you are dealing with a broader Delaware Ivy complex rather than a stand-alone Ivy shop.
What Ivy Funds Look Like Today
The Ivy shelf covers a wide spread of strategies, from straightforward large-cap stock funds to high yield bond funds and global income products. Many long-time Ivy portfolios now carry “Delaware Ivy” in the name, and recent filings show ongoing mergers where smaller Ivy funds roll into larger siblings with similar mandates.2 That means you need to look past the label and spend time with each fund’s current prospectus and holdings.
At a high level, you will see several familiar categories: growth equity, value equity, balanced or allocation funds, taxable bond funds, municipal bond funds, and a closed-end Ivy High Income Opportunities Fund that still trades on the market. Each comes with its own mix of risk, income potential, and fee structure.
Common Ivy And Delaware Ivy Fund Types
The table below shows common types you will run across and the trade-offs each bucket tends to bring.
| Fund Type | Typical Objective | Common Trade-Offs |
|---|---|---|
| U.S. Large-Cap Growth | Seek capital growth through leading U.S. companies with high earnings growth | Higher return potential but larger swings in value and sensitivity to growth cycles |
| U.S. Large-Cap Value | Buy established companies trading at lower valuation metrics | Income tilt through dividends, but can lag during strong growth bull runs |
| International Equity | Provide global diversification outside the United States | Currency shifts and foreign market events can add extra volatility |
| Global Or Flexible Allocation | Blend stocks and bonds to balance growth and income | Manager timing choices matter; asset mix may not match your risk level |
| Investment-Grade Bond | Deliver interest income with lower credit risk | Interest rate moves can hit prices; yields may feel low during calm periods |
| High Yield Bond | Increase income by lending to lower-rated issuers | Higher default risk and sharper drops during credit stress |
| Municipal Bond | Offer tax-advantaged income for taxable accounts | Best suited to certain tax brackets; credit research on issuers matters |
| Sector Or Theme Funds | Target narrow themes such as health care or real estate | Less diversified; returns can swing widely with sector cycles |
When someone asks whether Ivy Funds are “good,” they often blend all of these very different products into one bucket. A careful investor treats each ticker as its own decision: a set of holdings, a rulebook, a fee schedule, and a track record.
Ivy Fund Performance And Benchmarks
Public filings and third-party research show a mixed picture for Ivy and Delaware Ivy funds over time. Some strategies have kept pace with or outpaced their benchmarks over a full market cycle. Others have lagged after fees, especially in areas where low-cost index funds set a high bar. Performance also shifts as managers change and as funds merge into new structures, which has happened more often since the Macquarie deal.2
Regulators repeat one simple warning: past performance does not guarantee later results. That line shows up in every prospectus for good reason. Markets move in cycles, styles rotate, and even skilled managers go through weaker stretches. Instead of chasing the hottest Ivy chart, it works better to review rolling performance over three, five, and ten years versus an appropriate benchmark and versus peers with similar mandates.
Pay attention to how the fund behaved in stress periods. Did it fall less than the market in sharp drawdowns, or did it drop even more? Did it recover in reasonable time, or did it take many years to claw back losses? The pattern of returns can matter just as much as the final average.
Fees, Loads, And Ongoing Costs
Many Ivy and Delaware Ivy mutual funds use share classes with sales loads and ongoing 12b-1 distribution fees. You may face a front-end charge when you buy, a back-end charge if you sell within a set period, or level loads that chip away at your investment each year. On top of those charges, each fund has an annual expense ratio that covers management fees and operating costs, taken from assets every year.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission runs a detailed Mutual Fund And ETF Fees And Expenses investor bulletin that breaks down common charges and shows how ongoing costs erode returns across decades.3 Even a one-percentage-point gap in expenses can lead to a large difference in wealth over a long holding period. Since many Ivy funds charge more than broad index funds, the manager must add enough value through security selection and risk control to clear that higher hurdle.
Before you buy, open the most recent prospectus and find the fee table near the front. Look at the sales charge schedule, the total expense ratio for your share class, and any waivers that might expire. Broker platforms sometimes steer clients into share classes with higher ongoing charges when lower-cost classes exist for the same fund, so it pays to ask direct questions and read the fine print.
Risk Profile Of Ivy Funds
Ivy funds carry the same core risks you see across the mutual fund world, plus a few wrinkles tied to active management. Those risks are not automatically bad; they simply need to match the way you handle swings in account value and income.
Market Risk And Style Risk
Equity-focused Ivy funds rise and fall with stock markets. A growth-tilted portfolio may surge during bull runs led by technology or consumer names, then sag during value-led recoveries. A value-tilted portfolio may do the opposite. If you pick a style that does not fit your own comfort level, you might sell at a bad time or hold too much in one theme.
Interest Rate And Credit Risk
Bond-focused Ivy or Delaware Ivy funds react to rate moves and credit events. When interest rates rise, the price of existing bonds usually falls, and long-duration funds feel that sting most. High yield bond funds layer on credit risk; downgrades and defaults can lead to sudden drops in net asset value. The yield can look tempting, but it comes with added uncertainty.
Manager And Strategy Risk
Active funds depend on humans. A portfolio manager can make bold calls that help or hurt. Turnover inside the team, shifts in process, or changes in the fund’s stated strategy can alter its behavior. Since many Ivy funds have merged or rebranded in recent years, it is worth checking how long the current team has run the strategy and whether the approach has changed.
Are Ivy Funds A Good Fit For Your Goals?
Instead of looking for a universal yes or no, line up each Ivy or Delaware Ivy option against your own plan. Start with your time horizon. Stock funds and high yield bond funds generally suit money you can leave alone for many years. Shorter goals, such as a house down payment within a few years, usually call for safer vehicles.
Next, think about your tolerance for swings in value. Some people sleep soundly even when an equity fund drops twenty percent in a rough year. Others feel unsettled once losses break past single digits. Ivy products with narrow sector bets or high equity exposure may suit the first group and feel far too harsh for the second.
Tax status matters as well. A tax-efficient index fund in a taxable account can leave more after-tax cash in your pocket than a high-turnover active fund that throws off short-term capital gains. On the other hand, a municipal bond fund in the right tax bracket can deliver attractive after-tax income. You need to read the fund’s tax section and match it with the account you plan to use.
Checklist: How To Judge An Ivy Fund
To pull all of this together, use a simple checklist before you place a trade. This works just as well for Ivy funds as for any other active mutual fund family.
| Checklist Item | What To Review | Why It Matters |
|---|---|---|
| Fund Objective | Read the stated goal and benchmark in the prospectus | Shows what the manager is trying to do and how success is measured |
| Holdings And Style | Scan top holdings, sectors, regions, and market-cap mix | Reveals where your money actually goes and how concentrated the bets are |
| Fees And Loads | Check sales charges, 12b-1 fees, and total expense ratio for your share class | Higher costs demand stronger performance just to keep pace with cheaper funds |
| Track Record | Look at multi-year results versus benchmark and peers | Shows how the fund behaved through booms and slumps, not just in one good stretch |
| Manager Tenure | Find how long the current team has run the strategy | Short tenure can mean limited evidence that the present approach works as advertised |
| Risk Measures | Review standard deviation, drawdowns, and downside capture stats | Helps you judge whether the ride lines up with your comfort level |
| Account And Tax Fit | Match the fund with the right account type and tax profile | Wrong pairing can hand more of your return to taxes than necessary |
Many broker and regulator sites offer tools that make this checklist easier to run through. The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority hosts a detailed Fund Analyzer that lets you compare mutual fund and ETF fees, share classes, and long-term cost impact side by side.4 Pair that with official fund documents from the sponsor’s site, and you can build a clear view of what you are buying.
Practical Steps Before You Buy Or Sell
If you already hold one or more Ivy or Delaware Ivy funds, start by gathering your latest statements and prospectuses. Confirm which share class you own, what loads apply, and what expense ratio you pay. Then compare each position against a low-cost index fund or ETF that tracks a similar benchmark. If your Ivy holding carries much higher fees and has not delivered meaningfully better results over a full market cycle, you might question whether it still earns a place.
If you do not own any Ivy products yet and still wonder, “are ivy funds a good investment?”, move through the checklist before funding a new purchase. Pick a specific ticker, read the objective and holdings, study fees and historical behavior, and decide whether the role that fund would play in your portfolio could be filled more cleanly by a cheaper index fund or a different active manager.
Finally, remember that any single mutual fund is just one tool among many. A sound plan relies on a sensible asset mix, steady saving, and patience through rough markets. Ivy and Delaware Ivy funds can play a part in that plan for some investors, especially those who value active management and are willing to pay for it, but they do not have to be the centerpiece. The best choice is the one that matches your goals, your tolerance for risk, and your budget for fees.