Managed funds all have a suggested investment time frame in their disclosure statements. They tend to be medium to long term investments.
If you're looking for something under about 3-4 years, the general recommendation would be to use a term deposit.
When I was saving for my first deposit we did quite a bit of share trading. It worked well for us at the time, but it's very risky and you can loose it all.
Now days we keep most of our spare cash in offset accounts or redraw facilities.