magazine archive
magazine archive
Feature
First quarter update on our 2018 share portfolio
Thursday 05 Apr 2018Our top picks for 2018 are lagging the broader market at the end of the first quarter. Our portfolio of 10 stocks has an average loss of 8.4% versus a 6% decline from the FTSE All-Share. While this is a disappointing start, our selections were designed to be held for at least a year, so we remain...
Four lessons to draw from 18¼ years of precisely zero from UK stocks
Thursday 05 Apr 2018A potential takeover bid for a fourth FTSE 100 stock this year is helping the index to try to cling on to the 7,000 mark, as Takeda’s plan to consider an offer for drug manufacturer Shire ( SHP ) adds to the offers for GKN ( GKN ) , Smurfit Kappa ( SKG ) and Sky ( SKY ) . But that 7,000 mark is...
What is a C share?
Thursday 29 Mar 2018Conversion shares or C shares are issued by investment trusts to raise money and allow investors to subscribe for new shares without negatively affecting existing shareholders. It will take time for the manager of a trust to deploy fresh capital and during that period, the cash element would likely...
How to test the foundations of the property sector
Thursday 29 Mar 2018He is unlikely to have appreciated it, or cared, at the time, but Mark Twain’s advice to ‘Buy land, they aren’t making it any more’ has long since formed the basis of the investment case for UK commercial property, either via quoted stocks or dedicated funds. Whether property is right for an...
How to use moving averages to pin down the FTSE 100
Thursday 22 Mar 2018In capital, local currency terms the UK is the worst performing country among the 23 nations classified by the MSCI as ‘developed’ markets year-to-date. Investors will have their own views as to why this might be. Domestic political uncertainty, global geopolitical concerns, more hawkish central...
Will the market sell-off prompt investors to look at value investing again?
Thursday 08 Mar 2018Does the end of momentum in the UK stock market since February’s sell-off suggest investors may become less willing to pay high ratings for growth and instead look more closely at value plays? It’s an interesting thought and one that’s likely to become a key talking point among the investment...
Why does it take so long to buy and sell a fund?
Thursday 01 Mar 2018Have you ever invested in a fund and wondered why it doesn’t immediately show up in your portfolio as per stocks, investment trusts and exchange-traded funds (ETF)? Sadly it typically takes a day for your fund ‘buy’ order to be processed and the investment to appear in your ISA, SIPP (self-invested...
Some bond prices are getting cheaper: time to invest?
Thursday 22 Feb 2018After years of steady gains and limited volatility for fixed income or bonds this asset class is hitting the front pages as rising yields on government debt were one of the key precursors to the recent market correction. If yields are rising it means bond prices are falling and money has flowed out...
Confident about the market? Here are some sold-off stocks to buy now
Thursday 15 Feb 2018In a market corrections people do not tend to be discriminating in their investment decisions. Good and bad stocks are sold with little regard for their relative merits. This creates opportunities for savvy investors to potentially snap up quality stocks at lower prices than they traded only a few...
When should you use a dealing account to invest?
Thursday 08 Feb 2018Inexperienced investors may wonder why investment platforms offer dealing accounts, given the widely-held view that it is better to use ISAs to hold stocks and funds, thanks to the wrapper’s tax benefits. Dealing accounts are generally needed for investors who invest more than £20,000 a year, as...