magazine archive
magazine archive
Education
How do ISAs stack up against pensions as investment vehicles
Thursday 11 Jul 2024There are two main vehicles for protecting returns from your investments and savings from HMRC: ISAs and pensions. In this article we go back to basics and discuss how these two, sometimes referred to as tax wrappers, can be used by savers and investors and consider the advantages and disadvantages...
How to generate regular income from your investments
Thursday 04 Jul 2024For those approaching or entering retirement, the idea of being able to live off the income generated by their investments and not having to touch the underlying capital is hugely appealing. For the lucky few who have a ‘pot’ worth millions that dream may well be a reality, but for most of us it is...
Building your first portfolio is easier than you might think
Thursday 27 Jun 2024It can seem daunting to know where to start when making a first investment which may deter some people from starting at all. This would be a mistake because the sooner a start is made, the longer an investment is allowed to mature and provide capital gains and dividends. Waiting just a few years...
How to judge actively managed funds and trusts
Thursday 20 Jun 2024Whereas passive funds aim to track the performance of a key benchmark or index, active funds are run by a professional fund manager who selects what goes in the portfolio with the aim of outperforming the market. Active managers are paid a fee by investors for their stock picking expertise, benefit...
Three easy steps to assess a set of financial results
Thursday 13 Jun 2024Staying on top of fundamental developments for companies in your portfolio can seem like a daunting task. Share prices can be volatile around earnings reports and trading updates, so getting to grips with what has happened and why is an important part of successfully managing investments. This...
How to invest in shares, investment trusts, ETFs and funds
Thursday 06 Jun 2024There are many reasons why people start investing – to get better returns on their cash, to meet long-term investment goals, to save for a deposit on a house purchase or for retirement. Whatever your investment goals you can generate wealth from investing in shares, investment trusts, ETFs and...
Understanding the power of compounding
Thursday 23 May 2024Readers with teenage children or young adult kids may be familiar with the following complaints. They’ll be the first generation ever that will be poorer than their parents and grandparents. They are so priced out of home ownership that it isn’t even something they think about. Jobs are far less...
What can I invest in and how do the relative risks stack up?
Thursday 16 May 2024This is the first in a series of articles focused on the fundamentals of investing. Don’t worry if you are relatively new to investing because the series starts at the very beginning and explains what investing is, how it works and is intended to provide a useful framework for thinking about...
Three common investing myths busted for you
Thursday 15 Feb 2024As investors we all like to think we can avoid the pitfalls that other people might suffer, but as many of us also know we can be our own worst enemy when it comes to choosing where to put our hard-earned cash. Sometimes even things as basic as comparing share prices can lead us to the wrong...
Can you trade stocks within a pension?
Thursday 01 Feb 2024Given you cannot make withdrawals from a pension until you reach age 55 (rising to 57 in 2028) it is unsurprising some people assume you cannot actively manage any investments within your pot. At Shares we have had correspondence from people over whether you can trade stocks within a pension so in...