Category: News

Minimising exposure to volatility and market setbacks Investing would be easy if markets rose in a straight line. Unfortunately, that is rarely the case. Over the long term, assets such as shares and bonds have tended to produce positive returns, but there have been several bumps along the way. In any event, past performance of… Continue reading Principles of diversification

Every investor is unique, but everyone faces the same trade-off between risk and reward The best place to start when you are looking to build a diverse investment portfolio is to ask yourself why you’re building a portfolio. For most of us, the central task is to build a pot of money that involves you,… Continue reading Why are you building an investment portfolio?

Choosing a broad spread of instruments in which to invest If you require your money to provide the potential for capital growth or income, or a combination of both, and provided you are willing to accept an element of risk, pooled investments allow you to invest in a large, professionally managed portfolio of assets with… Continue reading Reducing investment risk

Invest as much of your annual ISA allowance as you like in either a Stocks & Shares ISA or a Cash ISA, or any mixture of the two Some people never look beyond Cash Individual Savings Accounts (ISAs), but by using Stocks & Shares ISAs too, you could get a higher return on your investment.… Continue reading A higher return on your investment

Professionally managed collective investment funds Unit trusts and open-ended investment companies (OEICs) are professionally managed collective investment funds. Managers pool money from many investors and buy shares, bonds, property or cash assets and other investments. An open-ended fund could be visualised as a big pool of money – the money belongs to thousands of small investors.… Continue reading Open-ended funds

Investing in bonds, pooling your money with thousands of other small investors Bonds are debt issued by either a government or a company and are an essential building block of many investors’ portfolios. When you buy a bond, you are effectively extending a loan to the issuer of the bond. The issuer agrees to pay… Continue reading Building block of many investor portfolios

Alternatives for income-seekers during a period of low interest rates One of the tools available to the Bank of England to stimulate the economy is interest rates. Lower interest rates mean that it is cheaper to borrow money and people have more to spend, hopefully stimulating the economy and reducing the risk of deflation. This… Continue reading Regular portfolio reviews

Grappling with a number of significant headwinds Unlike the rest of the world, the European economy has been hit by not one, but two major crises in the last decade. A few years on, we consider whether Europe is set on a path to recovery. In 2008, the collapse of the US mortgage market sent… Continue reading What next for the European recovery?

Rewarding investors in UK-listed companies Investors in UK-listed companies will be rewarded with an £85.8 billion payout in 2015, significantly better than last year, where investors suffered little or no growth in income according to Capita Asset Services’ ‘Dividend Monitor’. Dividend payouts from UK-listed companies made a strong start to 2015, prompting analysts to hike their forecasts for the year. … Continue reading Maintaining dividend growth