Image source: Getty Images There are lots of different ways to put money into the stock market. One is to buy shares (or even a single share) in an investment trust. Investment trusts come in all shapes and sizes but basically they are pooled investment vehicles. Think of an investment trust as a company listed on the stock market that has investing as its own business. Each trust needs to be considered on its own merits. But at a high level, there are some potential pros and cons of buying into an investment trust, as I see it. Here are…
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Introduction Bitcoin is one of the most powerful technologies of our time and has delivered financial freedom to millions and disrupted established financial players. Yet, many of my fellow financial professionals remain deeply skeptical of its worth. This skepticism is starting to shift as seen in recent headlines. The rise of Bitcoin exchange traded funds (ETFs) and the marketing push from giants like BlackRock are softening attitudes. BlackRock’s IBIT has received $100bn worth of flows, making it one of the most successful ETFs in history, so clearly many investors are taking notice. JPMorgan said last week it would allow institutional…
Image source: Getty Images This year has seen some strong performance in stock markets, including multiple new all-time highs for the FTSE 100. But 2025 has also seen considerable volatility – and the year is not over yet. Nobody knows when the next stock market crash will happen, but some investors are increasingly nervous about the prospects for the market in coming months. While the timing is never clear, what we do know from history is that sooner or later, the stock market will crash again. What does that mean for investors? The best of times, the worst of times…
Image source: Getty Images it does not necessarily take a lot of money to start investing in the stock market. In fact, it is possible to start buying shares with a modest amount of money. Here is how someone who is new to the stock market could get going with £5 a day. Starting on a small scale Over the course of a year, that would give the person over £1,800 to invest. Simply by putting aside a small amount of money each day, they could aim to build a substantial portfolio over the decades to come. For example, imagine…
Image source: Getty Images Last year, Warren Buffett was asked about arguably the defining technology of our era — artificial intelligence (AI). While acknowledging its potential for good, he also warned about AI’s darker side. Indeed, he said the technology could lead to a massive rise in fraud. This fear was stoked when the billionaire investor saw a deepfake video of himself, which impeccably mimicked his voice and mannerisms. In Buffett’s own words: “If I was interested in investing in scamming, it’s going to be the growth industry of all time.” Huge future growth expected Of course, the Oracle of…
Image source: Getty Images It might be obvious that the sooner we start saving and investing, the better our chances of reaching 60 with some decent passive income in the bag. How much we need depends on how much we hope to withdraw. There’s a rough rule that suggests taking 4% per year. The idea is that should still leave enough capital to grow with inflation for the future. Based it on that, the sums are easy. We need £500,000 by age 60 to take out £20,000 per year. 25 years? Nah! That’s not a trivial task. But the miracle…
Image source: Getty Images Many customers of Greggs (LSE: GRG) choose its pies or sausage rolls for their stuffing. But the Greggs share price has had the stuffing knocked out of it, falling by 49% since the end of 2021. In other words, it has more or less halved. Could it double, getting back to just above where it was? I have been buying Greggs shares this year because of my optimism in the investment case. But I do see some possible hurdles along the way to recovery. A solid basic business case To start with, consider why investors used…
Image source: Getty Images J Sainsbury’s (LSE: SBRY) share price is trading around a level last seen in August 2021. This follows a 54% jump from the supermarket giant’s 10 April one-year traded low of £2.23. Such a rise, though, does not necessarily mean that there is no value left in the stock. This is because price and value are not the same thing. The former is simply a function of whatever the market is willing to pay at any given time. But the latter reflects the true worth of the underlying business’s fundamentals. So, regardless of the share price…
Image source: Getty Images FTSE 250 cell and gene therapy trailblazer Oxford Biomedica (LSE: OXB) may ring a few bells with investors without their remembering why. During the height of the Covid crisis, it was this firm that manufactured over 100m doses of AstraZeneca’s adenovirus-based vaccine. It did so at a record pace for such a vaccine and without a hitch in the process. Aside from providing such manufacturing services to top-flight pharmaceutical firms, it also works on its own therapies. These include experimental treatments for Parkinson’s, cancer, central nervous system disorders, and eye diseases. Since the firm’s one-year traded…
Image source: Getty Images The surge in Rolls-Royce (LSE: RR.) shares seems never ending. The British engineering firm is now worth £125bn in market cap. Its dizzying rise has propelled it to be the fifth-largest firm listed on the FTSE 100. The question I’m asking myself is: are we looking at Britain’s first trillion-pound company? For Rolls-Royce to reach the £1trn mark, the share price would need to rise by over eight times. A near tenfold increase in value would be some feat for a company that is already something of a giant. But, as I’ll get to, the future…