[ad_1] Image source: Getty Images UK growth shares are booming at the moment. Since February 2025, the FTSE 100’s gained 18%, outperforming many of its international peers. But savvy investors know that successful investing requires taking a long-term view. With this in mind, I think 2026 could be a pivotal year for one particular Footsie stock. Let’s find out why. Over 100 years of investing Being honest, Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust (LSE:SMT), which can trace its origins back to 1909, doesn’t sound like a particularly exciting stock. But having ditched its initial investments in rubber plantations long ago, it now…
Author: user
[ad_1] Image source: Getty Images To the surprise of many, the FTSE 100 outperformed the S&P 500 in 2025. With huge attention paid to the Magnificent 7 and US stocks in general, it’s sometimes easy to overlook opportunities closer to home. Bearing this in mind, here are three things that I think will happen in 2026. 1. Healthy yields to continue The FTSE 100 has established a reputation for being home to some amazing high-yielding dividend shares with excellent track records in increasing their payouts. And in my opinion, this will continue. For example, Halma‘s raised its dividend for 46…
[ad_1] Image source: Getty Images The FTSE 100 has an average dividend yield of 2.92%. Given that the base interest rate’s 3.75%, some might feel that buying stocks for dividend income isn’t a smart idea. However, building an impressive passive income can be done in such a way to achieve a high yield without an excessive level of risk. Here’s what I’m talking about. Active selection There’s a huge range of stocks within the index. Some don’t pay any income, whereas other stocks have yields as high as 8.32%. This means that buying a tracker fund that pays out the…
[ad_1] Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) stock climbed on Friday (30 January) on reports of a potential merger with Elon Musk’s reusable rocket company. It’s an exciting prospect, but do investors need to be careful? It might not happen. But if it does, there are a couple of things that Tesla shareholders need to keep an eye on when it comes to assessing the attractiveness of combining with SpaceX. Who gets what? As a business, I like SpaceX much more than I like Tesla. So I think the car/robotaxi/humanoid robot company’s share price going up on news of a potential merger makes sense.…
[ad_1] Image source: Getty Images Over the course of Rolls-Royce (LSE: RR.) stock surging 1,595% in the last few years, much has been made of two of its three divisions. Civil Aerospace, which makes engines for civilian aeroplanes, has been thriving in part thanks to the rebound of passenger flights since the pandemic. Defence, which includes engines for military aircraft and reactors for submarines, has been boosted by huge increases to government defence spending. But there’s a third division that gets less attention than those two. And it’s a segment that has been signing contracts with Nvidia and playing a…
[ad_1] Image source: Getty Images Lloyds (LSE:LLOY) shares have kicked off 2026 in much the same fashion as they finished last year. Up 7% since 1 January, the FTSE 100 bank’s now 70% more expensive than it was a year ago. Lloyds’ share price has been fuelled by a steady stream of expectations-beating trading updates. Last week it announced underlying profit of £1.9bn in Q4 to keep the run going. This was up 94% and comfortably above City forecasts. The question is, can the FTSE bank’s shares keep on climbing? Forecasts An examination of Lloyds’ profits and dividend forecasts could…
[ad_1] A reader says, “I have invested in equity mutual funds for the last four years. Can I now start buying stocks?”Here are some guidelines to decide. Why do you want to invest in stocks? Is it because you heard multibagger stories on social media and feel you are missing out on something? Or did you read someplace, or did someone mention that stocks would do better than equity mutual funds (index fund or active)?If this is the case, and I am afraid it often is when the tone of the question is as above, then investing in stocks is…
[ad_1] Image source: Getty Images When previously high-flying UK stocks fall, my instinct has been to scoop them up and stick them in my SIPP. I like buying good companies on bad news, as it gives me an opportunity to buy at a lower valuation, and higher yield. Then I simply sit back, and wait for them to recover. Except it’s not that simple. Sometimes, the underlying investment case has changed, which means the shares could struggle for years. Maybe they’ll never recover. Two of my favourite FTSE 100 growth stocks have had a torrid 12 months, after years of…
[ad_1] Image source: Getty Images If I asked a random sample of investors to name some of the top-performing growth stocks on the FTSE 100 over the past five years, the chances are they would probably pick Rolls-Royce Holdings and Lloyds Banking Group. And they’d be right to do so. But I reckon 3i Group (LSE:III), the little-known investment company, would be a long way down their lists. However, despite its relative obscurity, the group’s seen its share price more than triple since January 2021. This makes it the thirteenth-best performer on the index. What’s more, over this period, shareholders…
[ad_1] Lots of people have invested in property as means of increasing their long-term wealth. But I reckon real estate investment trusts (REITs) are a great alternative. And in some cases, they are currently (30 January) offering a yield greater than a typical buy-to-let (BTL). According to Eddisons, a BTL rental yield in excess of 6% is “very good”, although it says this varies by region. For example, in the north of England and parts of Scotland, it might be possible to get something closer to 8%. However, this is a gross figure. It doesn’t take into account letting fees,…