Image source: Getty Images We all know the importance of saving and investing for later life. But once you’ve built your nest egg — possibly through a combination of growth and dividend shares — what’s the best way to put this to work to generate a solid retirement income? There’s no right and wrong answer to this. Some people like the security of a guaranteed income that annuity products provide. Other people like to draw down a set percentage of their portfolio each year. My preferred option, which I plan to use myself when I retire, is to invest my…
Author: user
Image source: Getty Images The Greggs (LSE: GRG) share price has gone cold. Until recently, investors couldn’t get enough of it, but now they appear to have lost their appetite. Shares in the FTSE 250 bakery chain have plunged almost 50% in a year, a dramatic reversal after a sizzling run. And I’ll say it, I’m not surprised. The stock was generating so much heat that I began to wonder how long the cult of Greggs could last. Britons stopped sneering at it’s cut-price steak bakes and sausage rolls some years ago, and embraced Greggs as a national treasure instead. The vegan sausage roll…
Planting trees should reduce the amount of CO₂ in the atmosphere right? Well, its not so easy as that. Trees also provide shade and prevent sunlight from reaching the ground that could reflect it back into space, cooling the plant, known as the albedo effect. That means sometimes it makes more sense to cut the trees down and expose the more reflective ground than allow a forest to grow up, according to a study published in Nature, Bloomberg reports. Tree-planting schemes have been widely promoted as low-cost, nature-based solutions to global warming. The new research suggests that the climate benefits of forests need…
Google Pay has joined with L&T Finance to offer personal loan products to eligible users, the NBFC announced on Thursday.This partnership to give personal loans is in line with L&T Finance’s product diversification strategy and makes loans more accessible for customers in a swift, seamless, and digital manner, L&T Finance said in a statement.The synergy is set to not only increase convenience but also play a significant role in advancing digital financial inclusion across India, empowering consumers to fulfil their financial aspirations with responsible credit, it said.Personal loanA personal loan is unsecured borrowing, which is typically given based on the borrower’s creditworthiness.…
Image source: Getty Images When it comes to dividends not all FTSE 100 shares are the same. For example, Polar Capital Technology Trust doesn’t pay one. Instead, it prefers to use the surplus cash that it generates to buy shares in other companies in the hope of achieving capital growth. Another, Alliance Witan (coincidentally, also an investment trust), has a long history of increasing its payments to shareholders. Earlier this year, it announced its 58th consecutive annual rise. But an impressive track record like this doesn’t necessarily mean its dividend is generous. In fact, based on amounts paid over the…
Image source: Getty Images Looking for a way to build up some long-term passive income? See what you think of this three-step path to getting started. Step 1: Choose stocks and shares Investing in the stock market won’t be for everyone — it depends on individual circumstances. But I see compelling reasons why we should at least consider it. Analysts forecast a total dividend payout of £80.4bn from the FTSE 100 this year. That’s the rough equivalent of £1,160 for everyone in the United Kingdom. And it all goes into the pockets of the minority who own dividend shares. FTSE…
Image source: Getty Images Plenty of experts have been warning that the S&P 500 is ready to crash. Valuations are stretched. Some fear artificial intelligence (AI) hype has stoked a bubble. Others fear tariffs could stoke inflation. On Friday morning (22 August), all eyes were on US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s Jackson Hole speech. If Powell was bearish about interest rate cut prospects, the US crash might come. He wasn’t. It didn’t. The S&P 500 jumped 1.52% instead. Volatile share prices I’ve got a lot of exposure to the S&P 500. When I set up my Self-Invested Personal Pension,…
Image source: The Motley Fool I’m always interested in the Berkshire Hathaway 13F filing. While it’s often hard to tell which buys and sells are made by Warren Buffett and which are by other managers, there’s often a lot to learn. The most recent update is a good illustration of this. The name investors are focusing on is US health insurer UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH), but I think there’s a consistent theme across the board. UnitedHealth The challenges UnitedHealth has been facing recently are well-documented. The firm’s earnings per share have been both in decline and short of analyst expectations for…
Image source: Getty Images The Technology sector has had a strong run this year on the back of the artificial intelligence (AI) growth story. However, not all tech stocks have participated in the rally. Earlier this week, I took a closer look at a sector and found that many well-known stocks in it are currently trading 25% or more below their highs. Here are three beaten-up tech shares to consider buying today. Rolling out AI agents One tech name that I believe looks really interesting at current levels (I’ve been buying) is Salesforce (NYSE: CRM). It’s currently trading about 33%…
Image source: Getty Images Most investors know a Stocks and Shares ISA protects against capital gains tax (CGT) and dividend tax. But many underestimate how powerful this protection becomes over decades. For me, the real magic of an ISA is not just in saving tax today but in the way it accelerates long-term compounding. Tax-free reinvested dividends Outside the shelter of an ISA, dividends above the £500 allowance attract tax at 8.75% for basic-rate payers and a hefty 39.35% for those in the highest band. That might not sound like much but over decades it adds up. Inside an ISA,…