Image source: Getty Images The Autumn Budget landed yesterday (26 November), and one change immediately caught my eye: the Cash ISA allowance for under-65s has dropped from £20,000 to £12,000. I asked ChatGPT what this could mean for the stock market – and the answer was clear: with less room for cash, more investors are likely to gravitate to Stocks and Shares ISAs. Cash is king I could have worked that out for myself. But ChatGPT was right about one thing – cash ISAs dominate the UK savings market. In the last financial year, for every new Stocks and Shares…
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Image source: National Grid plc For many investors, a key attraction of National Grid (LSE: NG) is the passive income potential it offers. National Grid explicitly aims to grow its dividend in line with a key measure of inflation. That reassures many investors, as they equate it with a dividend that holds its value over the years in real terms. What might that mean in the coming decade? Growing with inflation There are a couple of things that are helpful to understand. One is that there is more than one common measure of consumer inflation. National Grid aims to grow…
Image source: Getty Images Yesterday’s (26 November) Autumn Budget has been framed as a potential turning point for the UK stock market. But will it finally close the valuation gap — or instead confirm why British shares remain discounted? Let’s take a look at how it could affect markets going forward. The valuation gap UK shares trade at a roughly one-third discount compared to the MSCI World and nearly half versus the S&P 500 (based on forward earnings). The outlook from the Budget paints a picture of modest growth and rising taxes. Real GDP growth is expected to average only…
Image source: Getty Images Over the past year, the FTSE 100 is up 17%. This is impressive and well above the long-term average. However, there are individual stocks across the pond that have generated higher returns, with some having momentum that I believe could continue into 2026. Here’s one S&P 500 stock that’s a good example of what I mean! Reasons for outperformance I’m talking about Interactive Brokers (NASDAQ:IBKR). The global investing platform provides retail and professional clients with the ability to buy and sell stocks, bonds, commodities and other assets. Over the past year, the share price is up…
Image source: Getty Images Many FTSE 250 stocks look really cheap today, offering the potential for both future share price growth and income. Here, I’ll look at two out-of-favour shares that I think long-term investors should check out in December. 4Imprint First up is 4imprint (LSE:FOUR), the London business that’s actually North America’s largest promotional goods supplier. It sells logo- or brand-embossed products like pens, mugs and shirts to businesses (primarily small- and medium-sized). After a strong multiyear rise, the share price has now fallen 40% since May 2024. This is primarily due to a weak market backdrop and cost…
Image source: Getty Images Boohoo Group (LSE: DEBS) just released the latest episode in its long-running recovery saga, and the share price spiked up 50% in early trading. First-half results released Thursday (27 November) were accompanied by news of a Group Turnaround Scheme (GTS), aimed at incentivising executives and senior management over the next five years. Should the full GTS target be reached, the maximum value of awards would reach £222m. And that would mean a 5% dilution for existing shareholders. But to get that much, the Boohoo share price would need to reach 300p. And that’s 25.9 times the…
Image source: Vodafone Group plc For many years, UK shares have lagged their US counterparts when it comes to valuation. Individual shares may have bucked the trend, but at a broad level the US market has looked more pricey. That remains the case. However, many UK shares have seen their valuations increase over recent years. Just look at the blue-chip FTSE 100 index. It has moved up by 52% over the past five years. So might there still be value to be found among UK shares in today’s market? Not trying to time the market My answer is that yes,…
Image source: Getty Images Yesterday’s (26 November) Autumn Budget delivered by Chancellor Rachel Reeves contains several important changes affecting Stocks and Shares ISA investors. While the headlines focused on Cash ISA restrictions, the Budget also included measures that make tax-efficient investing through stocks increasingly attractive. Notably, from April 2027, the annual Cash ISA allowance for those under 65 will be cut from £20,000 to £12,000. This hopefully encourages savers to allocate more of their ISA allowance into shares. The shift aims to promote increased investment in the UK stock market to help boost the economy. It’s a smart move in…
A SIPP is one of the most powerful ways to build a retirement pot. For a basic-rate taxpayer, every £800 you contribute is boosted to £1,000 thanks to 25% tax relief. Combine this with reinvested dividends and long-term market growth, and even modest contributions can snowball over time. In yesterday’s (26 November) Budget, the government confirmed that from 2029 the existing ability to save National Insurance by paying into a SIPP will be significantly scaled back. From that point, only the first £2,000 of salary sacrificed into a SIPP each year will qualify for NI relief. Anything above that threshold…
Image source: Getty Images What does the next year have in store for Lloyds (LSE: LLOY) shares? Where might the share price (currently 87p) be in a year’s time? What kind of dividend yield could we expect over the next 12 months? And where might the stock go to November 2026 and beyond? I am yet to get my hands on one of those crystal balls, therefore precise answers to these questions elude me. But we can still do the next best thing and look at the latest forecasts for the FTSE 100 bank. Dividends Let’s start with the dividends.…