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[ad_1] Image source: Getty Images According to market data, the average return on a Stocks and Shares ISA over the past 10 years has been around 9.6%. That’s considerably higher than a standard savings account or Cash ISA. Even one of the top-performing FTSE 100 tracker funds, the iShares Core FTSE 100, has managed annualised returns of only 8% over the same period. This suggests that the average investor can beat the market when building a self-directed portfolio. The tax advantages are the cherry on top. An ISA shields dividends and capital gains from tax, with a generous £20,000 annual…

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[ad_1] Investors are often guided by the idea of discovering ‘the next big thing’, even if that means buying ‘story stocks’ without any revenue, let alone profit. But as Peter Lynch said in One Up On Wall Street, ‘Long shots almost never pay off.’ While a well funded company may sustain losses for years, it will need to generate a profit eventually, or else investors will move on and the company will wither away. In contrast to all that, many investors prefer to focus on companies like First Savings Financial Group (NASDAQ:FSFG), which has not only revenues, but also profits.…

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[ad_1] Image source: Getty Images The Burberry Group (LSE:BRBY) share price has done so well lately that it will soon be promoted from the FTSE 250 to the FTSE 100. It last featured in the premier index of UK shares in September 2024, having enjoyed a 15-year unbroken run at the top. But a move too far upmarket, a shift away from its heritage styles and a slowdown in the global luxury market damaged sales. To preserve cash, it suspended its dividend and embarked on a cost-cutting exercise. On 15 July 2024, the group appointed Joshua Schulman as its chief…

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[ad_1] Image source: Getty Images Back in the day, dividend stock GSK (LSE: GSK) felt like a no-brainer-buy for income and growth, but it’s completely lost its way. CEO Emma Walmsley froze the dividend for years and diverted the money into R&D, but we’re still waiting for the drugs pipeline to start flowing smoothly. The stock’s fallen 10% in the last year and now trades at roughly the same level as a decade ago. Adding insult to injury, its major FTSE 100 rival AstraZeneca has cruised ahead. Fallen FTSE 100 income star I bought GSK 18 months ago, thinking I was…

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[ad_1] Image source: Getty Images It does not necessarily take a lot of money to start buying shares. But it does take some thought about what moves to make, to try and do well. The end goal may seem easy: building wealth. After all, that is why most people invest. But there are many, many different ways people try to do that in the stock market – and some destroy rather than build wealth. Done the right way, though, and even a modest starting point like £280 can provide a possible foundation for future stock market success. Being smart about…

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[ad_1] Image source: Getty Images After years of being stuck in first gear, Aviva (LSE: AV.) shares are now motoring happily along. That’s brilliant news for long-term investors who’ve bagged a winning combination of share price growth and a high-and-rising dividend. The Aviva share price is up 150% over the last five years. Over the same period, shares in rival Legal & General Group edged forwards a mere 15%. So that’s 10 times the growth. The transformation’s been driven by CEO Amanda Blanc, who’s pushed through asset sales, concentrated on core businesses and worked hard to improve efficiency. Investors have…

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[ad_1] Image source: Getty Images In 2025, there continues to be plenty of UK stocks offering impressive dividend yields. And with some valuations taking a tumble, the passive income opportunities are starting to stretch into double-digit payout territory. Perhaps a perfect example of this is RWS Holdings (LSE:RWS). The language and localisation enterprise has encountered a few bumps of late, slashing its market-cap in half over the last 12 months. But despite these challenges, management has continued to maintain dividends, offering an impressive 14.1% yield. The question investors now have to ask is, can the business bounce back and continue…

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[ad_1] Image source: Getty Images Small-cap shares on the London Stock Exchange have the potential to rise faster than larger peers due to being earlier in their growth journeys. Here are two that I reckon deserve closer attention from investors. Riding the gold boom Ramsdens (LSE:RFX) is a high street pawnbroker boasting four divisions: precious metals buying, jewellery retail, foreign currency exchange, and pawnbroking loans.  The company is benefitting from two trends that I expect to continue. The first is a rising gold price, with the yellow metal hitting new highs due to a number of factors, including stubborn inflation…

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