Image source: Getty Images The FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 have risen sharply in 2025, reducing the yields offered by income stocks. Yet the UK market’s strong dividend culture still makes it a great place to shop for passive income shares. Take the following high-yield dividend stocks: Stock/investment trustDividend yield for 2026Legal & General9.2%Greencoat UK Wind10.9%Primary Health Properties7.6%Rio Tinto5.9%Chelverton UK Dividend Trust (LSE:SDV)9.8% The average dividend yield among these dividend shares is a whopping 8.7% for 2026. It means that a £20,000 investment — say in a Stocks and Shares ISA — invested equally among them would provide a £1,740…
Author: user
Markets move up and down — that’s a fact. Emotional reactions to those movements, however, are optional. But even the most analytical, financially literate clients are not immune to anxiety, fear, or regret. When emotions take hold, investors tend to lose perspective. They start zeroing in on recent losses, alarming headlines, or isolated data points rather than the big-picture goal or why they started initially investing. To appease clients, financial advisors often respond with more information like additional charts, statistics, and explanations. Yet when a client is emotionally activated, more detail fuels the fire, further pushing the client toward the…
Image source: Getty Images The FTSE 100 has slipped around 1% over the last month. This is a disappointing result, given that November is historically a strong month for stock markets. On the plus side, the FTSE’s mild drop means the index remains packed with excellent bargains today. The low prices of many quality stocks may in fact spur a possible buying spree in December, also a traditionally robust month for equities. Take the following UK blue-chip shares: Babcock International (LSE:BAB), Associated British Foods (LSE:ABF), and Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust (LSE:SMT). Each has seen its share price slump over the…
Image source: Getty Images 2025 has been a spectacular year for the Lloyds Banking Group (LSE:LLOY) share price. So spectacular, in fact, that I think it’s in danger of crashing back down to earth. At 87.4p per share, Lloyds shares are up 59% since 1 January. It’s a stunning rise that I feel fails to reflect the enormous challenges facing UK banks in the short term and beyond. But what could cause the FTSE 100 bank to correct sharply? Here are three threats I think could rock the lender in 2026. 1. Falling interest rates The Bank of England (BoE)…
Image source: Getty Images Is the year 2025 the ground floor to a Stocks and Shares ISA golden age? One reason to think so is the impact of artificial intelligence on the economy and world as a whole. One recent report predicted yearly economic GDP growth of up to 5.4%. That’s more than double some of the strongest years last century. Developed countries grow at less than 1% a year these days. The rapid adoption of this technology could lead to challenges, especially regarding fewer jobs being needed. But it may lead to stock market returns higher than we have…
Image source: Getty Images How high can a FTSE 250 dividend yield go? At a time when the index overall yields 3.5%, the answer may surprise. Multiple FTSE 250 shares currently have percentage yields in double digits, including solar funds like Bluefield Solar Income Fund and Foresight Solar Fund, as well as a range of other shares such as Ashmore Group and Renewables Infrastructure Group. One share comes very close to a double-digit yield: Victrex (LSE: VCT). The polymers specialist currently yields 9.9%. Just a few years ago, though, Victrex’s yield was far lower – and it has not grown…
Image source: Getty Images Chancellor Rachel Reeves will deliver the Autumn Budget tomorrow (26 November), and the mood among consumers and businesses can only be described as pessimistic. Last year, Reeves raised taxes the most in more than 30 years, hoping to fill a budget “black hole“. Businesses got clobbered. Unfortunately, there’s now another black hole that needs filling. And though we don’t know for certain, it sounds like the wealthy will have to cough up. Meanwhile, Reeves is reportedly going to announce that the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has downgraded its forecast for UK growth for every year…
Image source: Getty Images Tesco (LSE:TSCO) shares have delivered a far stronger return over the past year than many investors expected. A £20,000 investment 12 months ago would now be worth about £25,600. So, what’s behind this outperformance and can it continue? The share price growth has broadly been driven by strong trading, steadier inflation, and a share buyback programme that has tightened the company’s capital structure. The company has also looked disciplined, confident, and operationally sharp. A big part of the story has been margins. Cost inflation has eased, but Tesco has continued to innovate and push efficiency, from…
Image source: Getty Images I’ve spent years building a solid second income stream from a spread of UK dividend stocks, but today I tried to do the same job in seconds. I did this by asking ChatGPT to help me design a portfolio of FTSE 100 stocks that would pay me a passive income £2,000 a month, or £24,000 a year. For guidance, I suggested choosing half a dozen shares that produced an average yield of 5% a year (higher than the average blue-chip yield of 3.25%). To do that would require £480,000. It’s a big sum, but a realistic…
Image source: Getty Images Everyone wishes they had a passive income stream that just rolls in. To earn £628 a week — about £32,650 a year — at a 5% yield, an investor would need roughly £653,000 inside a Stocks and Shares ISA. The advantage is that every penny of that income is tax-free. No dividend tax, no capital gains, no paperwork — just clean, sheltered returns. Hitting the number is purely arithmetic, but sheltering it in an ISA is what makes the income usable. Inside the wrapper, those dividends can flow straight into an investor’s pocket without HMRC taking…