Image source: Getty Images After a sluggish start, stock markets have staged the sort of rally we’ve become used to each November. And, in an encouraging sign for UK shares in December, the FTSE 100‘s touched new highs this week. I’m looking for stocks to buy in my ISA for a possible end-of-year surge. More specifically, I’m hunting for undervalued shares that could have room to rise. History shows that December is the second-best month on global stock markets after the current month. So here are three top UK and US stocks on my radar. Serve Robotics Serve Robotics (NASDAQ:SERV)…
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Image source: Getty Images A fresh stock market sell-off is stoking fears of a full-blown crash. It’s not just worries over a potential AI bubble that’s got traders and investors hitting the ‘sell’ button, either. AI stocks like Nvidia, Palantir, Meta, and Alphabet have plunged, grabbing the financial headlines. But the broader market is sinking too, as expectations of a December US interest rate cut fade. Poor Chinese economic data overnight hasn’t helped matters. Could we now be on the cusp of a market meltdown? What next? There’s an enormous amount of macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainty still out there. And…
Image source: Getty Images A second income is the holy grail for many investors, and a Stocks and Shares ISA can be one of the most effective ways to work towards it. Yet despite the generous tax advantages, uptake remains far from universal. HMRC data shows more than 22m adults hold an ISA, but only 4.2m choose to invest through a Stocks and Shares ISA. Separate surveys suggest this isn’t due to lack of interest in investing — many people simply don’t understand how the Stocks and Shares ISA works, and a significant proportion (17%) have never heard of it at all.…
Image source: Getty Images. Will the State Pension still be around by the time I retire? And if it is, how large will it be? And at what age will I be able to claim it? Like many Britons, these are questions I ask myself quite often. Right now, the ‘Triple Lock’ system provides pensioners with some peace of mind. This guarantees the State Pension will rise by the highest of average wage growth, consumer price inflation (CPI) or 2.5%. Yet State Pension rules are unlikely (in my opinion) to remain as generous decades from now, as the UK creaks…
Image source: Getty Images Ever thought about making a substantial passive income with a Stocks and Shares ISA? You wouldn’t be alone. Roughly 20% of UK adults directly own shares today in products like the tax-efficient ISA. This is thanks in no little part to the London stock market’s strong dividend culture, which can provide a reliable long-term second income. Dividends are never guaranteed. So having a well-diversified portfolio to protect against individual shocks and provide a decent overall return is essential. But I’ll get onto that later. First, let’s look at how large your ISA must be to generate…
Image source: Getty Images The first thing many British investors ask when starting is: how much money can be made from FTSE shares? Of course, actual results differ wildly from one investor to the next. But using the average returns of an index tracker can help give us some idea. For example, the FTSE All-Share has grown almost 60% in the past 10 years. So an investor who put £5,000 in a FTSE All-share index tracker a decade ago would have around £8,000 today. When accounting for inflation, that would equate to less than £2,000 in profit over 10 years.…
Image source: Getty Images Just over a year ago, I bought Aston Martin (LSE: AML) shares. Given what they’ve put me through, it feels like I’ve been holding them for a lifetime. The luxury car maker is by far the worst performer in my Self-Invested Personal Pension (SIPP), crashing 50% to just 60p in the last year. I shouldn’t complain. That makes me one of the lucky ones. Investors who bought when the company floated in October 2018 at £19 are down almost 97%. FTSE 250 blowout Still, hope springs eternal. The Aston Martin share price may recover one day. Canadian…
Image source: Rolls-Royce Holdings plc Fears for a Rolls-Royce Holdings (LSE: RR.) share price reversal have been growing. We’ve seen an 8.5% fall since late September, despite a positive trading update Thursday (13 November). The shares are still up 100% in the past 12 months. And over five years we’re looking at more than 1,000%. So it might make sense to consider taking some profit and spreading the risk to other stocks. But looking at broker price targets, I don’t see a loss of appetite here. Analysts push ahead Deutsche Bank has reiterated its Buy stance with a share price…
Next week (starting 17 November) is shaping up to be a big week for stock market investors. Not only will the world’s largest company Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) report its earnings but we’ll also get some important economic announcements and earnings from some other leading companies. Here are a few things to watch out for. The health of the US consumer I’ll get to Nvidia’s earnings in a minute, but first I want to highlight the fact that US retail giant Walmart will be posting its earnings on Thursday. While most UK investors don’t have direct exposure to this stock, its…
Image source: Getty Images A SIPP is one of the most effective ways I’ve found to build a long-term passive income stream. Every contribution to a Self-Invested Personal Pension gets a lift from the government. A basic-rate taxpayer only needs to put in £80 for every £100 that ends up in their pension. A higher-rate taxpayer pays £60. On top of that, any gains or dividends compound free of tax over the years, and 25% of the pot can be taken tax-free from age 55 (rising to 57 from 2028). The rest is subject to income tax in the usual…