[ad_1] Image source: Getty Images Dividend stocks seem great – as an investor, they can put cash straight in your pocket almost from day one. But this isn’t always as good as it sounds. Anyone thinking of getting started with investing needs to be aware of what the downsides are when it comes to dividend shares. And a lot of investors miss these. Passive income The obvious attraction to dividend shares is that they’re one of the few sources of genuinely passive income. Investors just buy a stock, do nothing, and wait for the cash to show up. Unilever (LSE:ULVR)…
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[ad_1] Image source: Getty Images The stock market offers people an opportunity to grow a pot of cash by making smart investment choices. If treated carefully, with proper risk management and a sensible strategy, it can be a good way to earn a respectable yield above what could be achieved elsewhere, such as in cash savings. If someone had £5k of excess funds, here’s how it could be handled. Thinking it through The current base interest rate is 3.75%. Someone might aim to achieve over double this return. Let’s say the target was an 8% yield. One way to achieve…
[ad_1] The rise of mass automobility has fueled a culture where tens of thousands of car crash deaths every year are deemed acceptable by the powerful in the interest of keeping cars moving. The killing of Renee Nicole Good, though, offers a disturbing reminder of the other side of that coin: how the powerful can selectively decide that the threat of automotive violence is an acceptable pretext for other kinds of deadly force. Last week, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Minneapolis shot and killed 37-year-old, poet, wife and mom of three children behind the wheel of her SUV. According…
[ad_1] Image source: Getty Images HSBC (LSE: HSBA) shares are smashing it. They’re up almost 50% in the last year, and 190% over five. Can they keep up this blistering pace? When I looked at the Asia-focused bank’s prospects at the start of this run, I was divided. While it had a huge opportunity in China, I feared it would get squeezed in the superpower conflict with the US. The FTSE 100 bank fixed that pretty neatly by dividing into two geographic segments, and it’s been flying ever since. I’d be kicking myself, but happily I have exposure to the…
[ad_1] Image source: Getty Images If success breeds success, then watch out for NatWest (LSE: NWG) shares in 2026. They completely smashed it last year, soaring 67% over 12 months. This isn’t a one-off. They’re up a blockbuster 260% over five years. All the FTSE 100 banks have been doing well, with Barclays and Lloyds Banking Group delivering similarly eye-popping returns. And remember, dividends are on top of these figures. Investors who reinvested every shareholder payout will have turbo-charged their overall return. So much for past performance. The big question today is can they maintain this epic charge in 2026…
[ad_1] Image source: Getty Images Aberdeen (LSE: ABDN) is not the flashiest name in the FTSE. But for income investors, it looks to have a lot going for it right now. The shares offer a chunky 7% dividend yield that analysts expect to remain unchanged until the end of 2028. And there may be capital gains too, as it looks undervalued on key measures against its peers. These positive factors are underpinned by the company’s recent run of results. They show clear progress in its ongoing restructuring plan. So, is now the time for me to add to my…
[ad_1] Image source: Getty Images Across the entirety of the FTSE 100, Legal & General (LSE:LGEN) shares stand out in 2026. Why? Because they currently offer the largest dividend yield in the index — at a staggering 8.1%. That means for every £1,000 invested, shareholders can earn £81 in passive income a year. And with the share price also up 20% over the last 12 months, there’s seemingly even more profits coming from capital gains as well! So is this a no-brainer UK stock to buy in 2026? Or could it be a hidden trap luring investors astray? Let’s find…
[ad_1] Image source: Getty Images Barclays’ (LSE: BARC) share price has more than doubled from its 7 April one-year traded low of £2.24. But this does not mean it cannot rise substantially again this year. This is because a stock’s price and value are not the same thing. Price is whatever the market will pay at any point. But value reflects the strength of the underlying business’s fundamentals. In Barclays’ case, it is trading at a huge discount to what I see as its true value, supported by a series of robust results. And this is reflected in high earnings…
[ad_1] Image source: Getty Images The last 12 months have been rough for B&M (LSE:BME) shares. Despite economic conditions creating a seemingly ideal landscape for discount retailers, B&M has struggled to capitalise on this tailwind. And consequently, the stock’s down a staggering 53% since last January! That’s obviously painful. But could 2026 be the year the company delivers a spectacular turnaround? Let’s discuss. B&M’s problems B&M’s 2025 share price implosion wasn’t caused by a single event but rather a devastating combination of adverse factors, including: Margin compression – underlying operating profitability has shrunk from 9.8% to 6.4%. Organic sales growth…
[ad_1] Image source: Getty Images The Shield Therapeutics (LSE:STX) share price has rocketed in the last 12 months, surging from around 2.63p, all the way to 11p! And now that its market-cap has surged beyond the £100m threshold, the business has evolved from a niche penny stock into a rising pharmaceutical small-cap – a difficult and impressive feat. But what caused all this? Why has the share price erupted over the past year, and should I be adding this business to my portfolio today? What’s behind the share price surge? Shield Therapeutics is a speciality commercial-stage pharma business focused on…