Investments

Government bonds, known as gilts, are paying more than they’ve seen for years.  The benchmark 10-year gilt yield, which reflects the return investors currently demand for holding UK government debt, rose above 5.4% in early October, its highest since 2008. Why it matters now Gilt yields have climbed as the Iran war has driven oil […]

If you’re a higher earner who’s already made full use of your ISA and explored what more you can put into your pension, there are some more specialist options you may not have explored.  The Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) lets you invest directly into smaller, unquoted UK companies. In return, you can claim Income Tax […]

In late July, the FTSE 100 touched an all-time intraday high of 10,989.45, its first record since February, before easing back to close the day lower. An investing milestone like that usually lands in one of two ways. Some people feel they’ve missed out and want to put more in straight away. Others assume the […]

Imagine you could go back in time and invest before railways transformed Britain, before the internet reshaped the global economy or before smartphones became part of everyday life.  You’d almost certainly make a fortune… wouldn’t you? History suggests the answer isn’t quite so simple. Many investors assume that identifying the next breakthrough technology is the […]

When investments perform well for a while, confidence naturally starts to grow. Portfolio values rise, headlines become more optimistic and suddenly investing can begin to feel a little easier than it did during more uncertain periods. That’s completely understandable. But interestingly, some of the biggest investing mistakes often happen after markets have already performed strongly, […]

For a long time, having a lot of your investments in the US felt less like a risk and more like a reward. American tech giants kept climbing, US markets kept outperforming, and anyone who questioned it was probably just being difficult at dinner parties. But things shifted in 2025. A wave of US tariff […]

For a while, holding cash has felt like the smart, comfortable option.  Savings rates improved, markets were a bit unpredictable, and leaving money where it was didn’t feel like a bad decision. But things are starting to shift slightly.  As we move into 2026 and 2027, changes to ISAs and the wider rate environment mean […]

The start of a new year is one of the few moments when markets are relatively calm and investors still have time on their side.  In early January 2026, the FTSE 100 pushed through the 10,000 mark for the first time, closing at a record high after a strong run through 2025. That kind of […]

A major ISA shift is scheduled for April 2027, and it will matter to anyone under 65 who prefers to keep the bulk of their allowance in cash. From that date, only £12,000 of the annual £20,000 allowance can be paid into a cash ISA.  Anything beyond that will need to go into an investment-type […]