Over the long haul, small-caps have historically outperformed large caps, fuelling the research highlighting the so-called 'small-cap effect' ? the idea that smaller companies offer higher risk-adjusted returns than larger ones. Unfortunately, the higher interest rate environment of recent years has proved tough for the stock market's small fry, who've spent more than a decade lagging more sizeabl

The Global Smaller Companies Trust (GSCT) 166pMarket cap: £794.4 millionDespite the recent stock market dominance of mega-cap US tech companies, high-quality smaller caps have a longer term record of outperforming. With greater inherent growth potential than their large cap brethren, small caps tend to fare well in a falling interest rate environment and with borrowing costs on the way down in t

There's no doubt the shock departure of a star fund manager or well-followed stock picker is a red flag, but there are various reasons why successful portfolio managers choose to leave their investment management firm and therefore their funds.And, as with most aspects of investing, there are no hard and fast rules about what investors should do when their fund manager ups sticks. Much depends on

US-listed large-caps shone last year with shares in mega-caps, and the ?Magnificent Seven? in particular, surging higher. However, this outperformance only widened the valuation gap between US large and small-caps and left shares in the latter cohort languishing at the low end of historical valuations.Over one and five years, the Russell 2000 index of US small-cap stocks is up 14.6% and 30.5% at t

Saving for the future is not always front of mind for most people which is understandable given the cost-of-living crisis and the need to balance household budgets.This is a shame because the sooner an investor can get started the better their chances are of building a decent nest egg. In this article we show how you can go from a starting point of investing £200 per month, building up your contr

During volatile market conditions and high inflation, investors are looking for ways to protect their income. Investment trusts have an income advantage which is particularly important for seekers of rising payouts.This is because they are able to hold back up to 15% of the income they receive from their investments in their revenue reserves. They can use these reserves to boost dividends during l