To date, a small, exclusive club of UK retailers have exceeded £1 billion in annual profits, a high street elite that includes Tesco (TSCO), Marks & Spencer (MKS) and Kingfisher (KGF). Some may view this £1 billion figure as merely symbolic, but breaching this barrier is no mean feat and demonstrates a retailer has a lasting place in consumers' affections and the scale to win in a competitive ma

A central bank interest rate cutting cycle is well underway, the Federal Reserve having slashed US rates by 50 basis points and further cuts expected from the Bank of England following August's 25 basis point reduction. Falling rates mean lower rates on cash and bonds, so this seems like a sensible time for investors searching for long-term income and capital growth to review their portfolios.Help

On 1 August the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee made a 5-4 decision to kickstart its rate-cutting cycle. A 25 basis point reduction in the base rate to 5% marking The Old Lady of Threadneedle Street's first cut since March 2020.This means cash savings rates are heading in one direction, down. And the lower-than-expected jump in UK inflation reported on 14 August only boosted market exp

Interest rates are expected to stay higher for longer to combat the sticky inflation which remains a threat to investors? hard-earned wealth and purchasing power. During periods of high inflation, it is crucial to invest in companies that possess pricing power, because these firms can pass on increased costs to customers, enabling them to maintain profit margins and generate the robust cash flows

Number of high yielding trusts up since February35 equities-focused trusts offer 4% yield or moreBut Stifel says watch out for automatic cutsWhilst UK inflation cooled more than expected last month, June's 7.9% reading remains far higher than the Bank of England's 2% target and prices are still going up, which means investors still need to protect portfolios from the 'cruellest tax' with dividends

Gordon retired in his late 50s after a successful career in media planning including a period working for The Sunday Times. He is a big fan of investing and calls his SIPP (self-invested personal pension) 'my family's future'.Dividing his time between a rented flat in Mexico City and a house in the UK, Gordon's investment journey stems from his interest in the general management of companies, thei

A good deal of the excitement surrounding e-commerce play The Hut Group, aka THG (THG), is linked to its Ingenuity logistics and technology platform.This is an end-to-end solution offered to third parties in the same way Ocado's (OCDO) online groceries platform is sold to global supermarkets.But hiding within established retailer Next (NXT) is a little-known platform business of its own which coul

According to the Government's latest 'roadmap', non-essential stores in England can reopen from 12 April. This includes clothes shops, book shops, department stores (remember those?), mobile phone shops, betting shops, car dealerships and shops such as florists and hairdressers.Face masks and social distancing will still be necessary, but for a good proportion of the population the chance to get o

There are many options for an investor wanting to put their money to work right around the world.Even if you've narrowed it down and decided to go for an investment trust instead of an open-ended active fund or a passive exchange-traded fund (ETF), choosing the trust for you can still seem a daunting task, particularly when there are 15 of them in the Association of Investment Companies' (AIC) glo

Investment trust 'Dividend Heroes' are those which have increased their dividends every year for at least 20 years in a row.Published by the Association of Investment Companies (AIC), this list reveals those closed-ended funds with the most formidable dividend growth records, although it doesn't tell you the level of growth and what it would be in real terms when adjusted for inflation.This is imp

Planning for paying for a care home isn't a fun prospect, but with annual costs running to tens of thousands of pounds, it is smart to be prepared.Here's our guide to care fees and how to invest to pay for them.WHEN DO YOU HAVE TO PAY?Anyone with savings or assets worth more than £23,250 will likely have to pay towards their care costs. Your property will be counted in this calculation if you're

As investors fret over global trade wars, slowing economic growth, and inverted yield curves, which in the past have signalled recession, it's worth looking at which investment products might be useful as 'ports in a storm' if and when markets decide that the path of least resistance is down.In theory, absolute return funds should protect your capital better than traditional funds or investment tr

UK facing investment trusts are using gearing to take advantage of what many managers perceive as a swathe of Brexit bargains among UK listed stocks.'Our belief is that there continues to be good, medium term value in UK equities, especially if interest rates stay low and sterling remains at these low levels,' said William Meadon and Callum Abbot, joint managers of the JPMorgan Claverhouse (JCH) i

Investment trust dividend heroes are classified as funds that have increased their dividends every year for at least 20 years in a row. While this list, published by the Association of Investment Companies (AIC), will help you spot products with a dividend growth track record, it doesn't tell you the level of growth and what it would be in 'real terms' when adjusting for inflation.If growth in div

You may find it odd to celebrate the start of the new tax year as 6 April often brings rising taxes and falling benefits. However, the one thing in investors' favour is that the ISA allowance clock is reset. It means you can invest up to £20,000 over the coming tax year and not pay any tax or capital gains on investments inside the wrapper.The start of the new tax is often one of the busiest time

Investors of a certain vintage will recall the stock-market adage, 'Sell in May and go away, don't come back until St Leger Day'.The saying is based on the belief that returns during the summer months are negative so you should 'time' the market by selling out completely at the beginning of May and reinvesting in September in time for the horse racing meeting on St Leger Day.Once upon a time there

Peter from Bromley has been investing in the stock market since the 1980s when he bought shares in British Gas. Now aged 71, the former solicitor is retired and living off a pension and various other investment accounts.With his children grown up and living elsewhere, Peter and his wife downsized some years ago and used some of the proceeds from selling a bigger house to top up their retirement sa

At 4.8%, the average dividend yield on UK stocks is back at levels not seen since the global financial crisis, according to Link Asset Services. However, if you're investing for the long-term, a sound approach is to focus on companies with the capacity to keep on growing their dividend year-after-year rather than obsessing over the initial yield.By reinvesting this flow of dividends back into the

Recent activity at Brunner Investment Trust (BUT) helps shine a light on the expensive debt carried by some investment trusts and how refinancing these borrowings could be a catalyst for trusts to trade on higher valuations and pay out more in dividends to their shareholders.Unlike traditional funds, investment trusts can borrow money to invest. This is known as gearing and in a rising market it c

With the new tax year in full swing, now is the perfect time to start using your £20,000 annual ISA allowance. We've got 10 investment trust ideas in this article which should appeal to a wide range of investors.You can add up to £20,000 in new cash across the range of ISAs each year and avoid paying tax on capital gains and dividend income generated by investments in the ISA.If you're raring to