Lots of parents and grandparents default to cash when saving for their children or grandchildren, but most have a very long time until they will give the money to the children, meaning investing can be a great option. If we look at someone saving £1,000 a year from birth of the child until the age of 18, they'd hand them almost £8,000 more if they invested the money and earned 5% return a year a

On 23 July, India announced its first budget under a new coalition government led by Narendra Modi, who became prime minister for the third time albeit with a reduced majority of 293 MPs for his BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party).In the Indian general election held between 19 April to 1 June, 642 million people voted out of a total population of 1.4 billion.WHAT WERE THE KEY POINTS?India's finance minis

Back in the summer of 2021, we suggested the Chinese government?s clampdown on technology companies and its deeper involvement in the private sector ? which it accused of having been ?hijacked by capital? ? risked causing an exodus of foreign investment. We also put forward a list of Asia-Pacific investment companies with low exposure to China, so investors could reduce their risk but still keep t

Most of us will be aware of the need to plan for our retirement, however far or otherwise we might have got with doing so. After all, when we stop working we all still want to enjoy a decent quality of life. In this article we will explore how much money you will need and the level of pension pot required to achieve it as well as providing some investment ideas for people at the start of the proce

Equity income trusts in demandCity of London most boughtScottish Mortgage, Finsbury Growth & Income divide opinionWith conflict in the Middle East and Ukraine creating uncertainty, and investors grappling with cost-of-living pressures as falling inflation is expected to be a drawn-out process, dependable income trusts have proved popular on the AJ Bell platform over the past month.At the same time

A big question facing growth-oriented investors is whether the popular investment style can regain its mojo and get back to winning ways in a world of high interest rates.Despite a strong recent rally which has seen the technology heavy Nasdaq Composite rise 14% over the last six months, growth stocks have struggled relative to value over the last three years.The arrival of Pfizer?s (PFE:NYSE) Cov

It can be hard to look past day-to-day cares and worries and give proper thought to achieving a financially comfortable retirement. However, if you want to enjoy a decent quality of life after you bring your career to a close then you must devote more attention to your pension.Investment trusts, held within a SIPP (self-invested personal pension), can be a useful vehicle to help you achieve your g

According to a new study by US bank Goldman Sachs, hedge funds currently have the lowest weighting to the US stock market in a decade and the highest weighting to European stocks instead.Considering hedge funds are supposed be a lot smarter than the average investor - which is why they typically charge their clients a 2% management fee and a 20% performance fee - that trade hasn't worked very well

Suman works as a junior doctor at an NHS hospital in Liverpool. He came to the UK in 2015 but started his investment journey in 2010 while he was living in India and where he invested in Indian equities.'I started investing for myself primarily, and the reason I started was to try and get significant returns. I didn't initially have a long-term strategy in place, all I thought is I can put some mo

China's abrupt Covid U-turn has created the best opportunity in years for Asia and emerging market equities to outperform developed markets on a sustainable basis. It is likely to be one of the select few major economies where growth could accelerate in 2023 as China, where equity market valuations remain undemanding, enjoys a reopening recovery like much of the rest of the world witnessed in 2022

Optimism that the UK economy may not be as weak as once feared has lifted numerous UK stocks so far in 2023. Yet many investment trusts continue to trade at wide discounts to their net asset values - both relating to UK stocks and overseas ones. It means their share prices are worth less than the value of the investments in their portfolios.According to Winterflood data, the average investment tru

Experience counts in the asset management industry and in a phenomenal achievement, Peter Spiller (pictured) recently celebrated his 40th anniversary at the helm of wealth preservation specialist Capital Gearing Trust (CGT).The mind boggles when you consider that during his four decades as manager, Spiller has seen seven UK prime ministers elected, countless international conflicts rage and inflat

Shares in HDFC (Housing Development Finance Corporation) India's largest housing finance firm and HDFC Bank, India's largest private sector bank both soared overnight following the announcement of their merger.Both finished up around 9% higher having earlier made double-digit gains.The deal brings both scale and scope to the new combined entity, which looks set to become India's third largest fina

THIS IS AN ADVERTISING FEATUREFind out how the JPMorgan Emerging Markets Investment Trust achieves benchmark-beating growth from a sustainable portfolio.Thriving, and surviving?In recent years, awareness of ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) issues has gathered momentum, both in the corporate - and wider - world. While escalating climate change concerns drove the environmental part of the

In 2021, as we move into the recovery phase of the coronavirus crisis, emerging markets are rebounding sharply. In this article we explore why you should consider investing in this space and the case for looking at some of the less well-explored options alongside the dominant Chinese market.2020 proved a very up and down year for emerging markets (EM), which plunged to record lows in March amid th

From a human standpoint, 2020 has proved a shocker of a year, with the unforeseen pandemic wreaking havoc on health and the associated lockdowns precipitating a global economic downturn that may take years to battle back from.Yet paradoxically, 2020 has been anything but negative from a markets perspective, with equity indices roiled by the onset of the crisis then recovering strongly with a boost

Investors who prefer to entrust capital allocation decisions to a professional money manager as opposed to buying individual stocks are exceptionally well served by the FTSE 350. Within its ranks, you'll find a highly-diverse batch of investment trusts spanning all the key asset classes.Shares' number-crunching reveals a grand total of 57 investment trusts within the FTSE 350 - that is with some v

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

When it comes to choosing an investment fund there are a number of things to take into account: fees, track record and the assets and regions it invests in, to name just a few. But also worth bearing in mind is the investment style that a manager uses.Investment style determines which assets are most likely to make it into a fund's portfolio and influences when it is likely to outperform and to un

Were you lucky enough to own some or all of the elite group of funds which made money for investors in 2018? Only 22% of active fund managers across all types of funds delivered a return above zero this year, while a mere 36% of investment trusts delivered a positive return, according to analysis by AJ Bell.While life has clearly been tough, certain investment trusts stand out from the crowd thank