Investing

New investment trust factsheets giving potential return figures in favourable and adverse markets have provoked criticism. There has been pushback from providers and financial experts who believe recent buoyant markets have skewed the potential performance figures and could end up misleading people. We take a look at what the investment trust 'key information documents' or KIDS provide to investors, and why they are under attack - notably from leading fund house Baillie Gifford.

The group has just signed a major licensing deal with Sea-lion, one of the leading manufacturers in China. Xeros shares are 69p and should rise as the company completes more such deals in commercial and domestic markets around the world. Xeros was spun out of Leeds University in 2006 and has spent much of the past 12 years working on its pioneering technology and trying to turn a great idea into a profitable business. Now, chief executive Mark Nichols finally seems to be making meaningful progress. The technology revolves around so-called XOrbs, small round polymer beads that last for a thousand cycles and mechanically remove dirt, stains and stray dyes.

Goals Soccer Centres took a heavy kicking this week after warning that it still hasn't recovered from the impact of the 'Beast from the East' earlier in the year. Like many UK businesses, the five-a-side football pitches operator was hit hard by the extreme weather conditions and told the market as much in its full-year results in March. Despite the weather picking up not long after, Goals is still feeling a 'substantial knock-on effect' with many 11-a-side leagues finishing later than usual as they make up for lost time

Choosing the right DIY platform is crucial but a wealth of choice and changes to charges have left many investors scratching their heads. We pick some of the best. We also highlight why investing in an Isa makes sense, as it should protect your hopefully growing investments from tax forever.

Something fund managers and people with their own money to invest should consider now is, are the robots becoming better stock pickers than humans, just as they are better chess players? Another question worth asking is whether the robots will be assistants to humans - or replacements?

The business has hired keen anglers as staff in the hope that customers will pop in for advice and leave with a few products. For Angling Direct, faith in the High Street seems to be paying off. It increased in-store and online sales last year, opened three new stores and its share price has risen from 67p when it floated last July to 96p now.

We've taken a look at the exchange traded funds picked by those with hefty portfolios who want to keep costs low, easily access a basket of assets, or simply doubt a fund manager can beat the market. Our analysis looks at the most popular ETFs for those lucky enough to hold at least £1million with Hargreaves Lansdown, Interactive Investor and AJ Bell Youinvest.

The online tool will allow users to search by firm, individual, location and other criteria, and operate alongside the existing register of authorised financial providers. The initiative was announced the day after the Financial Conduct Authority was rapped for a failure to update the register that led to someone being scammed out of nearly £45,000.

The Standard Life UK Smaller Companies Trust is one of those high performing investment products that, for one reason or another, appears to have fallen out favour. The trust recently ranked 13th on the 20 most consistent top performing trusts compiled by the Association of Investment Companies - having beat the average in eight years out of ten years.

The big technology firms such as Google, Microsoft and Facebook have been gobbling up rivals at a relentless pace over recent years and they are likely to continue on this path. Tapping into this could provide you with an investment win.

AIM stocks once struck fear into many mainstream investors, believing the market was full of small mining companies whose volatility wasn't worth the ensuing sleepless nights. Alternative Investment Market shares are still not for the faint hearted, but they can provide diversification and potentially enhance portfolio performance, says Rebecca O'Keeffe.

A wise course of action can be to buy and hold a consistent performer, something that can deliver solid, market-beating returns in as many years as possible. Spotting these consistent performers can be notoriously difficult without the benefit of hindsight - and it will always involve a good dollop of luck. So what does research in 20 consistent trusts tell us?

The US economy is strong at the moment, and seems set to keep strengthening. This means the Fed will likely have to keep raising rates a fair clip to keep inflation in check, and therefore the dollar will keep rising. As the dollar goes up relative to the domestic currency, their debts therefore effectively grow and become more expensive to service.

With share prices riding high where should investors look? Tom Becket, chief investment officer of Psigma Investment Management, explains why he believes investors need to divide their thinking into short and long-term opportunities - and gives us three examples of where he believes those may lie.

Trump's administration last night imposed new trade tariffs on steel and aluminium imports into the US on the EU, Canada and Mexico. Yet China is really at the heart of his anger at an 'unfair' market. Here we explain all the key issues and implications at stake.Canada, Mexico and the EU together exported around £17billion worth of steel and aluminium to the US in 2017, equating to nearly half of the total steel and aluminium imports last year.

Savers between the ages of 18 and 39 can put up to £4,000 a year in a Lifetime Isa and gain a 25 per cent government top-up paid monthly into their account. But they must decide whether to save or invest that cash - and experts warn that investing for periods of less that five years can be overly risky and unwise.

New research probing the investment choices of people with £1million-plus pension pots found they favour quality actively-managed funds and blue-chip stocks. They are more likely than less well-off investors to hold individual shares, but they still prefer large and well-established UK businesses.

In this series we are looking at the issues surrounding investing for income and how it can be used to increase the money you have to spend or grow your wealth. In this part James Norton, of Vanguard, looks at different sources of income you may have, the distinction between investment income that helps to build your savings, and the income you receive in retirement.

Banks have been forced to pay tens of billions in fines for scandals including payment protection insurance, Libor-rigging and money laundering, leaving the dividend pot rather shallow. But experts are talking up the biggest High Street lenders as an increasingly good investment for those who need their savings to work hard for them.

Investing for income can be about harnessing the power of dividends to boost your investment returns, or using the stock market and bonds to increase the money you have to spend. In our new series on investing for income, James Norton, senior investment planner at Vanguard, will explain what you need to know, the investments to look for and the pitfalls to avoid.

There are now 21 investment trusts investing in equities that have a dividend yield of 4 per cent - up from 13 six months ago according to new research. The highest yielding trust is European Assets at 6.3 per cent, the study by investment research firm Stifel found. We reveal the full list and take a look at some of the trusts on there.

Funds invested in small UK-based companies were the best at navigating falling stock markets in the first three months of the year according to research by the multi-manager team at BMO Global Asset Management. The Smaller Companies sector has also been the most consistent for returns over a longer time-frame the BMO team found, with 6.4 per cent of its funds producing top quartile returns for investors in three consecutive years.

Senior investment planner for Vanguard James Norton explains that more is sometimes less when it comes to investments as too much choice can lead to bad decisions. He believes that when investing, a wide range of options is typically assumed to be a good thing, but the bewildering choice on offer can leave some investors feeling simply overwhelmed.

Strange as it may sound, Nick Train has won admiration from investors - and even fellow fund managers  - for doing very little. His strategy of buying and holding great companies has paid off handsomely for Britain's savers who invested in the Finsbury Growth & Income trust or Lindsell Train UK equity funds that he managers. We take a look at how he invests.

Stock market investment can seem scary and complicated, particularly if you have only ever used ordinary savings accounts at banks and building societies. But if you're saving for more than five years, for example for retirement, you'll be missing out on huge returns by keeping your money in cash.

For years, investing in technology firms seemed like a no-brainer. The share prices of Silicon Valley giants surged higher and higher as technology burrowed deeper into our lives. But investor sentiment has shifted in the wake of the Facebook data-leak scandal this week. It is thought governments and regulators will clamp down on how social-media sites use the extremely profitable data that their users provide. And advertisers are now threatening to spend their cash elsewhere, which would deal a double blow to tech firms.

A whole host of online investment firms have cropped up in recent years, offering to help you pick and manage a portfolio, meet your financial goals and make money - all for a 'modest' fee. They are known as robo-advisers, but what do these services offer and how can they help you? We take a look.

I have about £250,000 from life savings and the proceeds of a house sale in my bank account. What should I do with it? The first thing to ask yourself is what you want the money for. If you don't need it for a while, consider the stock market - that's where you'll get the most growth.

Investment trusts, like bank branches, are a little old school. Many have been around since the late 19th Century, are steeped in history and have names that once meant something to someone but now appear a little archaic and ridiculous. Am I being a little Cruella De Vil? No. Think Mid Wynd International. Think Foreign & Colonial (the oldest at 150 years). Brunner, Law Debenture, Scottish Mortgage, Temple Bar and Witan. Que?

Our national obsession with squirreling savings away in cash deposits rather than choosing potentially higher-earning investments costs households more than £30 billion in lost returns. But investing doesn't mean that you have to take a huge gamble with your savings pot, we explain how to get started and make your money work harder.

Just before Christmas in 2007, Warren Buffett made a ten-year bet - that a dumb tracker fund would beat the world's smartest fund managers. In the end, the index fund thrashed the hedge funds and this week in his annual shareholder letter, Buffett offered us his thoughts on what he learnt from it - and revealed the twist in the tale.

I wish to start a pension for my grandson and pay in £200 a month. What do I need to consider? If he is employed and earns more than £10,000, he should be enrolled in his company's pension scheme. From April 6, a minimum of 5 per cent of his salary will be paid into his pension.

A £1,000 pot is not a large amount of money in investing terms but you can still invest to make some money if you know where to look and think long-term. We take a look at how someone with £1,000 to invest can get started, depending on much effort they want to put in.

When it comes to buying and selling cryptocurrencies, it is the Wild West out there. This is Money guides you through wallets, exchanges and CFDs. We also reveal how one reader made a big profit buying and selling ripple - but it involved sending his passport and bank details to Slovenia...

Peer to peer lending and crowdfunding offer investors a way to lend to businesses and consumers for a high interest rate return. But although some can now be held in an Innovative Finance Isa, these investments come without the protection of the FSCS. Stewart Cazier, of alternative lending platform Thincats, explains what investors need to know.

Investing for a low inflation world has paid off handsomely in recent years, as defensive shares with a reliable dividend have seen their prices rise substantially. But is it time for a different course of action? Better opportunities lie elsewhere believes Schroders' James Sym.

Lars Kroijer has become a leading proponent of passive investing - and as a hedge fund manager is a man you might consider to know what he is talking about. We ask Lars to explain his thinking and how investors can build a simple passive investing portfolio that lets them sleep at night.

Investing is one of those things that most people know they should do and far fewer actually get around to until much later in life. But saving small and often is without doubt the easiest and safest way to grow your money over your lifetime and, ideally, build a nest egg to fund your retirement in the future.

Britain's biggest banks axed or scaled back investment services following a clean-up of the financial industry that banned cosy backdoor commission deals four years ago. But now most banks are bringing back investment options for customers under the new regime. We round up what the top players are offering and what it costs.

While many people dislike the idea of an annuity, the alternative means keeping your pension invested in retirement and managing it yourself - a process that can be confusing and full of pitfalls. So here's a checklist, from investing, to income, taxes, the state pension, inheritance, illness, financial advice and much else.

Investment fund names are often a baffling mixture of impressive but vague words, which mean little to people who aren't already clued up on financial jargon. People hoping to boost their savings by buying a fund or trust face a steep learning curve, unless they're lucky enough to have a friend in the know or are willing to fork out fees to a financial adviser. We offer a short cut, and explain what all the fancy terms really mean.

If you are new to investing then the huge number of funds and investment trusts on offer can be confusing. Fortunately, This is Money's experts have some ideas to get you started.