2+ week, 4+ day ago (671+ words) Harvey Jones is a huge fan of the Stocks and Shares ISA, saying it's a brilliant way to generate a passive income entirely free of tax. Now let's do some sums. The Stocks and Shares ISA is brilliant way to build a reliable income stream for later life. I'm using the tax-free wrapper ISA to buy a spread of FTSE 100 dividend-paying shares with the hope of turning their regular dividends into a meaningful second income when I finally stop working. The older I get, the more important my ISA feels. A weekly income of "250 works out at roughly "13,000 a year. To see how large an ISA might need to be, I start with dividend yield. That's the amount of income paid out each year as a percentage of the share price. It varies wildly from stock to stock, and nothing…...

2+ week, 1+ day ago (797+ words) Our writer isn't messing about with this growth stock, and recently harvested some gains to double down on it inside both his ISA and SIPP. Back in April, President Trump dropped his tariffs bombshell in the White House Rose Garden, sending both my Stocks and Shares ISA and Self-Invested Personal Pension (SIPP) into a tailspin. However, as he presented his chart of numbers to the world, I remember hearing Warren Buffett's immortal words inside my head: "Be fearful when others are greedy, and greedy when others are fearful." " Fair to say, Trump spread fear throughout the market, with many high-quality shares plunging 25% or more in the days following the speech. So I put Warren's words into action and bought some stocks that I thought looked ridiculously oversold " chiefly Nvidia, Shopify, and BlackRock World Mining Trust. Zoom ahead seven months, and…...

1+ week, 5+ day ago (774+ words) Paul Summers wonders if the AI bot can guide him on creating a great passive income portfolio. The outcome definitely raised a few concerns. We already seem to rely on AI for a whole host of things. But can it select a perfect portfolio of FTSE 100 stocks that dish out passive income? For a bit of fun (and no more), I decided to test this out with ChatGPT. Having entered my query, the AI bot trotted out an answer featuring seven of the UK's biggest stocks paying income. I'll say a little more about that number in a bit. The first six recommendations read like a who's who of trusted UK-listed dividend heavyweights: The final stock completing the set arguably sticks out from the rest. Rio Tinto (LSE: RIO) is one of the world's biggest diversified miners. It's also boasted…...

1+ week, 5+ day ago (797+ words) Royston Wild asked ChatGPT for the best FTSE 100 index value stocks to buy today. The AI model's answers were eye opening. The FTSE 100 has risen 17% in 2025, yet the index remains packed with bargain stocks this November. Whether based on earnings forecasts, expected dividends, or book values, London is home to many cheap quality shares. But which are the best ones to buy? I asked ChatGPT. It gave me some interesting " and some alarming " answers" I punched "What are the best cheap FTSE 100 stocks to buy?" into the AI model's search bar. It gave me a list of four value stocks: A couple of these are excellent stocks. Despite supply chain issues, BAE Systems has a great opportunity to grow earnings as defence budgets boom. I also like telecoms titan Vodafone's opportunity to grow sales as the digital revolution rolls on,…...

2+ hour, 9+ min ago (717+ words) Although aware of its limitations, our writer's used AI software to come up with a suggestion for his ISA and he already owns two of its suggestions. I recently asked ChatGPT: "Which bargain stock should I put in my ISA?" After congratulating me on asking a good question, it came up with a list of six very different UK companies. I already own two of them " BP and JD Sports Fashion. Of the other four, M&G (LSE:MNG) is the most familiar to me. Although it can trace its origins back to 1848, it only became a listed company in October 2019, having been de-merged from Prudential. Since then, it's increased its dividend every year since. And it's a pretty generous payout too. Based on amounts paid over the past 12 months, the stock's currently yielding 7.4%. This puts it in the top…...

3+ week, 1+ day ago (638+ words) The FTSE 100 is packed with top dividend shares to choose from. Here are five Royston Wild thinks could beat a selection chosen by ChatGPT. More and more investors are using artificial intelligence (AI) models for investing guidance and stock tips. I remain sceptical about these new technologies for such purposes, given their proclivity for strange reasoning and providing inaccurate information. But I thought I'd join in and ask ChatGPT to find me five FTSE 100 dividend stocks to buy. As you can see, the machine's portfolio is pretty nicely balanced across cyclical and non-cyclical industries. It's a strategy that can effectively balance risk and deliver reliable passive income over time. Accordingly, it's a tactic that I've adopted for my own theoretical portfolio. There's also a couple of FTSE 100 companies in ChatGPT's portfolio I really like myself. Despite high operational costs, I'm…...

2+ week, 3+ day ago (751+ words) The FTSE 100 index has stormed higher this year. Does this mean that returns for investors going forward could be underwhelming? The FTSE 100 index is enjoying a hot streak at present. This year, the large-cap index has gained approximately 21% (not including dividends). While this is obviously great news for those in FTSE 100 tracker funds, it's worth pointing out that this return is well above the average return from the Footsie over the last 20 calendar years. So, what does that mean for returns from here? Historical FTSE 100 data isn't that easy to find. However, I keep a spreadsheet with the total returns (gains plus dividends) for every year over the last few decades and I monitor it regularly to see how the index is performing over the long run. According to my calculations, over the last 20 calendar years (2005 to 2024) the FTSE 100 delivered…...

1+ day, 2+ hour ago (730+ words) Tesco shares have been on fire over the past couple of years. But after the rise, does this FTSE 100 stock still offer a decent dividend yield? Tesco (LSE:TSCO) hit a milestone earlier this year when its shares surpassed the price they were at prior to the 2014 accounting scandal. And while the road back has been long and winding, the FTSE 100 stock has taken a steep climb upwards in the past three years. In fact, add in dividends, and the three-year return easily exceeds 100%. After this impressive jump, the question now is: what about the dividend prospects over the next couple of years? Looking at the latest forecasts, things appear quite promising for shareholders. For the current fiscal year (FY26), the dividend is expected to rise almost 4% to 14.2p per share. This includes the interim dividend that was paid last week. But…...

2+ week, 43+ min ago (619+ words) Netflix has been one of the best growth stocks of the past two decades. This writer sees some similarities in another fast-growing tech firm. Many growth stocks have done really well in my portfolio in 2025, including Rolls-Royce, Uber, Cloudflare, Roblox, and Crowdstrike. However, the most disappointing by far has been Duolingo (NASDAQ:DUOL). Since I invested, my total paper loss is now around 50%. Ouch! Whenever a stock collapses like this, it's important to revisit the original investment thesis. If this is broken, it's better to face up to reality because the stock may keep falling and never recover. As with Duolingo today, it wasn't obvious back in 2009 that Netflix had a durable moat. Its streaming model could easily be replicated, and indeed has been since by the likes of Amazon, Apple, Disney, Paramount, and ITV. Ever more competition is a…...

4+ week, 1+ day ago (736+ words) Accelerating AWS growth is sending the Amazon share price higher. But something else about the firm's latest update is exciting Stephen Wright." Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) reported Q3 earnings last night (30 October) and the share price soared 13% in extended trading. I'm surprised, but there is a very clear reason why." AWS " the firm's cloud computing arm " is seeing an acceleration in revenue growth. And there's more for investors to be interested in on the artificial intelligence (AI) front." Before the report, I thought AWS revenue growth would be around 17%. And I expected the market to take this badly with Microsoft (40%) and Alphabet (36%) posting higher numbers. It's worth noting that AWS is around the size of the other two competitors combined. But its growth has clearly been slower than its rivals and the stock has struggled as a result. Source: Amazon Q3 2025 Earnings Release…...