Phil has over 25 years experience of investing. He started out as an investment analyst for asset managers and City stockbrokers before becoming a writer. He has worked for MoneyWeek and Investors’ Chronicle and was the CFA UK Financial Journalist of the year in 2020. He worked for ShareScope between 2014 and 2018 and helped to develop many of the investment tools in SharePad. He has written a number of educational investment articles for ShareScope and is also the author of the book How to Pick Quality Shares.
I am passionate about investor education and try and make what might seem complicated subjects easier to understand. Investing is not just about picking winners but also avoiding losers and learning from your mistakes. My aim is to make investing as simple as possible by focusing on what matters and avoiding what doesn’t.
Phil looks at the state of the US stock market following the presidential election and the reasons why it might continue to boom and why it might not. Even if you don’t invest in US shares, what happens on Wall Street has a big say in how UK shares will perform. A high-flying US stock
After rival house builder Bellway decided not to buy Crest Nicholson, Phil asks whether the shares have been treated too harshly by the market or if investors should stay clear of them. Source: Crest Nicholson It’s been a rough few years for house-building companies. COVID-19 badly disrupted their businesses while government subsidies and low borrowing
Phil takes a look at the subject of factor investing and whether quality factor exchange-traded funds (ETFs) can deliver better returns than those that track the stock market. Factor investing 101 To some extent, most investing is based around factors. Factors are used to deliver sources of return from portfolios and to explain the performance
Phil asks whether the latest profit warning from Aston Martin is the final straw for investors or whether a turnaround in its fortunes is still possible. Since its flotation five years ago, shares in Aston Martin Lagonda have been a disastrous investment. They have lost more than 90% of their value since then. Last year
Many investors like to buy shares that are popular or those of companies that are doing well. Phil takes a look at why sometimes buying shares that professional investors are betting against can generate big gains. Finding unpopular shares Most investors make money by buying shares that eventually go up in price. However, it is
The conventional wisdom that stocks deliver the best returns for investors is generally true, but only if you can ignore the wild ups and downs that come with them and stay invested. Phil looks at whether a popular and lower-risk approach to investing is worth considering at the moment. Shares deliver the best returns if
Phil looks at the recent bid interest in Hargreaves Lansdown and suggests that more bids for unloved companies could be on the way. From loved to laggard Many investors like to own shares in companies that are doing well and where the share price is heading upwards. This is perfectly understandable as this situation provides
Banks have been one of the best-performing sectors in the UK market so far in 2024. Phil undertakes a very simple SharePad analysis of the sector to see if the good run can continue. Banks sustain their outperformance The long-term performance of UK bank shares has not been good. Many owe their survival to taxpayer-funded
Phil takes a look at some of the issues investors should consider when owning a share that has performed very well. He does this by taking a look at Rolls-Royce shares. It’s always nice to own a share that performs very well. However, there will come a time when investors will ask themselves whether they
Companies have three main choices when it comes to financing their business. They can use money from shareholders or equity, use the profits and free cash flows produced by the business, or they can borrow money from lenders. Debt on its own is not a bad thing. If a company takes the money it has
Phil uses SharePad to shed some light on the very popular Fundsmith Equity fund. Fundsmith has great long-term performance but recent performance is more modest. Fundsmith is one of the most popular managed funds out there and gets plenty of column inches due to its high-profile manager Terry Smith. Since starting out at the back
Phil puts the embattled Reckitt Benckiser under the SharePad spotlight. Last Friday saw a sharp fall in the share price of Reckitt Benckiser – one of the world’s leading household and consumer goods companies. A judge in the US awarded damages of $60m after ruling that Reckitt’s infant formula products may have contributed to the