▲ 19 r/investingUK
Which of these books should I start with first, as an absolute beginner to investing?
I want to be able to start investing in the next 7 months
u/AlternativeAioli9251 — 1 day ago
r/investingUK
▲ 18 r/investingUK
"Is this a good pie" etc is not Quality Content
Had a little rant about this on the T212 sub the other day and it rings true here as well.
Every day I'm seeing numerous "is this a good pie" or "rate my investment" posts from people who have stuck a grand into overlapping ETFs / iShares.
Would a megathread or a beginner investor question day be possible?
Every single one of these posts could be answered by searching through previous posts, reading up on investing or even (god forbid) asking AI.
u/MonkeyTheBlackCat — 1 day ago
My case for NADQ
Description of company
Nasdaq inc is a global Finance and Technology and exchange infrastructure company. It operates in three segments. Capital access platforms (market data, indicies, IR/governance tools), financial technology (Adenza regulatory/capital markets software, anti financial crime, market surveillance) and market services (equity, options, ETF trading plus listing services). Nasdaq aquired Adenza from Thoma Bravo for $10Billiom in November 2023, significantly expanding its software business. The company is the primary home of the worlds largest technology companies by market cap, 7 out of 10 largest IPOs in H1 listed on Nasdaq - including SpaceX, the largest IPO IN US HISTORY.
High quality financial infrastructure franchise trading at discount compared to peers with material near term catalysts and a rapidly improving balance sheet.
The numbers
47Billion in market cap. Share price at $84.66.
YoY growth in net revenues - 2022 +4%, 2023 +8.7%, 2024 +19%, 2025 +12.9%.
Consistently profitable and net incomes were all in the $1Billion range with 2025 being in the $1.79Billion range.
Debt only at 2.84x(TTM) this is down from the Q4 2023 Adenza close which was 5.72x.
Net debt payment is achievable by FY2027 as management stated and with other IPOs planning to launch before then, revenue could support that.
Nasdaq is the bridge to the global innovation economy. Its Nasdaq-100 index franchise (perpetual royalty on technology AUM), Adenza regulatory software (very high switching costs), and listing network efforts (all 10 of the largest US companies list on NASDAQ) which creates a multi layered mosh that is genuinely difficult to replicate.
H1 2026 was the strongest first half in US exchange history (over 120billion raised) and the Q2 2026 earnings report should confirm that through revenues
They are planning long term geographic diversification with growing presence in EMEA (Nordic/Baltic exchanges, Middle East Advisory), growing in APAC through data and surveillance contracts. Not to mention Nasdaq Texas being launched.
Long term CEO who also has a chair role is a bit of a concern but considering the long term plans. Any issue this raises in the markets is a buying opportunity for me. No insider trading disclosure or unusual selling patterns so that shows me stability.
Also cannot find any conflicts of interests or current litigations.
I think the biggest overall is how many more great IPO listings are going to be technology focused or Ai focus. This could slow down or change depending on what the next dominant trend is after Ai.
FCF is exceptional in consistency and quality. FCF conversion is 105% TTM - slightly above 100% reflects favourable working capital dynamics typical of subscription revenue businesses. FY2026E FCF consensus $2.57B, implying 29% growth as Adenza fully synergies flow and debt is partially repaid
Valuation classification is pretty fair. At 21.5x forward non-GAAP earnings, Nasdaq is at a modest discount compared to competitive with inferior moats. Trading near 52 week lows.
u/HereToLearnyy — 2 days ago
▲ 0 r/investingUK
Is this a good pie?
Hi all, I’m fairly new to training and wanted to test a pie out in the practice portfolio. I’d like some opinions on this custom pie and any changes I should make before i incorporate it into my actual portfolio 😄.
Thank you.
u/Erk2003 — 2 days ago
First-time investor with £5,000 – looking for advice
I’m about to invest my first £5,000 and I’m planning to do it through Trading 212. I’ve never invested before, but I’ve finally decided I’m ready to get started ASAP.
If you were in my position, how would you invest the £5k? Would you put it all into a global ETF like the S&P 500 or FTSE All-World, or split it between different funds/stocks?
I’m investing for the long term and I’m not looking to trade daily. Just wanted to hear what more experienced investors would recommend before I hit the buy button.
Any advice or things you wish you’d known before making your first investment would be really appreciated!
u/Acrobatic_Garage453 — 3 days ago
If you could restart at 23, what would you do differently to become financially free?
If you were 23 again today, what would you do step by step to build wealth and reach financial independence while still enjoying life?
What would you focus on first
What would you avoid completely
And what would you not waste time on at all
I’d really appreciate hearing from people who’ve been through it and learned along the way
u/Poundthirsty — 3 days ago
▲ 12 r/investingUK
47yo. 20 year (retirement) plan
This is in addition to a workplace pension. Currently adding £200 per month, but increasing to £500 per month in December. Any thoughts greatly appreciated 🙏
u/Wrong-Willow9070 — 3 days ago
ISA Vs. General investments
Hi all.
I'm not sure you can give me advice but I am after "suggestions"
I don't really have a clue with investments but I have a stocks and shares ISA with moneybox and a general investments account with chip
Moneybox S&S ISA I put in about 5k and currently sitting on £8.5k. interest rate hovering about 70%. Most of it is in AI. I rode through a few years of minus interest and changed to ethical investments (AI??) but it perked up.
Chip general investments I put in about £400 and sitting at £700. All in space tech.
I know these are supposed to be long term investments.
I'm hearing chat about AI bubble bursting and I know the gvmt is planning on taking 22% of ISA interest.
I wonder whether I'm better off moving ISA to general investments.
If anyone is kind enough to chip in I basically have the financial understanding of a 3 year old?!
Thanks!
u/Poundthirsty — 3 days ago
Diageo grew revenue 6.7% a year for a decade and its holders still lost money
A share price is revenue times net margin times the P/E multiple, divided by the share count. Ten years of price change can be split exactly into those four components with dividends on top as a fifth.
I did this for twelve well-known UK names, mid-2016 to mid-2026. Contributions below are annualised percentage points per year (continuously compounded, which is what makes them sum exactly; each figure is rounded to 0.1, so a row's pieces can differ from its printed total by 0.1), with dates anchored to the data window ending 2 July 2026.
Some of what the decomposition shows that the totals hide:
Games Workshop's £58 was mostly the business. Revenue contributed +17pp a year and margins +10pp. The multiple moving from 11.6x to 31.3x earnings added another +10pp, but even with no re-rating at all £1 was becoming roughly £21 (about £15 of that from the business alone, the rest dividends).
BAT's share price fell over the decade and holders still made 5.7% a year. On price alone, £1 became 94p. The whole return was the dividend (+6.2pp a year) outrunning a multiple that halved from 25x to 12x.
Diageo grew revenue 6.7% a year for ten years and holders still lost money. Margins gave back 5.9pp a year and the multiple another 5.3pp. Revenue growth on its own tells you very little about the return.
Reckitt puts a price on a de-rating. The move from 31x to under 10x earnings cost holders roughly 12pp a year, against a business that was contributing +6pp a year from revenue and margins combined.
Tesco shows what a turnaround looks like in this framework. Its 2016 earnings were depressed by the accounting scandal, so the P/E then was around 120x. Margins rebuilt at +23pp a year while that crisis multiple normalised at −20pp a year. Two enormous forces nearly cancelling, netting +15% a year.
Next compounded with barely any help from the business. Revenue and margins contributed +2.9pp a year; buybacks (+2.1), re-rating (+4.5) and dividends (+4.1) did the rest.
u/selfsideUK — 3 days ago
▲ 0 r/investingUK
Would you still hold?
I was thinking about this today.
Imagine opening your portfolio and seeing you're down over 50%... about £215k in unrealized losses.
Everyone says they're a long-term investor when the market is going up.
But when you're staring at a six-figure loss, I wonder how many people would actually stick to the plan.
Would you keep holding?
Would you buy more?
Or would you finally admit you got it wrong and sell?
I'm honestly curious where people draw the line. Has anyone here actually been through something similar?
u/Jolly-Concern2677 — 3 days ago
▲ 7 r/investingUK
Stocks ISA
Hello everyone,
I opened my first Stocks & Shares ISA today (go me), and I’m slowly educating myself to become more financially literate.
I’m 24 and have been fortunate enough to save a decent amount of money. Rather than letting it sit in a savings account, I’d like to start investing and build wealth for the long term.
I was hoping to get some guidance on which ETFs would be most suitable for someone in my position.
After debating between the S&P 500 and the FTSE 100, and doing a bit more research, I think I’m most comfortable investing in a global all-world fund.
However, I also see a lot of people recommending allocations to gold, Nasdaq, clean energy, emerging markets, and developed markets. It’s quite easy to feel overwhelmed by all the different options, so I’d really appreciate any advice or recommendations.
My plan is to invest around £200 per month, and I’m also likely to invest an initial lump sum of £1,000–£2,000 fairly soon.
Does this sound like a sensible approach? Are there any ETFs or strategies you’d recommend for someone just starting out?
The Disney stock was free haha so do ignore that.
Thanks in advance!
u/Pinapple12 — 4 days ago
VHYG vs VWRP
For context, I am a 24 year old with 9.5k in the VAUG - Vanguard S&P500 (ACC), and £2.6k in the VHYG - Vanguard FTSE All-World High Dividend Yield (Acc), and I am looking to diversify as I have been warned that I am essentially double-exposing my pie with the S&P overlap.
Not wanting to waste my £20k ISA allowance on moving around my current investments, I am going to leave my current investments as they are, but, going forward, I want to invest in either the aforementioned VHYG, or the VWRP - the Vanguard FTSE All-World (Acc). I cannot see much difference between the two in terms of historic growth or stagnation, composite stocks, and both are non-dividend paying holdings / Acc’s.
My current plan is to simply put money away for about 10-15 years before going in on a house with my partner. To this end, which is better! - VHYG or VWRP.
Thank you 🙏
u/Baxter110701 — 4 days ago
Is SMGB (VanEck) and SEMI (iShares MSCI Global...) the same market?
I'm consolidating some of my pies as within them they are basically the same. The reason for this post is that SMGB and SEMI seem to rise and fall at the same time even though SMGB is a single share and SEMI is made up of different shares put together. At the time of posting this SMGB is at £85.530 and SEMI is at £16.162. Their charts are identical, even though the prices aren't, hmm.
u/HumptyHumpDance — 4 days ago
1 year into my workplace pension... and I'm honestly surprised how fast it grew
I just hit the one-year mark with my workplace pension, and today I checked the balance for the first time in a while.
It's sitting at £4,312, which honestly surprised me. I know that's not life-changing money, but seeing it grow month after month without me constantly thinking about it has been pretty motivating.
For context, this isn't my main investment portfolio. I also invest separately in index funds and individual stocks, so I treat my pension as the "don't touch it for decades" account while my personal portfolio is where I'm more hands-on.
A year ago, retirement felt so far away that I barely cared about my pension. Now, seeing the compounding start to work (even at this early stage) has completely changed how I look at it.
I'm curious how other people approach this.
u/Jolly-Concern2677 — 4 days ago
Many UK large-caps are returning 8–10% of their value a year once buybacks are considered
Standard yield screens show the dividend but not buybacks, so they understate the total cash returned for any company retiring a meaningful amount of stock.
This adds a buyback yield — the average annual reduction in share count over five years — to the trailing dividend yield, for London-listed companies above £2bn. The sum is the total cash returned to shareholders as a percentage of market value. Only companies with a steady, continuing reduction are included.
The leaders run from about 7% to 10%. NatWest and Shell top the list at 9.9% and 9.8%, each pairing a dividend above 3.5% with a buyback yield above 5%, and Imperial Brands reaches 9.1% on the largest dividend in the group at 5.8%. Smiths Group, Associated British Foods and Auto Trader trail the rest at 4.5–5.9%.
Standard Chartered is the clearest case for why the dividend alone understates the picture. It yields 1.6%, below the level most dividend screens would flag, but a reduction in share count of about a quarter over five years lifts the total close to 8%. Shell and Standard Chartered retired the most stock over the period, both around 27%.
A buyback only adds value per share if the stock is bought at a sensible price and the business is not shrinking faster than the share count. Barclays and Kingfisher trade below book value, where buybacks are more clearly accretive; others are returning cash while revenue is flat or falling, a weaker case.
How do you weigh a buyback against a dividend?
u/Poundthirsty — 5 days ago