That’s highly attractive — so long as you’re comfortable leaving the cash untouched until later life.

SIPP vs Stocks and Shares ISA

To repeat, both SIPPs and Stocks and Shares ISAs let your investments grow without paying capital gains tax or dividend tax, but the big difference is how tax works going in and coming out.

With a SIPP, you get tax relief on contributions at your income tax rate. A basic‑rate payer only needs to put in £80 for £100 to be invested. In exchange, the money’s locked up until at least age 55. Withdrawals in retirement beyond the usual 25% tax‑free lump sum are taxed as income.

An ISA is the opposite: no tax relief on the way in, but withdrawals are completely tax‑free and you can access the money whenever you like.

Please note that tax treatment depends on the individual circumstances of each client and may be subject to change in future. The content in this article is provided for information purposes only. It is not intended to be, neither does it constitute, any form of tax advice. Readers are responsible for carrying out their own due diligence and for obtaining professional advice before making any investment decisions.

Why now could be a good moment

Soon, a new tax year will begin, meaning a fresh SIPP allowance. At the same time, the FTSE 100 has recently pulled back by around 10% from record highs. The dip means quality companies are trading cheaper than they were just a few weeks ago. For a retirement investor with a 20-30-year time horizon, short‑term dips shouldn’t be feared.

Historically, markets have tended to recover from setbacks and go on to make new highs over long periods, even if the path’s bumpy.

One stock on my radar

Many FTSE 100 names such as Airtel Africa and Glencore have already enjoyed strong growth and now trade on high earnings multiples. In Gencore’s case, over 230 times earnings. They may still do well, but near‑term growth could be limited.

Informa (LSE: INF) looks a bit different. The group runs events, data services and academic publishing, and in 2024 it delivered record revenue of about £3.6bn. Adjusted earnings per share have kept growing, but 2025 statutory earnings fell sharply due to heavy non‑cash amortisation and other charges. Subsequently, its trailing price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio looks extreme, in the high hundreds.

On the road to recovery?

Looking ahead, consensus forecasts for Informa point to recovering earnings, leaving the shares on a far more down‑to‑earth forward multiple around 12.5.

Some investors worry that artificial intelligence (AI) could disrupt parts of Informa’s data and academic businesses. Others see AI as a tool to make its events and information products more valuable.

Analysts at Morgan Stanley and JP Morgan both rate the stock Overweight, with targets comfortably above today’s share price around 740p. Wider consensus 12‑month targets eye prices in the 900p-1,000p area — a potential 40%-43% gain.

But forecasts are never set in stone and the risks are evident. Event spending can drop in a recession, academic budgets are under pressure, and any disappointment on AI or earnings could keep the shares volatile.

A balanced SIPP portfolio

For UK investors thinking about a SIPP, Informa’s worth considering. But it should sit alongside steadier dividend payers and defensive stocks.

A mix of income, growth and defensive stocks are a popular way to limit risk. Dividends provide ongoing cash flow, while growth shares aim to lift the value of the pot over time.

The post Considering a SIPP? Today’s market could provide an excellent opportunity to start appeared first on The Motley Fool UK.

As a result, investors have stopped worrying about artificial intelligence (AI). But what should investors do right now?

Risks

The Bank of America‘s fund manager survey from February revealed investors saw AI as the largest ‘tail risk’. How quickly things can change.

Source: Hedgefund Tips

The data for March shows that geopolitics is the biggest concern for 37% of fund managers surveyed. And that makes sense. 

There’s plenty for investors to be concerned about right now. At a basic level, higher oil prices increase costs for a lot of businesses. That, however, isn’t the full extent of the issue. There are concerns that existing tensions elsewhere could also escalate. 

One example is Taiwan. With the US focused on the Middle East, there are some who think China might make a move for Taiwan. I don’t know how likely that is, but it’s hard to rule out entirely. And that means things could get even worse from this point.

What to do?

I was fortunate enough to interview former UK fund manager Charlie Huggins last week. And he told me what he’s doing right now.

In short: nothing. Market volatility makes it feel as though investors have to be buying or selling, but this is often a mistake. In general, I agree. But more specifically, I think that making a move just because of what’s going on at the moment is risky. 

I don’t think there’s much point in trying to figure out how the conflict will play out. It might be over in weeks or extend for years. Put another way, the situation doesn’t feel like the new normal. And that makes it different to AI, which does look like it’s here to stay.

I’m therefore not buying or selling anything based on a specific view about the current conflict. But I do also see an opportunity…

An opportunity

Shares in FTSE 100 events company Informa (LSE:INF) are down 10% in the last month. But that’s not because of oil prices.

It’s because the company has been targeting the Middle East as a growth opportunity. And it’s already had to reschedule events in the region. That incurs costs, which obviously isn’t good for the firm. But the bigger issue is that it makes it hard to IPO its joint venture with Dubai World Trade Centre.

None of that is good. Importantly though, Informa’s key assets are the events in its portfolio and these should retain their long-term value.  Events were hugely disrupted by the pandemic, but the company bounced back strongly and I think there’s a lesson here.

The disruption’s real, but I believe it’s also temporary. And that’s why I’m looking to take advantage of the drop and add to my investment.

What happened to doing nothing?

Is that a way of doing nothing? Not exactly – but I think it’s in the spirit of what Huggins told me. I haven’t started buying Informa shares just because of the conflict. I’ve owned it for a while and been looking for opportunities.

In other words, I’m sticking with my long-term strategy. Whichever way things develop, I’m pleased to be buying Informa shares at today’s prices.

The post This could be the start of a stock market crash. Here’s what I’m doing… appeared first on The Motley Fool UK.

The stock looked reasonably attractive to me even more today’s move. But a big drop means it’s jumped the queue to the top of my ‘to-buy’ list for this month.

Iran disruption

Military strikes in Iran from the US and Israel have jolted the stock market this morning and share prices are going in different directions. And Informa is one of the casualties. 

One of the biggest reasons for this is oil, with Iran one of the largest global producers. But Informa isn’t a major consumer and that’s not why the stock’s falling.

The FTSE 100 firm is in the trade show business. And while it doesn’t have operations in Iran, it has been focusing on growth in the Middle East – specifically in Dubai and Riyadh. 

Political unrest in the region can therefore be a major source of disruption. As a result, the stock’s falling due to the heightened instability. 

Joint venture

As of this year, Informa has a huge joint venture with the Dubai World Trade Centre. This combines some of each company’s strongest assets into a powerhouse of a business.

The plan is to launch this onto the stock market in the second half of the year. But political instability in the Middle East could make that very bad timing.

To say this is important for the FTSE 100 company is an understatement (the CEO even relocated to Dubai last year to oversee the operation). 

In response however, Informa has announced plans to advance its £200m share buyback. And with the stock falling, I think it could be a good time to consider a similar move.

Quality

From an investment perspective, I think Informa’s one of the FTSE 100’s most attractive companies. Its trade shows are industry-leading events that are a crucial part of the calendar for a number of businesses.

The economics of these are also very attractive for the firm. They don’t have the maintenance costs associated with owning venues, making them highly cash-generative.

A 10% decline in a day means Informa’s market value is now below £10bn. And I think that’s fundamentally cheap for a business that made £700m in free cash last year. 

Investors should expect ups and downs. But the company has a lot of unique strengths that are likely to prove hard to disrupt over the long term and that makes it attractive for investors. 

Opportunity

There’s a lot to think about in the Middle East at the moment, for reasons that go far beyond investing. But the stock market – naturally – has its eyes on the implications for businesses.

I’ve been looking for an opportunity to add to my investment in Informa for some time. And I think the share price falling in response to the latest disruption might be it.

Instability could affect the firm’s immediate plans. But the stock looks extremely good value to me, so it’s just jumped to the top of my ‘to-buy’ list for this month.

The post 1 of my top FTSE 100 stocks just fell back into value territory. I’m buying appeared first on The Motley Fool UK.

Right now, the worry is that the firm’s academic publishing division might be disrupted by artificial intelligence (AI). I’m an academic though, and I think the chances of this are close to zero.

What’s the problem?

One of Informa’s divisions is Taylor & Francis which publishes academic books and journals. Traditionally, this is where researchers go to find the latest developments in various disciplines.

This is a hugely profitable operation with low capital requirements. Research is commissioned by funding bodies, undertaken by researchers, published in journals, and then paid for by universities.

Taylor & Francis is also a big part of Informa’s overall business. It makes up around 20% of revenues and a bigger slice of operating profits, so it would be a big problem if anything happened to it.

The threat is that specialised AI research tools might disrupt this. If researchers can get a good enough impression of the latest developments from AI, will they still need journal subscriptions?

How big’s the problem?

I got my PhD just over 10 years ago and I’ve worked in academia since then. And from my perspective, there’s both a short answer to that question and a longer one. 

The short answer is ‘yes’ and the longer one is ‘yes they will’. I don’t see a plausible situation where academics and institutions settle for anything less than first-hand access to the latest research. 

In my discipline, students and researchers working on Plato’s Republic just have to read the original book. Reading a handbook or commentary on it isn’t a substitute – it needs to be the original.

That’s not because the secondary literature isn’t great – a lot of it is – it’s because the only way to get a proper understanding of the book is by reading it. And the same is true elsewhere in academia.

AI summaries

The issue is that summaries or overviews inevitably involve making decisions about which bits of the text are more important than others. Even an approach that purports to be neutral does this.

That’s not a criticism – it doesn’t come from any lack of diligence or judgement. It’s unavoidable and that’s the case whether the summary is put together by a human or by an AI agent. 

In other words, the reason academics still look for first-hand research isn’t because there aren’t good summaries around. There are, but they’re not an adequate replacement and they never can be.

That means Informa’s publishing division is extremely difficult to disrupt. From my perspective, a world where universities stop subscribing to journals and academic publications isn’t realistic.

So… buy?

Informa’s shares are 16% off their highs and the driving force seems to be concern about AI. But in academia, there’s no substitute for first-hand research and I don’t see that changing.

The bigger risk – in my view – is the prospect of customers going out of business. Almost all UK universities are under financial pressure and a lot of them are in danger of closing altogether. 

That’s something to keep an eye on. But while the stock market’s worrying about AI replacing journals, I think savvy investors might consider adding the stock to their buy lists.

The post I’m an academic: I say AI won’t kill this FTSE 100 stock appeared first on The Motley Fool UK.

Rolls-Royce has been one of the index’s top performers since the end of the pandemic. And I think I can see a stock that might have similar potential going forward.

Informa

One stock I have high expectations for is Informa (LSE:INF). The stock has been steady over the last 10 years, but the underlying business has been through a really interesting transition.

After a series of acquisitions, the company has grown into a global leader in the trade show and conference industry. And this is a business with extremely attractive unit economics. 

Informa’s key assets are intangible – they’re things like trademarks, brands, and intellectual property. The important thing here is that they don’t need repairs, upgrades, or maintenance.

That means the company’s capital requirements are relatively low. As a result, it can use the majority of the cash it generates to support growth, pay dividends, or fund share buybacks.

A company in transition

Informa’s revenues have tripled over the last 10 years, but its earnings per share are largely unchanged. That’s not a positive sign, but there’s more to this than meets the eye. 

The main reason for this is the fact that the company’s share count is much higher than it was a decade ago. Issuing shares to fund acquisitions is one cause of this, but there’s a bigger reason.

The Covid-19 pandemic caused severe disruption to Informa’s business. And while it’s (hopefully) unlikely to be repeated, the prospect of a global recession remains an ongoing risk for the firm.

Demand, however, has recovered sharply. As a result, the company is now bigger and stronger than it was 10 years ago and it’s started bringing its share count back down through buybacks.

The next Rolls-Royce?

Rolls-Royce has been the FTSE 100’s top-performing stock since the end of the pandemic. But I think that a lot of what has driven the company’s success also applies to Informa.

A strong recovery in travel demand led to higher cash flows. This allowed Rolls-Royce to bring down its debt and lower its share count, which caused profits to rise even further. 

Informa looks to me like it’s in a similar position. Trade shows have recovered strongly and this could be the engine that drives some outstanding returns for investors over the next few years.

The two companies aren’t identical – and Tufan Erginbigiç has been a big part of Rolls-Royce’s success. But I think the stock market might be overlooking some important similarities.

Outlook

Informa has spent the last decade making moves to turn itself into a powerhouse in the trade show industry. But it isn’t yet showing up in the company’s earnings per share.

It won’t happen overnight, but I expect this to change in the next 10 years. And if it does, the share price could move a lot higher over the next 10 years.

That’s why I own the stock in my portfolio and why it’s on the list of shares I’m keeping an eye on at the moment. It’s not the most famous FTSE 100 name, but that doesn’t bother me at all.

The post Meet the stock that I think could be the FTSE 100’s next Rolls-Royce appeared first on The Motley Fool UK.

According to Warren Buffett, the best stocks are ones that pay out more to investors over time. Finding these can be the difference between doing well and earning huge passive income.

Buffett’s secret sauce

Coca-Cola and American Express have been two of Berkshire Hathaway’s best income investments. And in the 2023 shareholder letter, Buffett outlined why this has been the case.

According to Buffett, the reason is that the companies have been able to grow their earnings over time. As a result, they now pay bigger dividends than they used to. 

Even with companies that don’t grow, investors can reinvest the dividends they receive to compound their returns. And this can be a powerful strategy over the long term. 

The best investments, though, are ones that return more cash each year without someone buying more shares. That’s what has happened with Coca-Cola and American Express.

With Coca-Cola, the company has gone from returning $75m to Berkshire in 1994 to $204m in 2025. And that’s without Buffett’s team buying any more shares.

The business has continued to grow while Berkshire has been able to invest the cash in other opportunities. That’s why it’s been such a good passive income investment.

What about now?

Are there any companies like Coca-Cola that investors can buy today? I think there might be – and there might even be some on the UK stock market. 

Informa (LSE:INF) is one example. The FTSE 100 company might not be a household name, but there’s a lot to like about it as a business that can generate passive income for investors.

The company is in the events business. Specifically, it organises trade shows and conferences for various different industries, from concrete products to luxury yachts. 

Importantly, the firm has relatively low capital requirements. It doesn’t own the venues its events are held in and this means it doesn’t have the associated maintenance expenses. 

This kind of business can be vulnerable to economic downturns. And that means the potential for increasing tensions or even a full-blown international trade war is a significant risk.

Informa, however, has shown itself to be a resilient business. It’s been growing strongly since the end of the Covid-19 pandemic and I think there could well be more to come. 

Capital efficiency

Companies with low capital requirements often make for good investments. But this is especially important for dividend investors looking for passive income.

Reinvesting dividends is one way of growing a portfolio. The best companies, though, return more cash to shareholders without needing additional cash from investors.

One example is Informa, which has relatively little in the way of equipment to maintain. That’s why I own it in my portfolio and plan to keep adding to it in the future.

The post Forget high yields? Here’s the smart way to build passive income with dividend shares appeared first on The Motley Fool UK.

Outside a handful of explosive tech names, there’s not much growth coming from US stocks right now. And the UK has more in the way of exciting opportunities than you might think. 

Growth stocks

Outside the collection of stocks known as the Magnificent Seven, earnings growth has been pretty weak recently. Analysts at JP Morgan are expecting growth to fall to around 3% in Q4.

Source: JP Morgan Guide to the Markets Q4 2025

That means anyone looking to buy an S&P 500 tracker fund had better hope the 10 largest names can keep growing. They’re holding the entire show together by themselves right now.

A small number of companies doing all the work in terms of growth means valuations have become stretched in relative terms. And that gives investors looking at US stocks a dilemma.

Source: JP Morgan Guide to the Markets Q4 2025

The choice is between paying very high multiples for a few growth names, or looking at a large sea of businesses that aren’t growing much. Neither option is particularly attractive. 

B2B events

Investors looking at UK equities arguably have a much easier time of things. Take Informa (LSE:INF) – the owner of major trade shows globally – as an example. 

The company’s revenues have grown at 18.5% a year for the last five years. Now, that does include a Covid-19 recovery, but the average annual growth rate since 2015 is still 12%. 

Investors should note that some of this has been driven by acquisitions, which are naturally one-off. And Informa has done some deals at high multiples recently, which creates risk.

The firm’s asset-light model, however, gives it some very attractive economic properties. So at a (forward) price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 15, I think it’s well worth considering. 

B2C products

Games Workshop (LSE:GAW) is another FTSE 100 firm that generates outstanding returns on invested capital. And it’s grown revenues at an average of 17% a year over the last decade.

The big question is whether or not it can continue. The growth rate over the last 10 years has been very uneven and this illustrates the risk of a recession for the company. 

It’s worth noting, though, that its products aren’t exactly big-ticket items compared to things like holidays or home improvements. And I think this makes the firm unusually resilient.

The stock also has a 3.5% dividend yield, which is unusual for something growing at that rate. As a result, I think investors looking to build wealth over time should consider buying it.

Building wealth

Outside a few outstanding names that trade at relatively high multiples, the S&P 500 and the FTSE 100 look fairly similar to me. And I think both have growth stocks worth considering. 

In the UK, Informa and Games Workshop are two that investors looking to build wealth should check out. In my view, they’re among the best stocks to consider buying right now.

The post Looking to build long-term wealth? Consider buying these FTSE 100 shares appeared first on The Motley Fool UK.

The Triple Lock isn’t up to me directly. But I’m looking to act now to try and reduce the effect any changes might have on my retirement when the time comes.

Triple Lock

The full State Pension right now is £11,973 a year. And the Triple Lock means it increases each year by whichever’s highest out of inflation, average wage increases, or 2.5%. That’s a pretty nice deal, but it’s expensive. There’s disagreement about why and what to do about it, but I’m sensing a growing acceptance that it’s becoming hard to sustain.

If I’m right, thinking about other sources of income in retirement has never been more important. And the stock market’s top of my list.

There’s nothing quite like a government guarantee. But in the best cases, the income generated by owning shares in businesses can even outperform the Triple Lock.

Pension maths

Right now, I think an investor needs a portfolio worth around £299,325 to earn £11,973 a year. That’s based on a 4% average dividend yield, which looks realistic in today’s market.

Projecting ahead 30 years to when I retire, I think the State Pension could reach £29,061 a year (if the Triple Lock stays in place). That’s based on a 3% annual increase. 

Assuming a 4% dividend yield, someone looking to retire at the same time as me will need a portfolio worth £726,525 to have a realistic shot at this. And that might be achieveable.

Starting from scratch, someone who invests £1,000 a month needs a 4.5% average annual return to reach £726,525 within 30 years. And that’s well below the 6.8% FTSE 100 has produced over the long term.

A stock to consider

In terms of specific names, Informa‘s (LSE:INF) stock I like a lot. The firm’s a leader in the trade show industry and high intangible assets mean these events have very attractive unit economics.

With one important exception, the firm’s increased its dividend at a rate above the Triple Lock each year for the last 10 years. In other words, it’s been a growing income stream for investors.

The exception is Covid-19. Remote working proved challenging for live events and this kind of disruption (though hopefully not this specifically again) is a risk for Informa’s trade show business.

Every business however, goes through difficult times and the firm’s rebounded strongly. In a lot of ways, this highlights the company’s resilience, which is crucial for a long-term investment.

Independence

Ultimately, I – and others like me – have a choice when it comes to retirement. We can either hope for the best with the State Pension, or we can think about trying to build our own income streams.

Relying on the State Pension looks risky to me. It’s expensive and decisions about it aren’t in my hands, which is why I’m looking at shares in companies like Informa..

The business made £800m a year in free cash last year with a market value of less than £12bn. It’s firmly on my radar at the moment, but it’s not the only one.

The post Worried about the State Pension? Here’s what I’m doing about it appeared first on The Motley Fool UK.

At the same time though, dividend yields in general are low compared to where they’ve been recently. So investors need a smart strategy for navigating the stock market.

Regular investing

One approach that could work well is regular investing. This involves taking a fixed sum and investing it gradually over a period of time.

As an example, an investor with £20,000 in excess savings could consider putting that into the stock market over a period of two years. That would involve investing £833 a month.

The big advantage of this approach is it helps smooth out fluctuations in the stock market. It almost guarantees buying when prices are low, as well as not overcommitting when they’re high.

As long as things work out well for equities in general, investors who take this approach stand to do well. And the result of doing this consistent over the long term can be quite spectacular. 

For example, a 6% average annual return turns £20,000 invested over two years into something returning £6,392 a year after 30 years. And I don’t think that kind of result is unreasonable. 

A 6% annual return is less than half of what the FTSE 100 has achieved over the last five years. So even if forward returns don’t match this level, I think stocks are still the place to be.

Where to invest?

The obvious next question is which stocks can generate a 6% annual return for investors over the next 30 years. There are no guarantees, but I think Informa (LSE:INF) is a good candidate. 

The company currently has an enterprise value of £13.5bn and it generated £811m in free cash. That means the firm is in a position to offer investors a 6% return – if it chooses to.

Adjusting for stock-based compensation costs, this figure comes down to 5.75%. But I think the company has some strong growth prospects and will be difficult to disrupt over the next 30 years.

The strength of Informa’s intellectual property is difficult to argue with. Its trade shows are the leading events in their industries and are indispensable for businesses looking to stay relevant.

A lot of Informa’s growth has been driven by buying other companies. And this is inherently risky – especially with the firm paying 20 times EBITDA in its recent acquisition of Ascential. 

The firm’s strategy, however, has turned it into a market leader in an industry with very attractive economic properties. And I think the long-term outlook for the business is very positive. 

Getting started

Another advantage of regular investing is that it helps with building a diversified portfolio. It lets investors buy shares in different businesses in various industries when prices become attractive.

Right now though, Informa looks like a good place to consider getting started. I don’t think the current valuation reflects the firm’s current strengths or long-term prospects.

Over the long term, a 6% return looks like a realistic prospect to me. And investors could use that gain to generate more passive income than they could by collecting interest on cash savings.

The post £20,000 in savings? Here’s a strategy for trying to turn that into £6,392 a year in passive income appeared first on The Motley Fool UK.

Underlying sales grew 7.8%, operating income increased by 9.2% and management increased its guidance for the full year. As a result, the stock is up 5% this morning (23 July). 

Results

In the context of a company that had been aiming for 5% underlying revenue growth, 7.8% is an impressive first half. But across its various divisions, the picture is a bit more uneven.

Live events revenues — Informa’s largest business line — grew 8.5%. Meanwhile, its publishing unit achieved 11.9%, but sales in its digital division fell 4.3%.

In terms of operating income, the story is even more impressive. Informa had been targeting adjusted earnings per share growth in excess of 10% over the full year and the update revealed a 25% increase.

Overall, I think the report is extremely strong. And this is reflected in the stock market’s positive reaction.

Growth

Informa’s revenues have roughly tripled over the last 10 years, which is impressive. But it’s important to note that a lot of this has been the result of acquiring other companies.

As well as boosting sales, these have had the effect of strengthening the firm’s portfolio of events and adding some key names to the group. But there are inherent risks with this approach.

One example is Ascential, which Informa acquired for £1.2bn. Larger acquisitions generally bring greater risks, so this is something investors will need to keep an eye on both now and in future.

Importantly though, the firm’s underlying revenue metrics exclude the effect of acquisitions. So this shouldn’t detract from a generally strong set of sales results in the latest update.

Valuation

A price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 37 makes Informa shares look relatively expensive. But I don’t think this is the right way to value the FTSE 100 stock.

The firm’s brand portfolio is its key asset. A consequence of building this through acquisitions is that its income statement has a lot of amortisation as the cost of these is expensed over time.

This means earnings per share are subject to a significant number of non-cash charges. Adjusting for this, the stock trades at a much more reasonable multiple of around 18. 

On that basis, I don’t think the stock is particularly expensive at all. And the stock rising on the basis of today’s results doesn’t really change my view on that.

What I’m doing

Informa is a relatively recent addition to my Stocks and Shares ISA. But from an investment perspective, I can see a lot to like about the company and I don’t think it always gets the attention it deserves. 

Its events are unique, important, and have some very attractive economic properties. Over the long term, these are the factors that I think are going to matter the most. 

The fact the firm is also growing at a decent rate is a welcome bonus. So even with the share price moving higher, I’m looking to keep buying the stock.

The post As Informa shares climb on strong growth, here’s what I’m doing appeared first on The Motley Fool UK.