tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-68072526226114297842026-04-06T13:31:27.412+01:00Steve's blog about <b>RMPrepUSB, Easy2Boot and USB booting</b> and sometimes other stuff too!<br> Visit <a href="http://www.rmprepusb.com"><b>www.rmprepusb.com</b></a> for over 140 Tutorials on USB booting or <b><a href="http://www.easy2boot.xyz">www.easy2boot.xyz</a></b> for a unique USB multiboot solution.<p> Don't forget to Subscribe! <a href="https://payhip.com/SteveSi"> PDF eBooks here</a></p>Steve Sihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11883669340879311678noreply@blogger.comBlogger1718125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6807252622611429784.post-82003300461458488982026-04-06T12:06:00.009+01:002026-04-06T12:20:39.588+01:00

The main change for this new tax year (2026/2027) is that the Dividend Tax Rate is increasing by 2%. This means that if you have a Stocks and Shares General Investment account (GIA), then whether you have accumulating or distributing ETFs, you will still need to declare taxable income on ETFs and funds which have a non-zero ERI. The dividend tax is now 10.75% for Basic Rate taxpayers (or 35.75%

Steve Sihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11883669340879311678noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6807252622611429784.post-77518503286953955932026-04-04T12:42:00.036+01:002026-04-06T13:31:27.406+01:00

&nbsp;After one year of actively investing and trading on Trading 212, I am now reviewing my trades and performance. Of course, my results are much worse today due to the Iran crisis - last month my GIA IRR was over 50% rather than the 37% now!£120k Deposit - T212 Invest GIAMy strategy with the Invest GIA account was to invest in long term ETFs and shares and try not to sell them. Nevertheless,

Steve Sihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11883669340879311678noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6807252622611429784.post-68409677055370353652026-04-03T10:58:00.006+01:002026-04-03T13:14:48.905+01:00

The Iran war has now brought us a new perspective for consideration.From a macroscopic viewpoint, the USA is energy-rich and is not dependent on the middle East for fossil fuels, unlike the rest of the world (Europe and Asia). DJT has managed to make fossil fuels twice as expensive and he will now walk away to leave us with a mess and potentially an expensive war.The USA may experience a fuel

Steve Sihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11883669340879311678noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6807252622611429784.post-70454964137593476692026-04-01T22:31:00.004+01:002026-04-02T13:45:39.758+01:00

Thursday April 2nd 2026 is the last trading day of the 2025/2026 tax year in the UK.This is the day to sell any stocks in your GIA invest account which show a loss.Your capital gains allowance is £3k, so if you have made more gains in this tax year than £3k, it makes sense to sell those losing stocks now in order to reduce the year's total capital gains to get as near to 3k as possible.On Tuesday

Steve Sihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11883669340879311678noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6807252622611429784.post-2257933459440264262026-03-17T14:19:00.008+00:002026-04-02T13:45:55.790+01:00

The world is once again in chaos! The USA and Israel have decided to attack Iran without considering the impact on the rest of the world. Oil/gas prices have doubled.What this has shown is that the developed world is extremely dependant on oil and gas, especially as it has removed the use of coal in power stations. Renewable energy is not dependable, so oil and gas is still necessary for most

Steve Sihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11883669340879311678noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6807252622611429784.post-15395902902317761962026-03-16T13:41:00.009+00:002026-03-22T19:39:25.272+00:00

&nbsp;Full disclosure - I hold shares in Sage (currently at a loss). I intend to sell my shares before April 5th to generate a loss for CGT purposes and then rebuy inside my ISA after April 5th and increase my holding.As well as being undervalued, it has a good dividend yield and good future growth.Here is ChatGPT's view on Sage.....The Sage Group's share price declined in January 2026 primarily

Steve Sihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11883669340879311678noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6807252622611429784.post-63978695945750853252026-03-12T14:15:00.027+00:002026-04-02T13:46:17.055+01:00

AI can hallucinate (it makes stuff) and can lie, however it can be very useful to get some ideas on investing.Many analysts reduce the current global economic cycle to four big forces:AI &amp; Digital InfrastructureEnergy &amp; Power SystemsGeopolitics &amp; DefenseDemographics &amp; Societal ChangeCurrent Thematic TrendsFor instance, we can use it to investigate themes and trends (thematic

Steve Sihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11883669340879311678noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6807252622611429784.post-54287671220882866582026-02-23T11:59:00.026+00:002026-02-25T13:10:11.982+00:00

DJTs latest petulant fit of pique seems to be the final nail in the coffin for non-USA investors. It seems that Europe do not want to depend on the USA for goods and services any more, and many large, unfinalised USA contracts are now on hold or even cancelled.In particular, very large European defence contracts and energy contracts with the USA are in jeopardy.This gives an even greater boost to

Steve Sihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11883669340879311678noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6807252622611429784.post-32165623539600595542026-02-21T10:35:00.012+00:002026-02-22T09:38:05.232+00:00

I have not made many changes in my Trading 212 ISA or Investment accounts in the last month except for the selling of my FTSE RAFI PSRU ETF shares as the ETF was closing down.I am trying to diversify my holdings but still select countries and sectors which I think will do well in 2026.T212 Invest GIAI added £10k to my £100k deposit at the end of December 2025, so the Invest GIA account now has

Steve Sihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11883669340879311678noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6807252622611429784.post-92129393833946865522026-02-19T14:40:00.002+00:002026-03-18T10:11:16.004+00:00

I suspect there will be large swings in the stock markets in March 2026.We should be ready for them, either to sell or buy. Perhaps even look for leveraged ETFs?The Swiss Franc, EU Euro and UK Pound are stronger gold currencies than the US Dollar...The GBP/USD rate has shown the USD has dropped in value all February...And it looks like it will continue to fall...?This means shares in USD will

Steve Sihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11883669340879311678noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6807252622611429784.post-47286198293165464922026-02-19T13:39:00.005+00:002026-02-19T13:46:24.010+00:00

If you live in the UK you will be aware that April 5th 2026 is the end of the tax year. Since it is a Sunday, Friday April 3rd 2026 is the last trading day.If you have investments in a General Investment Account (GIA) such as a Trading 212 Invest account, you should be thinking about Tax Loss Harvesting (TLH) now.If you want more details on what TLH is, I suggest you ask ChatGPT about Tax Loss

Steve Sihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11883669340879311678noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6807252622611429784.post-66482120408965865562026-02-08T13:24:00.012+00:002026-02-09T10:02:44.653+00:00

Yep, one of the best FTSE ETFs, in my opinion, was and is PSRU but it is sadly, closing very soon.The Invesco FTSE RAFI UK 100 UCITS ETF seeks to track the FTSE RAFI UK 100 index. The FTSE RAFI UK 100 index tracks 100 UK stocks. The FTSE RAFI Index Series selects and weights index constituents using four fundamental factors, rather than market capitalisation. The factors are dividends, cash flows

Steve Sihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11883669340879311678noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6807252622611429784.post-35498419563819208542026-01-28T14:26:00.167+00:002026-03-22T19:51:45.670+00:00

If you have a Trading 212 Invest account, you will probably need to calculate your Capital Gains tax after May 6th 2026.Note that the annual report from Trading 212 does not account for the HMRC 30-day rule or the same day rule to determine which shares have been sold. Any sell is first matched against...Shares bought and sold on the same dayShares acquired within the 30 days after the sale (on a

Steve Sihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11883669340879311678noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6807252622611429784.post-31856835129381764772026-01-24T13:06:00.011+00:002026-01-26T09:14:53.335+00:00

&nbsp;I hold the following stocks and ETFs listed in the table below in my Trading 212 accounts.The current price change (last column) is calculated using the average price over approx. 30 days.Coeur Mining CDE thus shows 29.9% gain over the average monthly price of CDE. It has in fact gone up 40% overall since a month ago.By using the average price over the last month, it allows me to check if

Steve Sihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11883669340879311678noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6807252622611429784.post-28096318494562744122026-01-23T10:17:00.008+00:002026-01-23T12:50:54.016+00:00

On 19th September 2025 I wrote a blog article 'Is Pawn good for you?'.In that article I suggested that we take a look at FirstCash FCFS and Ramsdens RFX.Since then Ramsdens has gone from 350p to 440p (25%) and FCFS has gone from $146 to $172 (17%).The value of gold is still climbing and pawn shops always do well in times of recession.Ramsdens (AIM market) has gone up 20% in the last month and

Steve Sihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11883669340879311678noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6807252622611429784.post-34404631910484690162026-01-18T12:58:00.008+00:002026-01-18T13:01:05.858+00:00

If the UK became a CO2 Net Zero energy country, it will cost us many £Trillions and quosh all our industries - this policy is making the UK one of the most expensive countries in the world to live in.We could insulate our houses better and save approx. 5% of CO2 emissions (much cheaper than buying a BEV). Eating 10% less meat would save 2% and 20% less waste food would also save 2%.So we could

Steve Sihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11883669340879311678noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6807252622611429784.post-88639190589309647472026-01-17T11:20:00.023+00:002026-01-17T11:54:20.524+00:00

Another good week and I am at an all-time high :-) Over my two accounts (£130k mainly DCA deposits, I am up £26k in 12 months = 20% unrealised gain).I don't expect this to last however and still have £6k of cash ready for when the correction comes!T212 Invest (£110k Deposit - 72% IRR)This was up £2.6k (2%) over the week.The only thing I did in this account last week was to buy approx £600 more of

Steve Sihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11883669340879311678noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6807252622611429784.post-57867211101848442792026-01-11T09:55:00.004+00:002026-01-11T14:17:20.869+00:00

This list below comprises medium to long-term companies which are picked for a UK investor's 2026 portfolio.The list was shared by the YouTube investor channel 'ISA Investment UK' who has built up his impressive portfolio from £422k to £1600k in just one year. Although he has used options quite a bit - he has over £300k in ETFs, £50k in crypto, £200 in options and £230k in cash - the rest (£800k)

Steve Sihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11883669340879311678noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6807252622611429784.post-34015874411803403612026-01-10T09:57:00.075+00:002026-01-14T12:42:52.648+00:00

I have not reported my Trading 212 account progress for a few weeks as there was not much to report, so here is the 2026 New Year's update which is nicely up!Trading 212 ISA (20K deposited on April 2025)I use this account as my more shorter term trading, adventurous account.It has gained almost 5% in a month and has an IRR of over 6% this week.The overall IRR is 29% for the 10 months I have so

Steve Sihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11883669340879311678noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6807252622611429784.post-33233408487542593212026-01-08T14:36:00.021+00:002026-02-22T23:28:22.596+00:00

The US economy and US dollar seem set to improve in 2026. Trump is calling for swingeing cuts in the Fed interest rate. This should be better for US stocks. US banks and credit card companies have not performed particularly well in 2025 for UK investors, partly because of the&nbsp; USD/GBP Fx rate but this should change in 2026. The GBP\USD Fx rate should not change so much over 2026.So apart

Steve Sihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11883669340879311678noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6807252622611429784.post-6530665605223369162026-01-01T13:29:00.007+00:002026-01-13T08:38:45.499+00:00

Data Centers require large amounts of electricity and the fuel needs to be clean and immediately available. Nuclear energy is the long term answer but that is still 6-10 years away and data centers need electricity now! The answer lies in building modular large scale natural gas generators.Major manufacturers of large-scale natural gas generators for data centers include GE Vernova, Rolls-Royce (

Steve Sihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11883669340879311678noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6807252622611429784.post-29208929965158418412025-12-23T12:14:00.014+00:002025-12-24T18:48:47.074+00:00

The spot price of silver seems to be rocketing in the last few days.You can invest in physical silver or buy a physical silver fund (e.g. SLVP or SSLN) or buy a x2 or x3 leveraged ETF (e.g. £3SLV or $SLV3). 3SLV is up 150% in just one month. There is also the possibility of buying a Euro hedged fund such as OXA2.If the price falls, be advised that you will obviously lose more with a leveraged

Steve Sihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11883669340879311678noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6807252622611429784.post-73225069428197732332025-12-22T11:03:00.039+00:002026-03-07T20:08:40.109+00:00

The ETFs below are my current top favourites for a 2026 general investment portfolio for a UK investor.My core ETFs&nbsp;as a UK-based (GBP) investor would be PSRU(dist.)&nbsp;FTSE UK and PSRW(dist.)&nbsp;FTSE All world. Value stocks should do well, so&nbsp;IWVG(dist.)&nbsp;is another 'safe' horse being an All World Value ETF which has shown good performance.Note: IUKD is an alternative to PSRU

Steve Sihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11883669340879311678noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6807252622611429784.post-42817186124193500312025-12-20T12:56:00.035+00:002025-12-20T17:00:49.751+00:00

A bit of a scary week, down all week and then a strong recovery on Friday.&nbsp;In this blog, I also explain some of my investment plans for 2026.T212 ISAMy 20K ISA (opened April 2025) is looking better thanks to Friday...IRR is a disappointing 20% but I am hoping the US stocks in the ISA will gain a lot more in the next month or two.This ISA is my 'play' portfolio. I take risks here and trade

Steve Sihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11883669340879311678noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6807252622611429784.post-85199253277029677872025-12-19T10:25:00.005+00:002025-12-19T10:47:16.042+00:00

and the winner is.... the FTSE RAFI ETF PSRU...Here is a 5-year chart with some other popular ETFs for comparison...Let us look at the Year-To-Date (YTD) graph too...Same here - PSRU 29% vs S&amp;P 9% vs NASDAQ 12% - the large difference was mainly due to the poor USD/GBP exchange rate in 2025, but even over five years, PSRU has beaten the others.We can see that it was affected far less by

Steve Sihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11883669340879311678noreply@blogger.com0