One of the most common questions new investors ask is: ‘How much should I invest each month?’ The good news is there is no perfect number—and that’s what makes investing so accessible… for anyone and everyone. You don’t need to start big. Small monthly contributions can build over time into meaningful sums, but you DO need to start, and continue month after month, year after year, consistently. This guide will help you choose the right monthly investing budget for your situation in 2026. 🧭 The simple truth about monthly investing There is no ‘correct’ amount. Instead, your monthly investment depends…

Cisco Systems (CSCO) delivered one of its strongest ‘beat-and-raise’ quarters in years, and the market reaction reflected a major shift in investor perception: Cisco is no longer being valued purely as a slow-growth networking incumbent. Investors are increasingly treating it as an AI infrastructure supplier with expanding software exposure. The key debate after earnings is no longer whether Cisco benefits from AI spending, but whether the current AI momentum is sustainable enough to drive multiple years of accelerating growth and margin durability. Cisco Q3 press release What Sharesify said ahead of earnings Cisco Systems (CSCO)Price: $119.28 (+17%)Market cap: ~$470bn 📊…

Retail investors seeking reliable income are increasingly turning to low-cost ETFs, with some offering yields above 5%. From dividend-focused equity funds to bond and infrastructure ETFs, these investments can provide regular income with broad diversification and lower fees. Understanding the risks, yields, and long-term potential is key to building a sustainable passive income strategy. For UK retail investors seeking ETF income yields above 5%, the trade-off is usually between: The most practical low-cost options available on the London Stock Exchange tend to fall into three buckets: Read about bonds… Below are three widely accessible UCITS ETFs that combine relatively low…

‘Start Investing Now’ part 6: Low-risk investments for beginners in the UK One of the first questions investing beginners ask is: ‘How do I invest without losing money?’ Scan the internet and you’ll come cross all sorts of promises and guarantees. The simple truth is – no investment is 100% risk-free, but there are ways to invest safely by reducing risk and focusing on stability over the longer-term, helping to protect your money while growing wealth. Investing also helps reduce the risk of your future buying power being eroded over time by inflation. This can make an enormous difference over…

If you’re new to investing, ETFs (or exchange-traded funds) are one of the easiest and safest ways to get started. Instead of picking individual stocks (which is higher-risk and overwhelming), ETFs let you invest in hundreds or thousands of companies at once—in a single purchase. This guide will show you the best beginner-friendly ETFs in the UK and how to build a simple portfolio in 2026. 🧭 What is an ETF (simple explanation) An ETF (Exchange-Traded Fund) is basically a basket of investments. Instead of buying one company, you buy a fund that might include: So, if one company performs…

Chip architecture designer Arm Holdings (ARM) delivered what retail investors were waiting for: not just another ‘AI narrative’ quarter, but tangible evidence that Arm is becoming foundational infrastructure for AI compute across cloud, edge, and agentic workloads. We wrote ahead of the earnings set-up that markets would ‘focus less on the headline numbers and more on what they signal about the durability of the AI trade’, and it did. Arm Holdings (ARM)Price: $221.50 (-6.7%)Market cap: $235bn 🧾 The headline numbers were strong: Read Arm Q4 here See Presentation slides 👉 But for long-term investors, the real story was strategic validation…

Plenty of investors and analysts headed into AMD earnings worried that expectations had run too far. They were wrong. Chip designer Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) reported Q1 2026 after the Wall Street close on Tuesday (5 May). The report blew the market away, swayed by the firm’s doubling of its TAM forecast (total addressable market) for server CPUs (central processing units) just six months after its last estimate, setting the stock on fire. The share price has rallied 18.5% in pre-market trading to $420.50, adding more than $107 billion to its market cap. Read AMD Q1 2026 here Advanced Micro…

Data analytics play Palantir Technologies (PLTR) just put up one of the strongest quarters in large-cap software. The Miami-based business reported Q1 2026 earnings after the bell on Monday (4 May, it was not a bank holiday in the US) and the growth borders on the absurd. View the presentation here. 🧾 1) Rampant growth Revenue: ~$1.63B (+85% YoY)EPS (adj.): $0.33 vs $0.28 expectedNet income: ~$876M (huge profitability ramp, 300%+)Guidance raised: ~$7.65bn–$7.66bn for FY2026 This is not normal SaaS growth — this is hypergrowth at scale. What’s driving it: US commercial: +133% YoY (fastest-growing segment)US government: +84% YoY (still massive…

There’s an interesting mix of companies on deck next week, including chip designer ARM Holdings (ARM), which reports after-hours Wednesday. Given its shares have gained more than 90% this year, investors will be scrutinising the firm’s Q4/FY26 earnings closely, and more importantly, comments about how it fits into the wider AI ecosphere. Spirits group Diageo (DGE) also reports on Wednesday, and analysts will be waiting to hear what ‘Drastic Dave’ Lewis has to say. The new CEO has a reputation for taking tough decisions to keep his charge on the straight and narrow. Before either of those, global banking group…

Two very different businesses, maybe, but earnings from Apple (AAPL) and SanDisk (SNDK) capture the imagination of investors equally. One as a Buffett-backed core portfolio holding, the other as one of the past year’s biggest tech hits. 📊 Quarterly Earnings Snapshot (Reported vs Forecast) CompanyRevenue (Reported)Revenue (Forecast)EPS (Reported)EPS (Forecast)Stock reactionApple$111.2bn$109.5bn–$109.7bn$2.01$1.94–1.96+3%~SanDisk$5.95bn$4.68bn–$4.73bn$23.41$14.3–14.6-5%~ Source: Company reports 🍏 Apple (AAPL) — Quarterly Analysis Key Takeaways Apple delivered a solid beat on both revenue and EPS. What drove the quarter Positives for retail investors ✅ Consistent earnings beats (strong execution)✅ Expanding high-margin Services mix (28% of revenue)✅ Continued shareholder returns (buybacks + dividend increase) Risks…