
Junkiest Sale in Year Shows Extent of Europe's Credit Rally
The KKR Inc. -backed maker of Flora and Country Crock spreads priced €400 million ($471 million) of senior unsecured notes on Monday, a deal designed partly to refinance existing debt. The deal's yield of 8.625% is about four percentage points lower than an index of similar-rated bonds, and the sale, from books opening to pricing, was completed in the same day. That's fast for the high-yield market.
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37 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Why you should start planning for retirement in your 20s
Experts are urging people to start planning for retirement as early as their 20s. This may seem premature, but early planning is said to lead to greater financial security in later years. life insurance experts, alongside retirement finance specialists, have pinpointed how sensible savings habits and timely protections can contribute to a strong financial footing in the future. READ: Majority of savers unhappy with interest rate on savings accounts According to new data, buying life insurance in your 20s could save you up to £440 annually compared to starting a policy closer to retirement. Independent financial planning consultant, Asad Khan, was enlisted by to help people understand the steps to take at different life stages. Asad said: "Planning for retirement can be beneficial from the moment someone enters the workforce, around the age of 21, for example. "Starting early allows more time for pension contributions to potentially grow through compound returns and investment performance over the long term." READ: Experts share 5 mortgage myths, and one that's actually true Asad mapped out the key actions for each decade of life: In your 20s, join your workplace pension scheme, understand your employer's contributions and start consistent saving. In your 30s, increase your pension contributions, consolidate old pensions and set retirement goals. In your 40s, assess your retirement progress, review investment strategies and consider ISAs. In your 50s, prepare for income drawdown, reduce investment risk and finalise your retirement timeline, all while getting advice from an FCA-regulated financial adviser. Tom Vaughan, a life insurance expert at highlighted the lack of focus on protection at the retirement stage. READ: Calls for council pension fund to axe investments linked to military action in Gaza Tom said: "There's often a lot of focus on saving for retirement, but not enough thought goes into what protection looks like at that stage of life. "Retirement doesn't mean your financial responsibilities disappear, they just take a different shape. "That's where life insurance can still play a valuable role. It's not just for when you're raising a family or paying off a mortgage. "Including it in your later-life planning can help tie everything together, giving you a bit more clarity and your loved ones some added peace of mind." Explaining the cost-effectiveness of early life insurance purchases, Tom said the younger and healthier you are, the lower the risk is considered to be. As a result, buying a policy in your 20s is more cost-effective than purchasing one in your 60s. The average monthly premium for someone in their 20s is just £13.74 compared to £50.47 per month for those in their 60s. This is a difference of more than £440 annually. READ: HMRC to change some pensioners' tax codes to take back Winter Fuel Payments Tom said: "Crucially, getting in early doesn't just offer short-term savings. "Many life insurance policies come with fixed premiums, meaning once you've locked in a low monthly rate, it stays the same for the duration of the policy. "That long-term value is what makes early planning so worthwhile." Recent changes in UK pension policy also mean one should stay informed and regularly review their pension plans. Key policy updates include the value for money framework to improve workplace pension transparency and government plans to consolidate small pension pots.
Yahoo
38 minutes ago
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Investing advice that Reddit got very wrong — or very right
You can find advice about anything pretty much anywhere on the internet, especially if you need to learn about investing. The only problem is, not all of it is accurate or helpful, especially if it's from a random thread on Reddit. Sure, Reddit can be a great place to learn new recipe hacks, ask embarrassing questions and receive some validation from other people experiencing the same thing you're going through. But when it comes to investing, don't take Redditors' word for it — check out what they're saying for yourself. Here's a look at some of the best and worst investing advice on Reddit, why some of it is just downright wrong and what to do instead. After scrolling through hundreds of investing subreddits, here are some of the worst investing suggestions and recommendations. 'I'm very lazy and I don't want to put any effort into investing. How important is rebalancing? Is there a way I could set up a portfolio where I only rebalanced every 10 years or maybe even never? Do I have to do it across all my accounts?' —Mysterious_Mix_6660 Here were some of the responses to this user's question: 'No; it's not super important. It can squeeeeeeze a tiny bit more out of your portfolio over the long haul, but not enough to make me excited.' — buffinita 'I've been at it for roughly 30 years and had rebalancing set for one investment for a couple of years. I stopped that a long time ago. No, I don't think it's worthwhile to rebalance. If you are indexing, the market forces are deciding in part how you should be invested (split between US and international; I don't own bonds). I've ended up 79% US/20% international just by drifting there.' — Sagelllini Why this isn't helpful: It's tempting not to rebalance, especially if you don't have a financial advisor to help and have to figure it out yourself. However, it's crucial to rebalance. 'If you never rebalance your portfolio by selling stocks and buying more bonds, you will open yourself up to a much bigger impact from market swings than your risk tolerance may allow,' says Crystal McKeon, a certified financial planner and chief compliance officer of TSA Wealth Management in Houston. 'This could lead to panic selling in choppy markets like we are experiencing now. If you have a diversified allocation where you are comfortable with the range your portfolio can swing, then you are more likely to keep your long-term positions instead of panic fire selling.' When you rebalance your portfolio, you reassess how your risk tolerance lines up with your long-term financial goals and how your asset allocation fits into that picture. There is a 'lazy' way to rebalance though: You can invest with a robo-advisor. The best robo-advisors will automatically rebalance your portfolio for you. Get started: Match with an advisor who can help you achieve your financial goals 'So, I've been reading a lot, and most places predict Nvidia will have a $20 trillion market cap by 2030. SP [Stock price] of $134 currently, they say it could soar to 800 by then. Is it too late to go in, given the current price? Would it be worth it to start going heavy on Nvidia?' — humanityIsL0st Why this isn't helpful: While the question is a valid one, the short answer is that going all in on one stock, or heavily tilting your portfolio toward one stock, isn't a great idea. If you're invested heavily in just one stock and it performs poorly, you have nothing else in your portfolio to offset the loss and stabilize your returns. It's important to have multiple assets in your portfolio — think a combination of stocks, bonds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), mutual funds and other assets — so that you reduce the concentration risk of owning a single stock. 'A diversified portfolio has been a solid strategy for decades now because it will allow you to ride out ups and downs in the markets with some investment losses balancing out other investments' gains,' says McKeon. 'I sold a coin at 3.5k profit that would've been 80k at the peak. Made a post about it a few days ago [about] how it randomly started getting volume again after being dead for ten months. Total investment was around 50 bucks.' — Single_Offshore_Dad 'So my plan is to go all in on meme coins. Why? Because once BTC takes out its previous highs (like on Oct 20th, 2021), every meme coin shot up for the next 2-7 days. I'm predicting that meme coins will start to climb and tank once news about BTC is being pushed mainstream to the general public within the next 6–12 months. I'm planning on cashing out on all my meme coins within 48hours after BTC breaks its previous high.' — Redditor Why this isn't helpful: For starters, cryptocurrencies (especially memecoins) have no intrinsic value. Their prices are based on what others are willing to pay for the coin. In other words, their prices are based on 'vibes,' or how people feel about the coin, not cash flow or business performance. This makes it impossible to tell how the coins are actually going to perform. If you invest in crypto or a memecoin, you should only invest what you're OK with losing. On top of that, investing in memecoins is somewhat glamorized on social media. There are stories of people who have gotten lucky and went all in on a coin and made a ton of money — and even more stories about people who've lost every dollar of their investment. The first Redditor above claims they could've made an $80,000 profit at the coin's peak, but even their strategy fell short. The reality is, most people who invest in these coins and do profit from them simply get lucky. 'Speculation is when you buy something hoping it will rise quickly, like crypto or 'hot' stocks,' says Jamie Bosse, CFP, and senior advisor at CGN Advisors. 'There is usually a lot of hype and not a lot of history or data. Investing, on the other hand, is about the value of assets growing over time to build wealth. One is chasing returns and trying to get rich quick, and the other is building a solid financial foundation.' If you just can't resist, most financial pros say that if you are going to invest in crypto, don't put in more than 5 percent of your overall portfolio. For all the bad investing suggestions on Reddit, there was plenty of good advice, too. From advocating for diversification, to explaining why maxing out your 401(k) should be a priority, these Redditors got it right. 'Stay in it for the long haul. Continuously add money. Ignore it when times are tough.' — Saul_T_C_Man Why this is helpful: This is some of the best investing advice, period. A buy-and-hold strategy, or staying invested for the long haul, is typically the way to go for long-term investors. But how do you continuously add money to your investments and not touch it when times are tough? One of the easiest ways is to use a strategy called dollar-cost averaging, which is where you gradually invest a fixed amount of money at intervals over time. By making regular and consistent contributions, you invest whether the market is up or down, average your purchase price over time and increase your share count. 'If you happen to be successful in timing the market, then you will do better. The recommendation is based on the fact that very few are successful in doing so.' — YoungestDonkey Why this is helpful: There's a theory in economics called the 'efficient market hypothesis,' which basically means that markets are efficient and already factor in all available information. Because of this, consistently timing the market in your favor is nearly impossible because prices already reflect what investors know. To time the market, you'd have to essentially predict the future. Unless you're somehow a wizard, this can be very difficult to do. What matters more is your total time invested in the market, allowing compound returns to do their thing. Let's break it down. On average, the S&P 500 returns roughly 10 percent each year. This means if you had invested $10,000 in 1974, you'd have $2.5 million now, according to Legendary investor Warren Buffett is a proponent of this long-term approach to investing, often emphasizing the importance of buying and holding, rather than selling for a profit. 'I was telling my father that if we continued investing at our current rate, we should theoretically be able to retire with a good chunk of change (hopefully). And he said, 'Yeah, I thought that too when I was your age. I calculated and thought I'd retire a millionaire, but that didn't pan out.' So I asked him what he invested in, and he looked me dead in the eyes and said it was just one stock he invested in. So, folks, diversify, diversify, diversify.' — Illustrious-Nose3100 Why this is helpful: Investors diversify to protect against the unknown. If we knew what was going to happen, there would be no reason to diversify. We would all buy Nvidia (NVDA) for pennies a share in 1997, watch the 388,344 percent returns roll in and retire millionaires. Or we'd buy Netflix (NFLX), not Blockbuster. Because we can't know, a solid investing plan should include diversification — and remember to diversify across companies, industries, countries and time frames. You can make diversification easier by investing in ETFs or other funds that hold a broad range of assets, such as an index fund. You may also want to consider robo-advisors or target-date funds that automate diversification based on your goals and timeline. 'Max [out] your 401k and other tax-advantaged accounts before you start investing in a taxable account.' — JustMeerkats Why this is helpful: Tax-advantaged accounts, such as an IRA or 401(k), offer tax breaks, either now or later. That's why maxing out your contributions to those accounts first can be a good move. This strategy boosts your investment growth through tax-free compounding, and may include an employer match on your 401(k). Compounding explains how $10,000 becomes $2.5 million over 50 years. You might only get a 10 percent return each year, but that adds up over time. If you give your invested money enough time to grow, it acts as a snowball, picking up more cash on its way down the hill. Also, these retirement accounts have annual contribution limits — $23,500 for a 401(k) and $7,000 for an IRA, so you can't exactly catch up later. You can make catch-up contributions after certain ages, but those amounts are lower and only available once you're closer to retirement. For example, the extra $1,000 in your IRA from 50 to 67 adds up to $18,000, less than three years of maxed-out contributions that you have missed out on in your 20s. If you're not able to max out your tax-advantaged accounts, contributing whatever you can as early as you can is better than contributing nothing. Get matched: Find a financial advisor who can help you maximize your investments 'You don't invest to make as much money as possible, but to meet your financial goals. This means that you should limit the amount of risk you take while investing and that you don't gamble with your savings. Take as much risk as needed, but also as little risk as possible.' — Redditor Why this is helpful: At the end of the day, you can listen to and read all the investing advice you want. Some of it will be good, other ideas will be bad. The most important thing that you can do as an investor is begin by establishing what goals you're trying to achieve. Maybe it's saving for retirement, maybe it's buying a home or maybe it's sending a kid to college. The point is, reaching those goals will look different for everyone. Don't take on unnecessary risks. Instead, prioritize decisions that will safeguard your financial future. Editorial Disclaimer: All investors are advised to conduct their own independent research into investment strategies before making an investment decision. In addition, investors are advised that past investment product performance is no guarantee of future price appreciation.
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
LMS Compliance Ltd. (Catalist:LMS) On An Uptrend: Could Fundamentals Be Driving The Stock?
LMS Compliance's (Catalist:LMS) stock up by 3.9% over the past month. We wonder if and what role the company's financials play in that price change as a company's long-term fundamentals usually dictate market outcomes. Particularly, we will be paying attention to LMS Compliance's ROE today. Return on equity or ROE is an important factor to be considered by a shareholder because it tells them how effectively their capital is being reinvested. In short, ROE shows the profit each dollar generates with respect to its shareholder investments. AI is about to change healthcare. These 20 stocks are working on everything from early diagnostics to drug discovery. The best part - they are all under $10bn in marketcap - there is still time to get in early. ROE can be calculated by using the formula: Return on Equity = Net Profit (from continuing operations) ÷ Shareholders' Equity So, based on the above formula, the ROE for LMS Compliance is: 16% = RM5.2m ÷ RM32m (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2024). The 'return' is the profit over the last twelve months. That means that for every SGD1 worth of shareholders' equity, the company generated SGD0.16 in profit. Check out our latest analysis for LMS Compliance Thus far, we have learned that ROE measures how efficiently a company is generating its profits. Based on how much of its profits the company chooses to reinvest or "retain", we are then able to evaluate a company's future ability to generate profits. Generally speaking, other things being equal, firms with a high return on equity and profit retention, have a higher growth rate than firms that don't share these attributes. To start with, LMS Compliance's ROE looks acceptable. Especially when compared to the industry average of 13% the company's ROE looks pretty impressive. However, for some reason, the higher returns aren't reflected in LMS Compliance's meagre five year net income growth average of 4.2%. That's a bit unexpected from a company which has such a high rate of return. A few likely reasons why this could happen is that the company could have a high payout ratio or the business has allocated capital poorly, for instance. We then compared LMS Compliance's net income growth with the industry and found that the company's growth figure is lower than the average industry growth rate of 12% in the same 5-year period, which is a bit concerning. Earnings growth is an important metric to consider when valuing a stock. It's important for an investor to know whether the market has priced in the company's expected earnings growth (or decline). By doing so, they will have an idea if the stock is headed into clear blue waters or if swampy waters await. If you're wondering about LMS Compliance's's valuation, check out this gauge of its price-to-earnings ratio, as compared to its industry. LMS Compliance's low three-year median payout ratio of 20% (or a retention ratio of 80%) should mean that the company is retaining most of its earnings to fuel its growth. This should be reflected in its earnings growth number, but that's not the case. So there might be other factors at play here which could potentially be hampering growth. For example, the business has faced some headwinds. Additionally, LMS Compliance started paying a dividend only recently. So it looks like the management must have perceived that shareholders favor dividends over earnings growth. In total, it does look like LMS Compliance has some positive aspects to its business. However, given the high ROE and high profit retention, we would expect the company to be delivering strong earnings growth, but that isn't the case here. This suggests that there might be some external threat to the business, that's hampering its growth. While we won't completely dismiss the company, what we would do, is try to ascertain how risky the business is to make a more informed decision around the company. You can see the 3 risks we have identified for LMS Compliance by visiting our risks dashboard for free on our platform here. — Investing narratives with Fair Values Suncorp's Next Chapter: Insurance-Only and Ready to Grow By Robbo – Community Contributor Fair Value Estimated: A$22.83 · 0.1% Overvalued Thyssenkrupp Nucera Will Achieve Double-Digit Profits by 2030 Boosted by Hydrogen Growth By Chris1 – Community Contributor Fair Value Estimated: €14.40 · 0.3% Overvalued Tesla's Nvidia Moment – The AI & Robotics Inflection Point By BlackGoat – Community Contributor Fair Value Estimated: $359.72 · 0.1% Overvalued View more featured narratives — Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data