There is £19,837 to re-invest and although anyone buying next week will have more of a chance of buying a losing position, I get this itch when there is cash sitting in the account not earning any income.

And

I’m going to buyback RECI to collect the dividend, although looking at how the share fell in 2020, I will keep a close watch over it.

I am going to sell DNDL with a yield of 6% at a loss as I would rather own either CTY or MRCH. I would like to buy LWDB but Mr. Market would have to smile on me.

The intention it to then pair trade the share to ensure the blended yield is 7% and then hold thru thick and thin and there will be plenty of thin to try to double the capital either including dividends or without.

The working example is Law Debenture, a Trust that most people would have liked to have owned.

The two periods highlited are the covid crash and the Trumps tariffs last April.

The remainder of the chart shows the usual buying and retracing of the price, no one said it’s easy.

If you buy now most Trusts will lose some of your hard earned, although there are always some winners but it’s still best to earn some dividends to re-invest, just in case your research is wrong

At the covid low the LWDB yield was 7% but that’s unlikely to be repeated.

The current buying yield would be 9%

Having achieved the Holy Grail of investing, you could take out your stake and re-invest in a higher yielder, whilst still receiving income from LWDB at a cost of nil, zero, zilch.

Sorry boys and girls, it’s slightly more boring when we look back at the current year and look forward to the new financial year starting next month, when we start with zero, zilch in the pot.

2025/26 Income total should be £13,225.00

The total includes some special dividends, so is not going to be repeatable for the next tax year but as its been re-invested it should earn around another 1k in dividends.

The SNOWBALL is ahead of the plan and the fcast for next year is £10,500.00 and the target £11,240.00

For those with a modest amount to invest, compound interest in year one is £700 but in year ten it’s £5,869, with compound interest you stand to make a similar amount in the last year of your plan than in the first five years.

Whilst a dividend re-investment plan is beneficial in all markets, it’s especially beneficial when markets are crashing. Also better if you are adding funds to your Snowball because you get more shares for your money and therefore more dividends.

The SNOWBALL has a comparator share VWRP.

The current value of VWRP is £152,392, even after this week’s fall not too shabby.

Using the 4% rule that would provide income of £6,117.00.

If you use your 25% TFLS to provide a buffer cash fund so you are not selling shares when markets are crashing, the income figure would be £4,571.76

With your SNOWBALL you wouldn’t want to sell any shares that are providing income, so when you start drawdown, you could take 25% of your income tax free. All subject to current tax rules.

I’ve sold yesterdays purchase of FGEN for a profit of £341, as a weekend can be a long time when markets are falling also it’s three months before their next dividend and the SNOWBALL’s only interest is to earn dividends to buy more shares that pay a dividend.

Activist investor Saba Capital Management has launched an exchange-traded fund that offers exposure to discounted UK investment trusts

By Dan McEvoy

News
Boaz Weinstein, founder and chief investment officer of Saba Capital Management

Saba Capital Management (Saba), the New York-based activist hedge fund that has shaken the UK’s investment trust sector over the last year and a half, has launched a product enabling investors to buy into its strategy.

Saba, in partnership with exchange-traded fund (ETF) white-labeller HANetf, launched the Saba Capital Investment Trusts UCITS ETF (LON:UKIT).

This actively-managed ETF will hold UK-domiciled investment trusts trading at a discount to net asset value (NAV), similar to those that Saba has targeted since November 2024.

“Saba brings deep expertise in the investment trust and closed-end fund universe, with a long track record of identifying opportunities created by discounts to NAV and corporate actions within the sector,” said Hector McNeil, co-founder and co-CEO of HANetf.

As an activist investor, Saba’s strategy revolves around building a stake in discounted closed-ended funds and then pushing for corporate actions that will narrow the trust’s discount in the short term. This is known as closed-ended fund arbitrage.

The ETF will be managed by Saba’s founder and CIO Boaz Weinstein as well as partner and portfolio manager Paul Kazarian.

“The £250 billion-plus UK investment trust sector is undergoing a fundamental realignment, with renewed attention on narrowing discounts creating an ideal environment for a trust-focused active ETF,” said Weinstein. “We designed UKIT to help investors capitalise on this shifting landscape – empowering investors to profit from discounts to NAV, rather than suffer from them.”

Which investment trusts does Saba’s ETF hold?

As of 5 March, the top three non-cash holdings in Saba’s investment trust-focused ETF were IP Group PLC (LON:IPO), an investment company that invests in technologically and scientifically innovative businesses; biotech-focused investment trust Syncona (LON:SYNC); and private equity investment trust Harbourvest (LON:HVPE).

UKIT’s fourth-largest holding was Edinburgh Worldwide (LON:EWI), the growth-focused investment trust whose board Saba attempted to displace earlier this year, as well as at the start of 2025.

The ETF also holds Allianz Technology Trust (LON:ATT), in which Saba disclosed a 4.9% stake on 5 March, as well as Unite Group (LON:UTG), Pantheon International (LON:PIN), Henderson Smaller Companies (LON:HSL), Montanaro European Smaller Companies (LON:MTE), Polar Capital Technology (LON:PCT), Baillie Gifford Japan (LON:BGFD), Brown Advisory US Smaller Companies (LON:BASC), Bankers Investment Trust (LON:BNKR), Scottish American (LON:SAIN) and Schroder UK Mid Cap Fund (LON:SCP).

As of 5 March, 55% of UKIT’s assets were held in cash.

The SNOWBALL has sold RESI for a loss of £137.00.

On line dealing was switched off yesterday for sales, although you could buy online. If interest rates have stopped falling for the foreseeable future, the yield on the Trust does not compensate for the market risk.

The Iran War Is Roiling Wall Street — but 86 Years of History Make Clear What Comes Next for Stocks

Perspective is powerful, even amid heightened uncertainty.

 By Sean Williams 

MotleyFool

Key Points

• Although the Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500, and Nasdaq Composite have soared under President Trump, major geopolitical and historical events have led to periods of outsize volatility.
• The Iran war is raising concerns about higher energy prices, which may alter the Federal Reserve’s ongoing rate-easing cycle.
• However, a comprehensive analysis of 43 geopolitical and major historical events since 1940 points to the power of perspective and time on Wall Street.

When examined as a whole, the iconic Dow Jones Industrial Average (, benchmark S&P 500 , and growth-driven Nasdaq Composite  have thrived with President Donald Trump in the White House. The Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq gained 57%, 70%, and 142%, respectively, during his first, non-consecutive term, and they’ve all rallied by double digits since his second term began in January 2025.

But these gains have also been accompanied by several roller-coaster rides on Wall Street. For instance, the five-week COVID-19 crash (February-March 2020) and Trump’s Liberation Day tariff and trade policy announcement in April 2025 both led to a broader market dive.

President Trump overseeing Operation Epic Fury. Image source: Official White House Photo by Daniel Torok.

The newest event, which has seen the U.S. and Israel conduct military operations against Iran, has investors on edge. However, 86 years of history, coupled with a hearty dose of perspective, make clear what comes next for stocks.

Why Wall Street fears the Iran war

Wars are tragic events that can cost lives and adversely impact families. But major geopolitical events, such as the Iran war, can also disrupt economies and stock markets far from where the fighting is taking place.

As an example, the spot price of crude oil has surged in the wake of this conflict. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, approximately 20 to 21 million barrels of oil, condensate, and petroleum products pass through the Strait of Hormuz daily, and Iran has largely halted exports since the war began. This represents around 20% of the world’s petroleum liquids consumption.

A shortage of petroleum products and/or higher prices can lead to a meaningful uptick in domestic and global inflation. It certainly throws a monkey wrench into investors’ expectations that the Federal Reserve will continue cutting interest rates.

S&P 500 Shiller PE Ratio hits 2nd highest level in history 🚨 The highest was the Dot Com Bubble 🤯 pic.twitter.com/Lx634H7xKa— Barchart (@Barchart) December 28, 2025

The Iran war can also increase short-term uncertainty at a time when the stock market is historically expensive. According to the S&P 500’s Shiller Price-to-Earnings Ratio, the stock market has been pricier only once in the last 155 years (the dot-com bubble).

History and perspective are investors’ greatest allies

Although no metric or correlated event can ever guarantee a short-term directional move in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500, or Nasdaq Composite, historical precedent does have a way of calming nerves on Wall Street.

While major geopolitical events are known to increase short-term volatility, history shows that they rarely, if ever, have a lasting adverse impact on the U.S. economy or the stock market.

Carson Group’s Chief Market Strategist, Ryan Detrick, took a step back and widened the lens by examining the performance of the S&P 500 after major geopolitical and historical events over the last 86 years (since the start of 1940).

Here’s a list of major geopolitical events since WWII.

Up a median of 5% six months later. All of them felt really bad at the time. pic.twitter.com/Jb3QXL0L05— Ryan Detrick, CMT (@RyanDetrick) February 28, 2026

Out of these 43 major events (40 of which occurred over a year ago), the benchmark index was higher 65% of the time 12 months later by an average of 3%.

On the one hand, a 3% average one-year return following a major geopolitical or historical event is well below the S&P 500’s long-term annualized return. However, observed gains in roughly two-thirds of all instances confirm that geopolitical and major event uncertainty rarely has a lasting impact on businesses or the U.S. economy.

Perspective is powerful, even amid heightened uncertainty.