U may want to save for a special event, maybe a special holiday

or similar, on a specific date and can’t take the risk of the market

crashing just before u need the cash.

Summary for 0 3/8% Treasury 2026

KEY INFORMATION

26A Exchange LSE Par Value£100 Maturity Date22/10/2026 Coupon per year2 Next coupon date22/4/24 e Coupon 0.375%Income Yield0.41% Gross redemption yield 4.13% Accrued interest16.7p Dirty Price£91.15

U want a guaranteed amount of 5k.

U buy 50 units for £4,558.00 and on the 22/10/26 u will receive 5k.

All capital gains are tax free, tax has to be paid on any interest but

here income is negligible. Most brokers allow u to leave an order to buy and

AJ Bell charges £5.00.

U can most probably get a better yield at the present time but when

interest rates start to fall, u will have locked in a better rate.

U can also sell in the market closer to the maturity date to receive

most of the profit.

A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.

A positive sign.

The Motley Fool

How to start generating passive income with as little as £500

By Dylan Hood

Building a reliable passive income stream might seem like a daunting task, especially if I don’t have loads of spare cash lying around. However, in the stock market, even small initial sums can snowball into substantial wealth over time.

For example, the FTSE 100 has generated a 6.9% annualised return over the last 20 years. If I’d invested £500 back then and reinvested the returns along with just an additional £20 contribution per month, my initial investment would be worth £12,000 today.

One of the most effective strategies to achieve this kind of growth is by harnessing the power of dividend shares and compounding their returns over time. I’m going to take a look at the steps I would take to start generating cash using this method with as little as £500.
The power of dividend shares
Out of the numerous investment options available, high-yielding dividend stocks stand out when trying to build passive income. Many established UK companies have generous dividend policies: the FTSE 100 average yield is around 4% to be exact. These dividends grant investors access to a portion of the company’s profits and can quickly fuel a significant passive income stream.

Sure, savings accounts might offer similar yields, but stocks offer something that savings accounts don’t: the potential for growth. This potential does come with risks, as dividends could be reduced, and stock prices often fall before they rise. However, in my opinion, the potential for returns far outweighs these risks.

Picking the right stocks to compound interest
There are currently over 2,000 companies listed on the London Stock Exchange, but not all of them pay a dividend. Not only do I need to pick a stock that pays a dividend, but I want to choose one that has a stable history of paying investors. Past dividend payments are no indication of future returns. However, a strong track record of payments usually indicates some stability in the profitability of that company

There are 58 stocks within the FTSE 350 that have consistently increased dividends for at least a decade. These are the companies I would start with.

To mitigate risk, I would split my £500 between two or three businesses. Even with a small investment, diversification can significantly reduce portfolio risk.

In order to maximise my returns, I would reinvest my dividends after they’re paid to me. This reinvestment would allow me to buy more shares, in turn generating more dividends. This is known as compounding and it can be a powerful tool. This snowball effect can build my initial £500 investment into a substantial passive income stream over the long term.

In conclusion, generating a passive income portfolio with as little as £500 is not only possible but also very realistic. To start generating cash today, I’d focus on high-dividend stocks with a history of consistent payouts. By reinvesting the dividends I earn on these stocks, I can continue to grow my passive income stream for years to come.

£££££££££

AJ Bell have reduced their charges to £5.00 making investing small

sums possible but maybe more than £200.00 would be better.

By Christopher Ruane

The Motley Fool

A lot of people dream of starting their own business. In some cases, they do and are wildly successful. But a lot of people find that the entrepreneurial life ends up costing rather than making them money.

In fact, that is one reason lots of people, including me, buy dividend shares. They can offer me some of the financial benefits potentially associated with starting a business, without some of the hassles.
Everyone’s situation is different. But here are three possible advantages I see for myself in buying dividend shares rather than starting my own business.

Short-term cash flows
Some businesses make money from day one. But a lot do not. In fact, many start up businesses drain cash for years.

That can be true for companies listed on the stock exchange, too. Deliveroo, for example, saw almost a quarter of a billion pounds more cash go out the door than come in last year. Unsurprisingly, it does not pay a dividend.
But a lot of well-established listed companies are highly profitable. Dividends are never guaranteed, but many businesses have paid them for decades and look set to keep paying in future. Take my shareholding in British American Tobacco, for example. It pays a quarterly dividend and has done so since last century.

If I had a spare few thousand pounds and put it into setting up a business today, it could be months or years before it generated cash for me (if it ever did). But if I put that money into a selection of carefully chosen dividend shares, I could hopefully start earning money from it in a matter of months.

Expertise and reach
Setting up a successful business requires more than just a good idea. A range of skills are involved – and usually to make things work over the long term, a business needs a competitive advantage.

Maybe I want to set up a company making soap. But firms like Unilever and PZ Cussons are already expert at it, with a range of business professionals to make things tick over smoothly. Or I might want to set up a bakery – but then again, Greggs already has a far deeper expertise in baking than I am ever likely to have. In such cases, should I try and figure out my own competitive advantage or simply piggyback on an existing one?

That does not mean I could not set up my own company and enjoy commercial success. But if a large company already has the proven ability to make money from an idea like my own, rather than try and do it myself, I could simply invest in such firms, sit back and hope to benefit from their success.

Dividend shares and liquidity
If a company in which I invest does differently to how I expect, or I change my investing approach, I can sell the shares. I could sell my shares in British American Tobacco and reinvest the money in a different company in a matter of minutes.

Setting up my own business would take time. If I changed my mind, I would probably not be able to sell it in a few minutes, like I can with the dividend shares in my portfolio.

By Dr. James Fox

Compounding
Collectively, these actions are the basis of a promising compound returns strategy. This is the practice of reinvesting dividends over time to achieve exponential gains.

For example, if I invested £20,000 in a company with a 8% yield, at the end of the year I could expect to have £21,600, assuming the share price of the stock in question remained constant.

That’s fine, but it’s not groundbreaking. The impressive bit comes when we reinvest that dividend year after year.

Without regular contributions, it would take 38 years to turn £20k into £400k. But if I were to contribute £300 a month, and increased that contribution by 5% annually, I could get there in 21 years.

Naturally, the more I contribute, and the greater my starting figure, the easier it is to get there. And after 21 years, it’s worth highlighting that my portfolio is growing incredibly fast and I may need more than £30,000 a year in two decades’ time.

Of course, there’s no guaranteed way to build a portfolio, and I could always lose money. But if I follow these steps, I stand a good chance of turning my second income into my only income.

Friday 5 April VPC Specialty Lending Investments PLC

GM re capital return via B share scheme

The blog portfolio earned £3,139.00 in the first quarter.

The first estimate for the second quarter is a total of £5,120.00.

This years target is 9k, which if there aren’t any clangers hiding in the portfolio should be exceeded.

Thursday 4 April

Chelverton UK Dividend Trust PLC ex-dividend payment date
CT UK High Income Trust PLC – Class B ex-dividend payment date
Empiric Student Property PLC ex-dividend payment date
European Assets Trust PLC ex-dividend payment date
European Smaller Cos Trust PLC ex-dividend payment date
Finsbury Growth & Income Trust PLC ex-dividend payment date
Grit Real Estate Income Group Ltd ex-dividend payment date
Hammerson PLC ex-dividend payment date
Henderson High Income Trust PLC ex-dividend payment date
Invesco Asia Trust PLC ex-dividend payment date
Life Science REIT PLC ex-dividend payment date
Martin Currie Global Portfolio Trust PLC ex-dividend payment date
Real Estate Investors PLC ex-dividend payment date
RIT Capital Partners PLC ex-dividend payment date
Schroder Income Growth Fund PLC ex-dividend payment date
Shires Income PLC ex-dividend payment date
US Solar Fund PLC ex-dividend payment date