Invest in Pawn (gold)?

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.

A free and viable alternative to the UK's Net Zero policy

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 reduce our emissions by at least 15% simply by insulating our houses better (and short payback period), wasting less food and eating less meat (e.g. eat pulses one day a week instead of eating a bit of a cow).

What if all developed world countries did this?

I asked CoPilot...

Trading 212 update 2026-01-16 + tips

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.

Company Stock picks for 2026

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) is invested in the following companies...

Trading 212 update 2026-01-09 + lessons learned in 2025

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.

Ideas for Finance and Value ETFs in 2026

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  USD/GBP Fx rate but this should change in 2026. The GBP\USD Fx rate should not change so much over 2026.

Investments for 2026 - it's a gas!

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.

Urgent - The value of Silver is exploding!

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.

My top ETFs for a 2026 UK investor's portfolio

The ETFs below are my current top favourites for a 2026 general investment portfolio for a UK investor.

My core ETFs as a UK-based (GBP) investor would be PSRU(dist.) FTSE UK and PSRW(dist.) FTSE All world. Value stocks should do well, so IWVG(dist.) is another 'safe' horse being an All World Value ETF which has shown good performance.

Trading 212 update 2025-12-19 + tips for 2026

A bit of a scary week, down all week and then a strong recovery on Friday. 

In this blog, I also explain some of my investment plans for 2026.

T212 ISA

My 20K ISA (opened April 2025) is looking better thanks to Friday...