A growing investing library for UK investors: ETF education, a professional options library, pensions, account choice and tax-aware investing basics. Honest about the risks. Free.
A professional ETF section for UK investors: the deep ETF guide, a selector-style compare tool, best-for pages, wrapper notes, and a clean split between plain equity income funds and covered call plus futures products.
A professional options section for UK investors: the strategy hub, Greeks and IV, assignment and expiry risk, UK tax and platform notes, practical tools, and a strategy selector.
State, workplace and personal pensions explained from first principles. Allowances, tax relief, access rules, FSCS & PPF protection, CASS โ and every change locked in for 2027, 2028 and 2029.
ETF investing carries market risk and values can fall. Options are leveraged instruments โ the majority of retail options traders lose money. Selling uncovered (naked) options carries theoretically unlimited loss potential. Neither guide constitutes financial advice. Ensure you fully understand any instrument before investing capital, and consult a regulated financial adviser for your personal circumstances.
New to investing? Start with these foundational ideas before diving into the full guides.
The single most important ETF decision. Acc reinvests dividends automatically โ unit price grows. Dist pays dividends as cash. Inside an ISA both are equally tax-free. Outside an ISA, acc triggers "notional distribution" rules.
Read in ETF guide โCovered call ETFs (JEPQ, QYLD) advertise 10โ14% yields. But in a rising market, they cap your upside and the yield is partly funded by surrendering capital gains. NAV slowly erodes versus the underlying index. Understand this before buying.
Read in ETF guide โA 2x ETF doesn't deliver 2x the long-term return. Daily resets mean volatility decay compounds against you. A 2x fund in a volatile sideways market can lose heavily while the underlying ends flat. These are for short-term tactical use only.
Read in ETF guide โEvery option loses value every day just from the passage of time. For option buyers, theta is your enemy โ you pay for time and it erodes. For option sellers (covered calls, iron condors), theta is income. Understanding this changes everything.
Read in options library ->Sell an OTM call and put, buy further OTM wings for protection. Collect a net credit. Profit if the market stays in a range. The most popular income strategy for sophisticated retail traders โ but four legs means four bid-ask spreads.
Read in options library ->Most retail options gains are subject to Capital Gains Tax, not Income Tax. Premiums received when selling options aren't immediately taxable โ they're computed at close, exercise, or expiry. HMRC CG55400โ55600 covers the detail.
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