September was a bad month for stocks in general, but it was especially poor for UK REITs (real estate investment trusts), with 77% of the sector by market cap being derated according to analysts at Winterflood, leaving 24 out of 32 trusts down over nine months.With worries over the economy, discounts to NAV (net asset value) continuing to widen and retail investors exiting the sector in their drov

It can be hard to look past day-to-day cares and worries and give proper thought to achieving a financially comfortable retirement. However, if you want to enjoy a decent quality of life after you bring your career to a close then you must devote more attention to your pension.Investment trusts, held within a SIPP (self-invested personal pension), can be a useful vehicle to help you achieve your g

The mood on the markets was hardly celebratory as England lifted its lockdown restrictions on 19 July. Gloomy warnings from the UK Government, rising Covid-19 cases linked to the Delta variant and growing signs of inflationary pressures all helped to drive the FTSE 100 to a two-month low on the day.The fear now stalking the markets is one of stagflation. In simple terms, this means a combination o

The gradual reopening of the UK economy has been matched in the property investment space by a similarly gradual reopening of open-ended real estate funds. This follows a long period when trading in numerous property funds was suspended due to the difficulty of valuing their holdings in the pandemic.There are mounting arguments that these vehicles are becoming 'uninvestable' thanks to the mismatch

Investors spent 2020 worrying about Covid-19 but as vaccines rollout and economies begin to gradually reopen, equity markets are getting increasingly jumpy about a new threat - inflation.Investors should not treat these warnings lightly. The most obvious response to rising inflation for central banks (the Bank of England in our case) is to reverse 'lower for longer' interest rate trends, making

Target Healthcare REIT (THRL) 112.4pGain to date: 5.2%Original entry point: Buy at 106.8p, 16 July 2020Care home investor Target Healthcare REIT (THRL) may not have knocked the lights out in terms of share price performance since we flagged it in July 2020 but the steady gains in the interim look a decent outcome given the pressures on the sector from Covid-19.The REIT has remained a reliable sour

Target Healthcare REIT (THRL) 112.8pGain to date: 5.6%Original entry point: Buy at 106.8p, 16 July 2020Care home investor Target Healthcare (THRL) is off to a decent start as one of our Great Ideas.The shares have risen modestly, supported by a positive recent update (5 Aug) which revealed a slight increase in its net asset value per share from 108p at the end of March to 108.1p as at the end of J

The care home sector has clearly suffered a devastating impact from coronavirus but the need for quality accommodation for older, vulnerable people has arguably never been greater.We think investors should buy Target Healthcare REIT (THRL) which is growing its portfolio of purpose-built assets and offers a highly attractive yield of 6.2%.While not quite as secure as the income on offer from the GP

Following a tough day of trading yesterday with worries over the direction of US interest rates, UK stock markets rebounded in early trade on Friday.The UK's leading FTSE 100 index is up 0.65%, or 46.55 points, to 7,174.71.While the FTSE 250, considered more representative of the UK economy, is up 0.9%, or 173.25 points, to 19,378.45 having been fuelled by a takeover bid for one of its constituent

Should fund managers really need any extra incentive to deliver for investors given they are already being paid a fee to do their job? Until recently it was commonplace for the managers of investment trusts to receive a performance fee on top of their management fee if they exceeded a specified level of return.Increasingly, this structure is being abandoned by trusts, though around a third of equi

The healthcare sector is an interesting investment opportunity. People inevitably need some medical guidance in their life, whether it is visiting a GP surgery, hospital or receiving support in a care home and an ageing population is increasing demand for these services.One way to gain exposure is through UK-listed healthcare-focused real estate investment trusts (REITs) which invest in a range of

The real estate industry offers significant diversity. Investors looking to add bricks and mortar to their portfolio can buy residential, retail, office, industrial, self-storage and even student accommodation companies. But none of those sub-sectors have a more secure revenue stream or substantial growth drivers than the landlords who lease their properties to healthcare providers.The expansion a

Income is the main attraction for people investing in a real estate investment trust (REIT). These property-focused funds avoid paying corporation or capital gains tax on their rental income or cash generated from asset sales if they return 90% of their profits to shareholders as dividends.Not only do REITs hand more of their earnings to shareholders than most other listed companies, but the money

Bank of England governor Mark Carney's hint earlier that interest rates could start rising by the 'turn of the year' is unlikely to dampen the attraction of equities as a core source of income for a considerable amount of time.Any rise in the base rate from the 0.5% at which it has been held for more than six years is expected to be modest with some believing it could take three years to reach 2%.

The UK could soon employ more care workers for the elderly than nursery school teachers as the number of Britons aged 65 years or over grows faster than birth rates.This is a major opportunity for some of the companies and, indeed, entire sectors, that will serve this rising demographic. Among those set to benefit as the West goes grey are healthcare, leisure, care homes, life insurance and food.S

Yield-starved investors seeking an attractive level of income while looking to put money to work in a socially useful way might investigate the Target Healthcare REIT (THRL), a fund bringing much-needed investment into the elderly care sector. Launched onto the stock exchange in March 2013, the company is the sole Real Estate Investment Trust (Reit) focussed on care homes.Its objective is to provi

There are 10 million people in the UK who are over the current retirement age of 65, according to government figures. That is almost one in every six people and this issue is expected to become ever more important.By 2050 the size of the UK's retired population will almost double to 19 million, or one-in-four, according to estimates. During this period there will be eight million people over the a

Former US president Abraham Lincoln has been credited with saying the problem with politics is you can never please all of the people all of the time. In a more contemporary setting and with the UK yet to regain ground lost during the 2008-09 recession chancellor of the exchequer George Osborne has struggled to please anyone at any time since stepping into 11 Downing Street three years ago.It is s