I have a collection of sticker albums, predominantly 'Panini', for football tournaments (World Cup and Euros) dating back to Euro 88 in West Germany. I would love to know the estimated current value and whether it is worth selling now or hanging on for a price surge in the next 20 years.

Saba Capital, which is run by Wall Street financier Boaz Weinstein (pictured), is aiming to oust the boards of the trusts and replace them with its own nominees. The hedge fund has called meetings at seven firms - Herald Investment Trust, Baillie Gifford US Growth, Edinburgh Worldwide, European Smaller Companies, Keystone Positive Change, CQS Natural Resources and Henderson Opportunities - to ask shareholders to vote on its plans.

'The biggest mistake in 2024 was not to be bullish enough,' says Fidelity's investment expert Tom Stevenson. But after markets began 2025 with a wobble, investors are steeling themselves for a tougher year ahead. So, what can investors do to mitigate risks this year, while also not missing out on the opportunity to profit?

That's the question that investors are asking themselves about the UK. Is this the moment to be greedy when others are fearful, viewing Britain as a bargain bet, even against the background of chaos in government bond markets? In past days, Marks & Spencer and Next have been among the retailers citing the adverse impact of these Budget 2024 measures. British companies are perceived to be cheap, since they are trading at an average of about 12.6 times their profits, against as much as 24.2 times in the US.

I made an enquiry through the internet, looking for an Isa. I received a phone call from Nicholas James Finance Ltd, based in Canary Wharf, East London, offering an investment in whisky casks. I made the investment and it all seemed fine. Then the same salesman called several times again, suggesting I might be interested in investing with Linc Drinks Ltd. Whisky was mentioned again, and I invested £30,000, which I was told was the minimum. I thought everything was fine until I received a message about your article regarding Linc Drinks.

Its modus operandi is very much based on identifying off-radar Japanese companies which have massive amounts of cash sitting on their balance sheets - and then gently persuading them to use some of that cash to either pay dividends to shareholders or buy back shares. Since its launch in spring 2023, Japan Equity Income has generated total investor returns of 19 per cent - better than the average Japanese fund over the same period of 17 per cent.

Choosing the right investing account is crucial to keep costs down and get the service you need, but a wealth of choice and a variety of charges can leave investors scratching their heads. We pick some of the best and highlight why investing in an Isa makes sense to protect your investments from tax.

In his annual letter to investors, Smith said he had sold his Fundsmith Equity fund's shares in the FTSE 100 group after holding the stock for almost 15 years. The announcement came after the US surgeon-general Vivek Murthy said last week that alcoholic drinks should carry warnings that consuming them could cause cancer.

The government represents the UK and its people and some of those people are sitting on a lot of money. Cash savers and pension investors in retirement tend to be pretty cautious: they want good returns, but they also prize them being reliable and from a low-risk source. Perhaps the answer to unlocking the UK's growth conundrum is to offer that to them.

Each month, This is Money puts a senior fund or investment manager to task with tough questions for our I'm a fund manager series to find out how they manage their own money. In this instalment, James Knoedler, portfolio manager of of the Evenlode Global Equity fund shares his thoughts on Mastercard, Nvidia, gold and Bitcoin.

There are concerns that when the Magnificent Seven's run breaks, share prices will be hit hard but investors are reluctant to bet against so-called US exceptionalism. After Donald Trump's election win, one way investment experts suggest to play this scenario is to back American stock market fortunes swinging a different way - and switch attention to US medium and smaller-sized companies.

Keystone Positive Change investors have been urged to vote against takeover proposals from Saba Capital, after the activist hedge fund scuppered the board's plans to merge with Baillie Gifford Positive Change fund. We explain what's happening and what it means for investors.

I like to dabble in stocks and shares. I'm a real beginner, but am in it to make short-term cash - for example, I just sold some shares to pay for my holiday flights in February. But friends and family keep on at me to play the long game and keep investments for years rather than weeks. They say I'm being a real amateur not to realise this. What do you think?

Investment platform Hargreaves Lansdown has revealed its Five shares to watch for 2025 and in this video, Simon Lambert, of This is Money, talks to senior equity analyst Matt Britzman to find out why it chose some of the companies on that list. He explains why a US tech behemoth could deliver again this year and discusses two share picks closer to home that offer a UK growth and value opportunity.

Could the tempestuous weather that ushered in the New Year be a bad omen for 2025? Let's hope not. But I'm not alone in looking ahead to the next twelve months with a high degree of trepidation. The post-war world order in the West looks increasingly unstable with free trade and centrist politics under threat from a surge in populism.

London's FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 indices have risen by less than five per cent over the past year - underperforming the top savings accounts. They were also soundly beaten by the S&P 500, which has risen some 25 per cent over the same period to late December. The outlook doesn't look wholly positive for the UK market either, though there could be some upside from attractive (meaning cheap) valuations for FTSE constituents.

Donald Trump's agenda of aggressive trade tariffs and tax cuts is set to dominate markets next year. The returning US president is expected to be an even more disruptive force in his second term. His policy plans have prompted a stock rally, but also sparked inflation fears and are already influencing the easing cycle of US interest rates. We look at how events might unfold in the world's markets and round up some fund ideas.

The UK remains cheap but shows signs of becoming liked - if still not loved - by investors as we head into 2025. After years when they deserted UK markets with net outflows from stocks, we finally saw a net inflow in November. That has perked up some interest, even excitement, among pundits.

In the video, recorded in Dubai, Woodford looked as fit as a butcher's dog, firing shot after shot at those he felt responsible for the demise of his investment fund. Missing from the narrative was any meaningful acknowledgment of his own key role in the tragedy - most glaringly, his decision to invest a significant portion of the fund in highly illiquid companies.

The restriction came in 2013, after he played a leading role in what the Insolvency Service described as a '£7million land-banking scam'. Using a variety of business names including Ultraclass, Burnhill Land Investments, and The Property Partnership, he and his crew sold plots of vastly overpriced land with false claims about its development potential. One investor paid £10,000 for a strip of land near Towcester in Northamptonshire, only to find that the council had already banned building even a fence on it, and its real value was about £75.

My long-term partner proposed to me a few years ago at Christmas time. Although the relationship didn't last, the ring he proposed with is still in my life. He said I could keep it despite the breakdown in our relationship. I'm wondering how much it's worth.

An activist investor is hoping to seize control of seven underperforming London-listed investment trusts after urging shareholders on Wednesday to sack their respective boards. The trusts affected are Baillie Gifford US Growth, CQS Natural Resources Growth & Income, Edinburgh Worldwide, European Smaller Companies, Henderson Opportunities, Herald Investment Trust and Keystone Positive Change.

Make no mistake, passive funds are eating the lunch of active managers, says AJ Bell's head of investment analysis Laith Khalaf. Whether you look at the short term or zoom out and take a wider perspective, the picture remains dismal for active managers, and it's the influential Global and North America sectors where a lot of the damage is being done.

Spire is one of ten UK-listed companies that increased their dividend payouts by more than half in 2024. During the pandemic, many firms suspended their dividends as a result of the hardship they were facing following a downturn in business.

Each December, Interactive Investor's Richard Hunter looks to the year ahead and outlines an acronym - and why the items on the list matter. Last year he asked if any market recovery would reach MATURITY or whether there could be even further to go - this year, he's gone with DIGITAL.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has just banned an advert by Solomon Global Limited, which promotes investment in the metal. But this close look at Solomon Global has turned the spotlight on its head consultant (or top salesman). He is Clive Lindsay, though this is just one of his wide range of names, which include Clive Harris, John Harris and his original title, Clive Mongelard. A decade ago, I described him as 'a living, breathing example of what is wrong with investor protection in Britain'.

Investment trusts offer a world of opportunities to tap into but how can investors sort the wheat from the chaff? In our new Investment Analyst column, experts run the rule over whats on offer. Thomas McMahon, of Kepler Partners, looks at the newly merged Alliance Witan mega investment trust and whether it is a global fund that's worth backing.

Investors are spoilt for choice when it comes to deciding on funds and investment trusts that can put their money to work. We asked trusted experts to recommend the best funds that cover different investment sectors - and included This is Money's selection of active and passive options too.

The bond market crash in recent months has drawn attention to a little-known or understood investment strategy that many workers are 'defaulted' into in the run-up to retirement. Some older workers have discovered to their horror that they are sitting on huge losses right on the brink of retirement , which they might be forced to delay as a result. Here's what you need to know about pension lifestyling...

Global government bond markets are vast and affect everyone who pays tax, saves or invests. But it's often hard to tell what's going on when there's a surge in bond buying or a sell-off because the jargon used by industry insiders can be pretty impenetrable. We unscramble it here to help everyone else fathom what's going on.

Capital gains tax is levied on assets ranging from shares to second homes, buy-to-lets and personal possessions. Your main home that you live in, known as your Principal Private Residence, is exempt from CGT. That, plus an annual tax-free allowance of £12,300, has meant CGT is typically levied on wealthier taxpayers. However, radical future cuts to the CGT allowance announced in Chancellor Jeremy Hunt's cash grabbing Autumn Statement make it inevitable that many more people will have to pay it in future.

Homeowners with a mortgage face an ongoing financial dilemma - use any excess cash to pay down the debt or invest instead? It's a simple question, but the answer really depends on personal circumstances - and, very importantly, whether you are a risk taker or more risk averse, says Rob Morgan of Charles Stanley.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak recently announced his intention for school pupils to learn maths to age 18. So what would a real-world curriculum most useful to understanding personal finance look like? Becky O'Connor of PensionBee explains compound growth, pound-cost averaging, inflation and percentages, in a way anyone can grasp and apply to their own finances.

Tom Stevenson, investment director at Fidelity International, explains what you can learn from a balance sheet using drinks giant Britvic as his test case. Making sense of a balance sheet is important when you're deciding whether or not to buy shares, because you want to be sure a company you're investing in is financially sound.

We put this question to three top investing experts and their answers were six, 12, and a few dozen... However, they did all add essentially the same rider, 'it depends'. What it depends on is the level of diversification you manage to achieve with the shares you own, the amount of conviction you have in them, and whether you have the time and dedication to stay on top of your portfolio. Our experts offer plenty of practical advice on making a success of all the above, which should come in useful however many shares you hold.

Investment fund names are often a baffling mixture of impressive but vague words, which mean little to people who aren't already clued up on financial jargon. People hoping to boost their savings by buying a fund or trust face a steep learning curve, unless they're lucky enough to have a friend in the know or are willing to fork out fees to a financial adviser. We offer a short cut, and explain what all the fancy terms really mean.