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Alan Oscroft

Alan is a freelance writer who began writing for The Motley Fool in the late 1990s. He has been a private investor for more 30 years, and has explored a number of strategies, settling on high-yielding blue-chip shares.

Recent Articles

ISA Individual Savings Account
Investing Articles

Are Lloyds shares the best no-brainer buy for a 2025 Stocks and Shares ISA?

| Alan Oscroft

Picking Stocks and Shares ISA buys can be hard on the little grey cells. Might a few relatively simple rules…

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Middle-aged black male working at home desk
Investing Articles

Here’s how I’m trying to build up my ISA to earn £10,000 passive income each year

| Alan Oscroft

I've been working to build some passive income for my retirement for years. Here's how I'm using the stock market…

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Pink 3D image of the numbers '2025' growing in size
Investing Articles

Could 2025 be the year of the great Lloyds share price recovery?

| Alan Oscroft

Analyst sentiment towards the Lloyds Bank share price is improving as we head into 2025, despite the short-term risks it…

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Businessman using pen drawing line for increasing arrow from 2024 to 2025
Investing Articles

Prediction: these FTSE 100 stocks could be among 2025’s big winners

| Alan Oscroft

Picking the coming year's FTSE 100 winners isn't an easy task, but we're all thinking about it at this time…

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Black woman using smartphone at home, watching stock charts.
Investing Articles

Here’s why I’m still holding out for a Rolls-Royce share price dip

| Alan Oscroft

The Rolls-Royce share price shows no sign of falling yet, but I'm still hoping it's one I can buy on…

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Runner standing at the starting point with 2025 year for starting in new year 2025 to achieve business planing and success concept.
Investing Articles

5 investment trusts to consider for a new 2025 ISA

| Alan Oscroft

The biggest challenge when starting an ISA is choosing which stocks to buy. Investment trusts can make it a whole…

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Surprised Black girl holding teddy bear toy on Christmas
Investing Articles

Will ‘biggest ever Christmas’ help keep the Tesco share price climbing in 2025?

| Alan Oscroft

The Tesco share price had a great year in 2024. And if 2025 trading continues in the same way, we…

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Businessman hand stacking money coins with virtual percentage icons
Investing Articles

How to use a £20k ISA allowance to invest for passive income

| Alan Oscroft

The idea of enjoying some passive income in our old age can definitely be a realistic ambition, depending on how…

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Santa Clara offices of NVIDIA
Investing Articles

Is Nvidia a bubble stock waiting to burst in 2025?

| Alan Oscroft

So Nvidia stock is overpriced, is it? And it's going to crash when AI spend falls in 2025? The bears…

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New year resolutions 2025 on desk. 2025 resolutions list with notebook, coffee cup on table.
Investing Articles

Here are the latest Lloyds share price and dividend forecasts for 2025

| Alan Oscroft

The City's outlook for the Lloyds share price in 2025 seems positive right now, but we need to get through…

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piggy bank, searching with binoculars
Investing Articles

3 key FTSE 100 stock updates to watch for in January

| Alan Oscroft

My 2025 investing focus is on key FTSE 100 stocks in key sectors, and we won't have very long to…

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ISA coins
Investing Articles

3 passive income mistakes I aim to avoid in 2025

| Alan Oscroft

When I consider the right way to invest for passive income in 2025, I think the key is to first…

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Investor looking at stock graph on a tablet with their finger hovering over the Buy button
Investing Articles

Here’s a success story that shows how penny shares can deliver

| Alan Oscroft

What do we want penny shares to do? Grow to 100p and stop being penny shares. When do we want…

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Road 2025 to 2032 new year direction concept
Investing Articles

Here’s why the Rolls-Royce share price climbed 90% in 2024

| Alan Oscroft

What can we expect from the Rolls-Royce Holdings share price in 2025? Even more of the same, as the recovery…

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Finger pressing a car ignition button with the text 2025 start.
Investing Articles

3 reasons to start a Stocks and Shares ISA in 2025, and they’re not all good ones!

| Alan Oscroft

Starting a Stocks and Shares ISA might be one of the best New Year's resolutions an investor can make. But…

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British coins and bank notes scattered on a surface
Investing Articles

How realistic is the 10%+ dividend yield from this FTSE 250 stock?

| Alan Oscroft

The FTSE 250 is brimming over with forecast dividend yields of 10% and even higher as we head into 2025.…

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Thoughtful man using his phone while riding on a train and looking through the window
Investing Articles

Some issues that could hammer the Lloyds share price in 2025

| Alan Oscroft

I'm upbeat about the Lloyds Bank share price as we head ever closer to 2025. But here are some of…

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Close-up of a woman holding modern polymer ten, twenty and fifty pound notes.
Investing Articles

Is passive income possible from just £5 a day? Here’s one way to try

| Alan Oscroft

We don't need to be rich to invest for passive income. Using the miracle of compounding, we can aim to…

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Road 2025 to 2032 new year direction concept
Investing Articles

Here’s how I’ll learn from Warren Buffett to try to boost my 2025 investment returns

| Alan Oscroft

Thinking about Warren Buffett helps reassure me about my long-term investing approach. But I definitely need to learn some more.

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British pound data
Investing Articles

2 FTSE 100 stocks I think could be takeover targets in 2025

| Alan Oscroft

If the UK stock market gets moving in 2025, I wonder if the FTSE 100 might offer a few tasty…

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Finger clicking a button marked 'Buy' on a keyboard
Investing Articles

Can this takeover news give Aviva shares the boost we’ve been waiting for?

| Alan Oscroft

Aviva shares barely move as news of the agreed takeover of Direct Line emerges. Shareholders might not see it as…

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A pastel colored growing graph with rising rocket.
Investing Articles

Has the 2024 Scottish Mortgage share price rise gone under the radar?

| Alan Oscroft

The Scottish Mortgage share price rise has meant a good year for the trust so far, but not as good…

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Runner standing at the starting point with 2025 year for starting in new year 2025 to achieve business planing and success concept.
Investing Articles

Is Nvidia heading for the mother of all stock crashes in 2025?

| Alan Oscroft

After a seemingly unstoppable rise, is AI chipmaker Nvidia's stock going to suffer badly if the current AI boom cools…

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Stack of one pound coins falling over
Investing Articles

2 penny shares I think could shine in 2025

| Alan Oscroft

I have my eye on a few penny shares, as I'm thinking that the year ahead could turn out to…

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Solar panels fields on the green hills
Investing Articles

This renewable energy dividend stock offers a huge 13% yield

| Alan Oscroft

Dividend stocks focused on solar and other renewable energy sources are falling out of favour. It's time to take a…

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Artillery rocket system aimed to the sky and soldiers at sunset.
Investing Articles

Where can the BAE Systems share price go in 2025? Let’s ask the experts

| Alan Oscroft

The BAE Systems share price has had a strong year in 2024, but it's started slipping back a bit as…

Read more »

Array of piggy banks in saturated colours on high colour contrast background
Investing Articles

Here’s why I think the Barclays share price could top the FTSE 100 banks in 2025

| Alan Oscroft

The Barclays share price has seen a strong resurgence in 2024 after years out in the cold. Can 2025 carry…

Read more »

Middle-aged white male courier delivering boxes to young black lady
Investing Articles

Here’s why 2025 could be make or break for the boohoo share price

| Alan Oscroft

The boohoo share price is finally showing a bit of resilience as we reach the end of 2024. But there's…

Read more »

piggy bank, searching with binoculars
Investing Articles

What might 2025 have in store for the Aviva share price? Let’s ask the experts

| Alan Oscroft

After a rocky five years, the Aviva share price has inched up in 2024. And City forecasters reckon we could…

Read more »

Young Caucasian woman with pink her studying from her laptop screen
Investing Articles

Does a 9.7% yield and a P/E under 10 make the Legal & General share price a no-brainer?

| Alan Oscroft

With a very high dividend yield and a falling P/E forecast, could the Legal & General share price really be…

Read more »

Black woman using smartphone at home, watching stock charts.
Investing Articles

What has to happen for the Lloyds share price to hit £1?

| Alan Oscroft

The Lloyds share price has dipped, but it's still up 15% so far in 2024. What things might help push…

Read more »

Bronze bull and bear figurines
Investing Articles

2 FTSE 100 dividend shares I’ll avoid like the plague in 2025

| Alan Oscroft

It's time for me to get off the fence and make up my mind about two dividend shares that I've…

Read more »

New year resolutions 2025 on desk. 2025 resolutions list with notebook, coffee cup on table.
Investing Articles

Here’s how I’m preparing for a 2025 stock market crash

| Alan Oscroft

The idea of a stock market crash in 2025 might seem unthinkable. But crashes have a habit of happening when…

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Renewable energies concept collage
Investing Articles

What’s the first FTSE 250 stock I’ll buy in 2025?

| Alan Oscroft

I'm increasingly drawn to the smaller-cap shares of the FTSE 250 as we head to 2025. These are some of…

Read more »

Investor looking at stock graph on a tablet with their finger hovering over the Buy button
Investing Articles

What’s the first FTSE 100 stock I’ll buy in 2025?

| Alan Oscroft

A few of my favourite FTSE 100 stocks have been falling in recent months, so I see a few bargains…

Read more »

Businessman hand flipping wooden block cube from 2024 to 2025 on coins
Investing Articles

Here’s my passive income investing plan for 2025

| Alan Oscroft

What's my passive income strategy for 2025? I don't like things that hurt my head, so it's really not too…

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Burst your bubble thumbtack and balloon background
Investing Articles

Is Tesla a bubble stock waiting to burst in 2025?

| Alan Oscroft

After not really going anywhere in the last couple of years, the Tesla stock price has started reaching for the…

Read more »

Business woman creating images with artificial intelligence inside office
Investing Articles

An investor who put £5,000 into Nvidia stock in 2022 could have this much now

| Alan Oscroft

Nvidia stock has made a lot of people rich over the past few years, as demand for the AI chip…

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Mature black woman at home texting on her cell phone while sitting on the couch
Investing Articles

An investor who put £5,000 into Rolls-Royce shares in 2022 could have this much now

| Alan Oscroft

Rolls-Royce shares have performed stunningly well since the last stock market crash. But we've had many more FTSE 100 winners…

Read more »

ISA Individual Savings Account
Investing Articles

3 ISA strategies to consider for 2025

| Alan Oscroft

It's nearly New Year. And after that, ISA deadline time will start creeping up on us. It can pay to…

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