But I want to quote another of my all-time favourite investors, Sir John Templeton. He made his fortune going against the crowds. How long might that take? I’ve no idea, but I suspect longer than a lot of people think. Still, I rate the sector as a long-term cash cow. And I think the short-term risk is worth taking. This trust has lifted its dividend for 39 straight years, so there should be plenty of motivation to keep it going. Merchants has GlaxoSmithKline as its top holding, and I’m upbeat about that. British American Tobacco and Imperial Brands are in the portfolio too. And while they both offer high dividend yields, that might introduce an ethical barrier for some investors. Still, those who invest for income might not care too much about what happens to their share prices. After all, if I buy shares today with the aim of just taking the annual cash to help fund my old age, and never intend to sell them, who cares if the share price falls? It might look good to be paying 8% and more. But I think the market can see through it. Just look at the size of those price falls. They’re the biggest of the bunch, over both 12 months and five years. Fears overdone

We saw a big boost from a 14.7% rise in food sales. But the other side of the M&S coin, Clothing and Home, looks like it came up heads too. Sales rose 5.7%, with adjusted operating profit up 30%. And more widely, it’s not just the prospects of pure-play AI companies that excite me. Established tech players have begun to dip their toes into the space too.

Global income

In fact, it’s a near impossible rule to follow literally. We have pretty much zero chance of never seeing our share prices fall. Value vs price But we shouldn’t forget that Rolls-Royce was struggling even before the pandemic. In the two years prior to the Covid crash, Rolls shares were down 35%. I already thought Lloyds shares were among the best value in the FTSE 100. But after these falls, the market puts them at only around half the average Footsie valuation. That just can’t be right. I don’t think we’ll see a crash in the UK, though. The FTSE 100 just looks too cheap, with earnings and dividends on the up. UK Commercial Property REIT though, is exposed to property and to UK commercial pressures as we head into a recession. There’s a bit of a double whammy there. And it’s led to the hardest share price fall and biggest discount of the five. But is commercial property consigned to lifelong poor performance now? Or might the trust have a profitable long-term future pursuing a combination of growth and income?

The firm does face rising costs. And the unpredictable nature of retail shopping makes future profits uncertain. The company had a couple of tough years in the pandemic, for example. In addition, he has worked as an investment and risk consultant for major hedge funds in London, New York, Moscow, and Dubai, and regularly appears as an oil and financial markets expert on various international television networks, including the BBC, and Al Jazeera.Of course, there’s also artificial intelligence (AI), which has received a lot of attention this year thanks to the success of ChatGPT. In the years ahead, this technology is set to have a big impact on every industry. Some experts believe that AI could be bigger than the internet. Would I put this much into Phoenix shares? I would, but only as part of a diversified portfolio. Diversification is an essential part of my strategy. What does that say to me? I think it means a lot of folk expect to see dividend cuts this year. So there might not be a lot of trust in these forecasts right now. Just look at all those billionaires who’ve made fortunes through timing their buys and sells just right. Oh, that’s right, I don’t know any.