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Buyers are spoilt for alternative on the subject of UK-listed shares providing passive revenue. The FTSE 100 is chock filled with them!
For a little bit of enjoyable, I made a decision to ask ChatGPT to give you a listing of top-tier shares to purchase and maintain in 2026.
What it needed to say was fascinating. And worrying.
The same old suspects
Maybe unsurprisingly, the AI bot’s choice of the very best revenue shares included lots of these providing the best dividend yields within the index.
- Authorized & Normal
- M&G
- Phoenix Group Holdings
- British American Tobacco
The entire above have forecast yields above the FTSE 100 common (the bottom is 5.6%).
They’ve strong histories of rising the amount of money they return to buyers every year.
They’re established inventory market heavyweights.
To date, so good, proper?
Effectively, I’m involved that the primary three come from the notoriously cyclical Financials sector. This distinct lack of diversification means even when they do every part proper going ahead, there’s at all times an opportunity that an financial shock might put all that revenue in danger.
Elsewhere, gross sales of conventional cigarettes proceed to fall and extra regulation of next-generation merchandise like vapes seems to be very seemingly. So, even a go-to dividend inventory like British American Tobacco isn’t immune.
Nevertheless it was ChatGPT’s fifth suggestion that almost all shocked me…
Passive revenue dud?
I’ve averted communications behemoth Vodafone (LSE: VOD) just like the plague in recent times. With an enormous debt burden and lack of development, its dividends have barely been coated by revenue.
All this helps to elucidate why there was a definite lack of consistency with regard to how a lot money was returned. Certainly, Vodafone’s dividend funds climbed one yr solely to fall the subsequent, albeit not by a lot on both facet. That’s, till the payout was halved in FY25!
Positive, any revenue from any firm is rarely assured. However these searching for the inventory market to assist complement their wage or pension will seemingly be searching for not less than some stability.
That mentioned, Vodafone shares are up an unbelievable 40% in worth in 2025. Buyers clearly just like the restructuring story right here. Improved monetary outcomes coupled with analyst upgrades have gone down effectively.
Whether or not this firm can shake the tag of being a passive revenue dud, nevertheless, stays to be seen. Competitors in telecoms markets stays fierce, the sector is at all times inclined to modifications in regulation and the debt pile stays excessive.
The yield can also be the bottom of the 5, at 4.4%.
Belief ChatGPT? No likelihood!
Contemplating simply how a lot AI has already modified our lives, I can perceive why somebody might go looking for funding recommendation from a bot. It’s low cost, simple and instantaneous.
Nevertheless it’s additionally doubtlessly very harmful for that individual’s monetary well being. Finally, ChatGPT will solely have restricted understanding the monetary objectives and threat tolerance of the individual prompting it. Particularly, it has no consciousness of how an investor may react within the midst of greed or worry.
Now, I don’t assume that the entire bot’s recommendations on this little train have been full garbage. However I wouldn’t consider shopping for any of them for 2026 with out doing my very own due diligence.
I additionally reckon there are some glorious choices for revenue in 2026 that it appears to have ignored!
