OUR Winter Fuel SOS campaign kicks off this week – as we help thousands of pensioners worried about staying warm.

It comes as ten million OAPs are set to lose their Winter Fuel Payment, due to government cutbacks, and this month’s ten per cent rise in the Energy Price Cap.

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The Winter Fuel SOS crew are ready to offer advice on getting all the money and benefits that are yours by right.

Our experts are waiting to answer your questions on Wednesday, or you can email them ahead of time.

We also welcome messages from people who contact us on behalf of a friend or relative of pension age.

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So if there is a vulnerable older person in your life who might be entitled to Pension Credit or other benefits, please get in touch.

Our expert panel includes Baroness Ros Altmann and ­former pensions minister Sir Steve Webb.

It also includes consumer champion Martyn James and experts from Age UK, who will be on hand to guide you through your rights and entitlements.

Baroness Altmann said: ­“Congratulations to The Sun for raising awareness of Pension Credit and encouraging anyone who knows a pensioner on a low income to apply for this benefit.

“Not only will they get more money to live on from the ­Pension Credit itself, but they will be entitled to extra financial help for housing costs, council tax, health-related expenses, cold weather payments and more.”

Around 800,000 ­people risk not getting the £300 fuel payment, and other ben- efits they may be ­entitled to, as they have not registered for Pension Credit, which unlocks access to payment.

Pension Credit can be backdated by up to three months, so the last date you can make a claim and still get the Winter Fuel Payment is December 21.

And even if you aren’t eligible, our team will share tips on how to switch energy providers and save money, get help if you are in debt or need to save money this winter.

Your cases will be considered by our panel, who will aim to advise you within a week of your email or call.

PENSIONS EXPERT

SIR STEVE WEBB

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AGE EXPERT

BARONESS ROS ALTMANN

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YOUR RIGHTS EXPERT

MARTYN JAMES

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JONATHAN CHESTERMAN

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ENERGY EXPERT

JOE RICHARDSON

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COSTS CRISIS EXPERT

JENNY ROSS

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ENERGY EXPERT

ELISE MELVILLE

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BEN GALLIZZI

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AGE EXPERT

ADAM STACHURA

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FRAN McSWEENEY

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EMILY SEYMOUR

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TARA EVANS

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A MAJOR supermarket has announced that one lucky shopper has the chance to win free shopping for a year – here’s how.

To win, customers must write no more than 250 words explaining why they deserve to receive the ultimate gift.

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Aldi has confirmed the launch of its first-ever Superfan Card for one lucky fan who will receive free shopping for an entire year.

Judges at the bargain supermarket chain will review all the submissions before choosing who will hold the exclusive card.

To be eligible, candidates must be aged 18 or over.

Applicants must explain why they are Aldi’s biggest superfan to have a chance at winning.

Aspiring winners must send their letters to aldicompetitions@citypress.co.uk, including their name, age, and location.

Shoppers have until October 31 at 11.59pm to apply for the Superfan Card, and one lucky customer will be notified about their win on November 30.

Richard Thornton, Communications Director at Aldi, said: “We know how passionate our customers are about Aldi, and we wanted to find a way to give something truly special back to Aldi’s biggest fan.

“We can’t wait to see the creativity and enthusiasm in the entries. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and we’re thrilled to be launching it.”

The iconic discount retailer recently had shoppers racing to their nearest branch to get their hands on a popular Toblerone dupe that returned to shelves.

The blonde bar is seen as a family favourite with happy customers describing it as “lush” as they race into stores to grab one.

Each 100g pack cost is now priced at £1.69.

Each bar is packed with delicious ingredients from white chocolate, honey, almond, nougat and salted caramel pieces.

An actual bar of normal Toblerone will set you back a hefty amount with the smallest offering being a 200g bar for £4 at Tesco.

However, if you want the white chocolate version like Aldi’s alternative then it will cost you a whopping £6 for a 360g bar.

The bars were last seen in November 2023 but seemingly vanished after winter leaving shoppers gutted to believe they were a Christmas treat only.

But with it being restocked already sweet-toothed fans are raving about its return.

A picture of the bar back on shelves was shared on social media with one happy shopper saying: “This looks amazing!!!”

As another simply wrote: “That looks lush!”

While a third added: “How yummy does this look.”

How to save money at Aldi

Unlike other major grocers, Aldi does not have a rewards or point card system but that does not mean you cannot save on your shop. 

Every week the store releases a list of special buys, which are unique bargain products you find online at Aldi and in-store. 

The store releases a fresh range of deals every Thursday and Sunday, so be sure to check regularly to see what’s new. 

Meanwhile, the store also regularly sells fruit and vegetables at highly discounted prices, as part of its ‘super six’ deal.

It also does weekly saving offers on typically pricey items such as meat and fish.

SHOPPERS have been left thrilled after discovering a £2.49 stocking filler that is the perfect dupe of an iconic perfume.

Customers at B&M are starting to fill up their baskets with Missy G.G. body mist with many raving that is smells just like the £47 Carolina Herrera good girl spray.

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The bargain supermarket sells the perfume brand V.V. Love with the Missy G.G. body mist being a favourite of many shoppers.

B&M list the product online saying: “Feel fresh, fragrant and inspired each day with the V.V Love Body Mist 250ml – Missy G.G.

“With its portable bottle size, you can freshen up throughout the day – no matter where you are.”

They also sell a Royal Sweety scent by V.V. Love.

The bargain find was spotted in store and shared on social media by a happy shopper.

She posted a picture of the bottle with the caption: “Carolina Herrera good girl body spray dupe £2.49 from B&M smells exactly the same as the original it’s beautiful.

“Had other dupes too perfect stocking fillers for Xmas.”

The iconic Good Girl body mist has been a staple in women’s handbags for years for its luxurious bright jasmine and rich cocoa scent.

But it will set back customers a whopping £47 for just 100ml.

Meaning dupe lovers can get their hands on the alternative for £44.51 less.

Shoppers rushed to react to the wonderful find online with one commenting under the original post saying: “I need this lol.”

Another heaped on praise for how similar it smelled to the Carolina Herrera spray: “I got this yesterday from my local B&M and it smells exactly like it.”

As a third told their pal: “Omg please keep a lookout!”

Many bargain stores are starting to sell dupe alternatives of popular branded products at a hugely reduced price.

A beloved Sol De Janeiro dupe has hit Lidl shelves with it costing a fraction of the price of the original version at just £4.

Lidl is one of the best around as dropping a number of home and beauty dupes.

Dupe hunters have unearthed Jo Malone, Rituals, Moulton Brown, Sol de Janeiro and Lush copycats in stores across the country.

There’s even a £1.99 dupe of the coveted Jo Malone London Pomegranate Noir Body & Hand Wash.

The designer version will set you back a mammoth £36.

How to bag a bargain

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SUN Savers Editor Lana Clements explains how to find a cut-price item and bag a bargain…

Sign up to loyalty schemes of the brands that you regularly shop with.

Big names regularly offer discounts or special lower prices for members, among other perks.

Sales are when you can pick up a real steal.

Retailers usually have periodic promotions that tie into payday at the end of the month or Bank Holiday weekends, so keep a lookout and shop when these deals are on.

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Sign up to mailing lists and you’ll also be first to know of special offers. It can be worth following retailers on social media too.

When buying online, always do a search for money off codes or vouchers that you can use vouchercodes.co.uk and myvouchercodes.co.uk are just two sites that round up promotions by retailer.

Scanner apps are useful to have on your phone. Trolley.co.uk app has a scanner that you can use to compare prices on branded items when out shopping.

Bargain hunters can also use B&M’s scanner in the app to find discounts in-store before staff have marked them out.

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And always check if you can get cashback before paying which in effect means you’ll get some of your money back or a discount on the item.

SMYTHS fans are raving after a savvy shopper spotted an amazing discount code that helps parents get £10 off Christmas presents.

The popular toy brand has already launched its Christmas collection, featuring a range of brand-new products.

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An eagle-eyed shopper revealed that Smyths customers can get £5 or £10 on their next big shop.

The discount is available for those buying toys online or in-store and will run from Friday 4 to Wednesday 9.

Bosses have confirmed that shoppers will have only one opportunity to use the discount and added that it will be limited to one per household.

If a shopper decides to return the discounted item, they will only receive the cash value after the reduction has been applied.

For Smyths fans shopping in their stores, the code will automatically be enabled at checkout.

Online shoppers will also see the reduction instantly applied once they finish adding toys to their cart.

Shoppers who spend £50 or more will receive £5 off and those spending £100 or more will get £10 knocked off their receipt.

Smyths has more than 100 stores across the UK and you can find your nearest one by using the locator tool on its website.

The major toy retailer isn’t the only store filling their shelves with festive products.

A bargain supermarket is currently flogging the perfect £2 stocking filler in stores.

You’d be hard-pushed to find someone who wouldn’t love a Yankee Candle as a gift.

However, the designer homeware brand’s luxury candles can be a little pricey, with large jars costing £27.99.

So it’s no surprise that people are rushing to buy them in Lidl after spotting an incredible offer.

Alerting people to the deal, savvy shopper Joanne said: “Good size autumn Yankee candles £2.99 or two for £4 Lidl, bargain.”

So if you’re bagging more than one candle, it works out at just £2 each.

The 425g jars are available in a range of scents including caramel whirl, cinnamon spice, perfect pumpkin, apple orchard and cherry berry.

Joanne’s post on Extreme Couponing and Bargains UK, a private Facebook group with 2.5 million members, has sparked a frenzy with 2,000 likes and 2,400 comments.

And people are hailing them as the perfect Christmas presents.

“Alright for stocking filler”, gushed one.

A second echoed: “Good for Xmas gifts.”

A third wrote: “Need to get there asap lol.”

A fourth added: “These look amazing definitely need to get some.”

“If you happen to see any, get me 100”, a fifth begged a pal.

Meanwhile, a sixth said: “Omg need them all.”

It comes after Aldi and Lidl have confirmed the relaunch of their popular wooden toy range with prices starting at just £1.99.

And shoppers will be pleased to know one of Britain’s favourite bargain stores will be extending its opening hours to help shoppers over the Christmas period.

With proper insight and timing, an investor could have profited mightily from electric vehicle (EV) sector in recent years. For instance, had you invested $1,000 into Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) when its shares went public in June 2010, you’d have more than $156,000 today. Nowadays, many investors are looking for the next Tesla. If that’s your goal, pay attention to the two companies on this list.

Looking for the next Tesla? Here it is.

While many investors are looking for the next Tesla, it’s fair to mention that it’s still possible to invest in the original Tesla today. The company has a gargantuan $850 billion market value, but that shouldn’t stop you from jumping in.

There are two reasons to believe the stock still has plenty of long-term upside. First, shares are cheaper today than they have been in years. That’s due to a massive dip in revenue growth. Earlier this year, Tesla actually experienced a decline in companywide revenue. As a result, Tesla’s price-to-sales ratio has fallen from the mid 20s to under 10. To be sure, that’s still expensive, but it’s a bargain relative to the company’s history.

A cheap valuation on paper, however, is only attractive if you believe the company is about to turn the corner. Take note of the chart below. Tesla has experienced massive dips in revenue growth before, with its valuation usually following suit. A huge reason that things turned around was a jump in electric vehicle sales, as well as the introduction of new models like the Model 3 and Model Y — both of which resulted in sales spikes that persisted for several years.

According to Bloomberg, “Electric vehicle deliveries have been essentially flat since early 2023, and that’s not likely to change anytime soon.” But fortunately, Tesla has something else up its sleeve. “Tesla’s robotaxi event next week,” Bloomberg reports, “will see Musk lean even harder into the narrative of self-driving vehicles, artificial intelligence and robots.”

Am I buying into Tesla’s robotaxi hype? Not just yet. But Musk has dreamed big before. Sometimes he delivers, and sometimes he doesn’t, but it’s often a smart move to back the horse with a winning track record. And despite the company’s recent missteps, Tesla is still the company to bet on if you’re bullish on EV stocks in general. But if you’re looking for the most upside potential possible, the next stock on this list is for you.

This EV stock has huge growth potential

While Tesla is still a great stock to bet on for those bullish on the EV space, its shares are still expensive and the company’s biggest days of growth are likely behind it. Rivian Automotive (NASDAQ: RIVN) is in the opposite situation. Its biggest days of growth are very much ahead of it, and shares aren’t as expensive as you’d think.

Earlier this year, for example, Rivian was posting revenue growth rates above 80% year over year. Those growth rates came at a time when Tesla’s revenue base was actually shrinking. And while Rivian’s growth rates have converged with Tesla’s more recently, most of that has come from industry pressure and the maturation of its models.

This year, EV sales forecasts have been repeatedly trimmed industrywide, and Rivian’s two existing models, the R1T and R1S, have already been on the market for several years. But that’s all about to change.

Earlier this year, Rivian announced three new models: the R2, R3, and R3X. All are expected to be priced under $50,000 — the magic price point that EV makers need to sell beneath in order to market to mass audiences. Also, while EV sales in general have slowed this year, most long-term forecasts still predict massive growth in the years to come. Passenger EV sales are expected to surpass 30 million by 2027, according to a recent report from Bloomberg. And this figure should grow further to 73 million per year by 2040.

Rivian’s new models aren’t expected to hit the streets until 2026. That gives plenty of time for market conditions to improve as most forecasts predict. And in the meantime, investors can lock in a market capitalization of just $11 billion. That results in a price-to-sales (P/S) ratio of only 2.1 for Rivian versus Tesla’s premium P/S multiple of 8.8.

You’ll need to be comfortable with volatility as Rivian attempts to ramp up its manufacturing capabilities, as well as market new models to a consumer base still skeptical of EVs. But if you truly want to invest in the next Tesla, Rivian has all the characteristics you’d want to see.

Should you invest $1,000 in Tesla right now?

Before you buy stock in Tesla, consider this:

The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Tesla wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.

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The Smartest Electric Vehicle (EV) Stocks to Buy With $1,000 Right Now was originally published by The Motley Fool

(Bloomberg) — Traders are staring down a series of risks after the stock market’s torrid start to the year, from economic fear, to interest rate uncertainty, to election angst. But perhaps the most important variable for whether equities can keep rolling returns to the spotlight this week: corporate earnings.

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The S&P 500 Index has soared roughly 20% in 2024, adding more than $8 trillion to its market capitalization. The gains have largely been driven by expectations of easing monetary policy and resilient profit outlooks.

But the tide may be turning as analysts slice their expectations for third-quarter results. Companies in the S&P 500 are expected to report a 4.7% increase in quarterly earnings from a year ago, according to data compiled by Bloomberg Intelligence. That’s down from projections of 7.9% on July 12, and it would represent the weakest increase in four quarters, BI data show.

“The earnings season will be more important than normal this time,” said Adam Parker, founder of Trivariate Research. “We need concrete data from corporates.“

In particular, investors are eager to see if companies are postponing spending, if demand has slowed, and if customers are behaving differently due to geopolitical risk and macro uncertainty, Parker said. “It is exactly because there is a lot going on in the world that corporate earnings and guidance will particularly matter now,” he said.

Reports from major companies start arriving this week, with results from Delta Air Lines Inc. due Thursday and JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Wells Fargo & Co. scheduled for Friday.

“Earnings seasons are typically positive for equities,” said Binky Chadha, chief US equity and global Strategist at Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. “But the strong rally and above-average positioning going in (to this earnings season) argue for a muted market reaction.”

Obstacles Abound

The obstacles facing investors right now are no secret. The US presidential election is just a month away with Democrat Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump in a tight, fierce race. The Federal Reserve has just started lowering interest rates, and while there’s optimism about an economic soft-landing, questions remain about how fast central bankers will reduce borrowing costs. And a deepening conflict in the Middle East is raising concerns about inflation heating up again, with the price of West Texas Intermediate oil rising 9% last week, the biggest weekly gain March 2023.

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“The bottom line is that revisions and guidance are weak, indicating lingering concerns about the economy and reflecting some election year seasonality,” said Dennis DeBusschere of 22V Research. “That is helping set up reporting season as another uncertainty clearing event.”

Plus, to make matters more challenging, big institutional investors have little buying power at the moment and seasonal market trends are soft.

Positioning in trend-following systematic funds is now skewed to the downside, and options market positioning shows traders may not be ready to buy any dips. Commodity trading advisers, or CTAs, are expected to sell US stocks even if the market stays flat in the next month, according to data from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. And volatility control funds, which buy stocks when volatility drops, no longer have room to add exposure.

History appears to side with the pessimists, too. Since 1945, when the S&P 500 gained 20% through the first nine months of the year, it posted a down October 70% of the time, data compiled by Bespoke Investment Research show. The index gained 21% this year through September.

Bar Lowered

Still, there’s reason for optimism, specifically a lowered bar for earnings projections that leaves companies more room to beat expectations.

“Estimates got a little bit too optimistic, and now they’re pulling back to more realistic levels,” said Ellen Hazen, chief market strategist at F.L.Putnam Investment Management. “It will definitely be easier to beat earnings because estimates are lower now.”

In fact, there’s plenty of data suggesting that US companies remain fundamentally resilient. A strengthening earnings cycle should continue to offset stubbornly weak economic signals, tipping the scales for equities in a positive direction, according to Bloomberg Intelligence. Even struggling small-cap stocks, which have lagged their large-cap peers this year, are expected to see improving margins, BI’s Michael Casper wrote.

Friday’s jobs report, which showed the unemployment rate unexpectedly declined, quelled some concerns about a soft labor market.

Another factor is the Fed’s easing cycle, which has historically been a boon for US equities. Since 1971, the S&P 500 has posted an annualized return of 15% during periods in which the central bank cut rates, data compiled by Bloomberg Intelligence show.

Those gains have been even stronger when rate-cutting cycles hit in non-recessionary periods. In those cases, large caps posted an averaged annualized return of 25% compared with 11% when there was a recession, while small caps gained 20% in non-recessionary periods compared with 17% when there was a recession.

“Unless earnings are a major disappointment, I think the Fed will be a bigger influence over markets between now and year-end simply because earnings have been pretty consistent,” said Tom Essaye, founder and president of Sevens Report Research. “Investors expect that to continue.”

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