How many dirt cheap Barclays shares must I buy for a £100 monthly passive income?

Can I set up a nice monthly passive income from a few well-chosen dividends stocks like Barclays? With a long-term view, I think I can.

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So I want £100 a month in passive income, and I’m eyeing Barclays (LSE: BARC) shares. How many do I need?

Going on a recent share price of 173p, and a forecast dividend yield of 4.6%, I’d need 15,079 shares. So all I have to do is stump up £26,087 (plus trading costs). Sorted.

OK, anyone can work out a quick sum like that. And there’s more to it.

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ISA

But first, one thought hits me straight away. That £26k is more than the £20k Stocks and Shares ISA limit.

But what if I could put a whole year’s ISA into Barclays shares, and then next year’s into another stock with around 5% dividends? In just 12 years, I could have set myself up an monthly passive income of about £1,000 a month. Nice.

Oh, hang on. That’s wrong. I just added up the money I’d have invested. And I ignored the compounding effects of reinvesting my dividends.

Start again

So I invest a full £20k ISA in a 5% dividend stock each year. And I use my dividends to buy more shares. It would take less than 10 years to reach my goal.

And that still ignores any dividend rises, or share price gains. Or, of course, falls in both — but over the very long term, there’s been a steady upwards trend in the UK stock market.

Actually, I’ve overlooked another thing here. What if, just as I get close to the end of my 10 years, there’s another banking crisis and the value of my shares crashes?

That’s why I wouldn’t really put all my cash in just one stock. Or just one sector. No, I’d diversify to reduce my risks.

Big yields

And there are plenty of FTSE 100 stocks paying 5% or more in dividends.

A quick look shows Taylor Wimpey and Aviva both on forecast 6.9% dividend yields. Then there’s BT Group up at 7.2%. And there are even some 10%+ yielders, including British American Tobacco with 10.3%.

Hmmm, I think I could stand a good chance of getting more than 5% a year. And with just these few stocks, I’d be into five different sectors. That’s already a nice bit of diversification.

Barclays outlook

But back to Barclays shares. Are they really dirt cheap? Valuing bank shares might be fraught in today’s economy.

But forecasts show nicely rising earnings in the next few years. And that would drop the price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio to under four by 2026. That’s about a third the long-term average FTSE 100 valuation.

The dividend yield could rise to 6.5% by 2026 if these forecasts are right too.

Bank risk

Now, the short-term outlook for banks is still a bit shaky. So if I bought Barclays shares today, I’d half expect to see some more falls before any gains. But that’s why this is all a long-term thing. And yes, I see them as long-term super cheap.

I really do think my best chance of earning monthly passive income is to invest as much as I can, regularly, into dividend shares in a Stocks and Shares ISA. And then watch it build.

Should you invest £1,000 in Ocean Wilsons Holdings Limited right now?

When investing expert Mark Rogers has a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the flagship Motley Fool Share Advisor newsletter he has run for nearly a decade has provided thousands of paying members with top stock recommendations from the UK and US markets.

And right now, Mark thinks there are 6 standout stocks that investors should consider buying. Want to see if Ocean Wilsons Holdings Limited made the list?

See the 6 stocks

Should you invest, the value of your investment may rise or fall and your capital is at risk. Before investing, your individual circumstances should be assessed. Consider taking independent financial advice.

Alan Oscroft has positions in Aviva Plc. The Motley Fool UK has recommended Barclays Plc and British American Tobacco P.l.c. Views expressed on the companies mentioned in this article are those of the writer and therefore may differ from the official recommendations we make in our subscription services such as Share Advisor, Hidden Winners and Pro. Here at The Motley Fool we believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors.

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