I’d invest £500 a month in an ISA, and aim for a passive income worth £52,000

Investing regularly in a Stocks and Shares ISA can be a powerful strategy for building long-term wealth and generating passive income.

By contributing £500 monthly, I can work towards a substantial income stream while benefiting from tax-efficient growth.

Let me walk you through how I’d approach this goal, aiming for a £52,000 annual passive income.

Please note that tax treatment depends on the individual circumstances of each client and may be subject to change in future. The content in this article is provided for information purposes only. It is not intended to be, neither does it constitute, any form of tax advice. Readers are responsible for carrying out their own due diligence and for obtaining professional advice before making any investment decisions.

The magic of compound interest

Compound interest is often called the eighth wonder of the world, and for good reason. It’s the secret sauce that can turbocharge my investments over time.

By reinvesting the money my initial investments make, I’m essentially earning returns on my returns — a beautiful snowball effect that can significantly boost my wealth.

So what could this mean for me? Well, if I was investing £500 a month, the growth of my wealth would depend on how successful my investments are.

If they grow at 8% annually then after 30 years I could be sitting on £745,179. And should I be able to achieve 10% annual growth, then I’d have £1,130,243 after three decades.

Harnessing the power of pound cost averaging

Many investors ask, should I invest all my money at once, or spread it out? This is where pound cost averaging comes into play. By investing £500 each month, I’m using this strategy to my advantage.

Pound cost averaging helps smooth out the ups and downs of the market. When prices are high, my £500 buys fewer shares, and when prices dip, I get more bang for my buck.

And when we’re investing over a very long timeline, like 30 years, this makes a lot of sense as we will likely be investing through some major market events — corrections, crashes, bull markets.

Building a dividend dream team

It’s hard to forecast what the market will look like in 30 years. Currently, there’s a host of dividend-heavy stocks, and I could create a diverse portfolio of stocks with an average dividend yield around 7%.

In other words, that could mean a portfolio worth £745,179 could generate £52,000 a year as a passive income.

In addition to Dividend Aristocrats like Legal & General and Nordic American Tankers, investors may want to consider real estate investment trusts (REITs), preferred stocks — a hybrid security — or government bonds.

Being realistic and managing expectations

Now I’m not going to sugarcoat it — investing in stocks does come with risks. Markets can be as unpredictable as British weather. That’s why investors need to make wise moves, and have a diversified portfolio.

One investment I could consider to help diversify my portfolio is the iShares S&P 500 Equal Weight ETF (ASX:IVV).

It’s a fund that tracks the performance of 500 stocks from top US companies in leading industries there. That could be an issue for investors seeking big returns from individual star stocks.

But it could also be a good thing. Why? Well, we’re currently experiencing something of a rotation away from tech stocks, with money flowing into parts of the market that haven’t been performing that well.

There’s also something called ‘The Trump Trade’. This is where people are investing in companies that might outperform if Donald Trump gets back into The White House.

Trump’s policies may benefit energy stocks, healthcare companies, and banks. In other words, these are parts of the market that haven’t performed as well as tech in recent years.