Dividend shares are a great option for investors to consider when it comes to trying to build long-term gains to enjoy by retirement. Even if someone is starting out with no portfolio by the age of 45, there’s still plenty of time to make use of the stock market to build wealth. Here’s what a regular investment could build up to over time.
Little but often
I think some investors are surprised when they find out that there are large-cap stocks that currently have a dividend yield in excess of 10%. Even though some of these are quite risky, the point is that top dividend shares can offer lucrative yields.
The benefit of this is that each year, the dividends that get paid can be used to buy more of the same stock. This means that the following year, the amount made from dividends can increase, even without the investor putting more cash in. Over the course of the two decades before 65 comes around, the compounding impact can be significant.
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Investing each month has the added benefit of meaning that hot stocks at that point in time can be purchased. If someone only bought shares at the beginning of each year, they could miss out on opportunities during the year. Yet by putting money to work more frequently, it provides more potential to jump on something in a timely manner.
A high-yield option
For example, a stock that some investors might want to consider as part of this strategy is Assura (LSE:AGR). The UK-based real estate investment trust (REIT) focuses on buying, developing and then managing primary healthcare properties. This includes things such as GP surgeries and medical centres.
Over the past year, the share price has dropped by 19%, which has been a factor in pushing up the dividend yield to a generous 8.58%. The dividend per share payments have also been increasing for the past few years.
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The REIT generates money primarily through the rental income of the portfolio. This creates stable cash flow, which in turn can be used to pay out as dividends. The interim results showed a half-year payout of £44.7m, up from £42.5m from the same period last year.
One concern that has pushed down the share price is high interest rates. The company has a loan-to-value ratio of 49%. This means that almost half of a project is funded by cash, with the other half being debt. Naturally, the higher the interest rate, the higher the cost of taking on new debt.
Getting the numbers together
If a 45-year-old investor was in a position to invest £350 a month with a dividend portfolio yielding 8.5%, a portfolio could quickly build. Two decades later, this could be worth £221.3k. In theory, the following year this could generate £18.8k in income alone.
