We’ve all seen those adverts on the internet that portray a rich person having made their fortune from the stock market. Even though it’s not as easy as often made out, there are plenty of Stocks and Shares ISA millionaires in the UK. My ISA isn’t there yet, but here are the five steps I’m using to try and get myself there eventually.
Investing regularly for growth
The first step is continuing to be regular in investing. I can funnel £20k a year into my ISA and invest that money tax free. Of course, this isn’t free money, I still have to earn it. But the point is to keep putting money away when I can.
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The benefit of this is that my gains can compound at a faster rate by investing month by month. Further, with some of my allocation to dividend stocks, it makes sense to invest regularly. This means that I don’t have to potentially get caught out by missing the next dividend payment.
Another step is gearing my ISA more towards growth stocks. I’m in my 30s, so I still have decades to go before potentially looking at retirement. Therefore, I can afford to focus more on growth stocks instead of less risky options such as bonds or Cash ISA products. In theory, this should (over the long term) boost my chances of becoming a millionaire versus the other options.
Snapping up cheap shares
Next, I’m focused on keeping my finger on the pulse of what’s going on, in order to take advantage of opportunities. For example, I recently bought shares in Intel (NASDAQ:INTC). The share price hit its lowest levels in a decade as it posted a Q2 loss per share of £0.29. It’s forecasted to lose money in this current quarter too.
It has come under fire as a company that hasn’t been able to take advantage of artificial intelligence (AI). The stock is now down 38% over the past year, but I decided this was a good time to add the holding to my portfolio.
The business has taken steps to cut costs, with reductions in headcount and other operating expenses to the tune of £7.7bn by 2025. Further, the dividend has temporarily been suspended, which I feel is a good thing right now to enable the money to be used internally.
Intel is investing heavily in its new 18A and 20A process technologies. This could be the kicker that helps the firm to get back to being profitable and leading in the semiconductor manufacturing space.
Having an holistic approach
A fourth step is making sure that I have a diversified range of exposure. Owning stocks like Intel from the US makes sense. I just need to look at the chart of the S&P 500 versus the FTSE 100 over the past couple of years to see the vast outperformance of the S&P 500. Owning stocks not just from the UK can help to accelerate my portfolio growth.
Finally, over time I need to know when rebalance my portfolio. Although I own stocks for the long term, I need to be smart in knowing when to cut my losses, when to trim some profit and when to add more to an existing holding. This can help me to smooth out my performance.
