Category: Stock Market

If you want a comfortable retirement, then you will likely need a sizeable superannuation fund.

While everybody’s needs are different, a $1 million superannuation fund is thought to be a good fit for most.

That’s because having $1 million available in retirement means you could invest it in a group of ASX dividend shares that average 4% yields and earn $40,000 of passive income from dividends each year to fund your lifestyle.

But how could you build such a nest egg? Let’s have a look at your options.

Building a $1 million superannuation fund

How you get to $1 million will largely depend on when you start the process.

As with all investing, the sooner you start, the better. That’s because of the way that compounding supercharges your returns. The longer you leave it to do its thing, the more you benefit.

For example, an investor with a $10,000 superannuation fund at the age of 30 could conceivably grow it to our target amount by the time they are 60 if they add $5,000 a year to their fund each year (based on a 10% per annum return).

And if you’re living well within your means and have spare capital each month, you could consider making additional contributions to your super. Not only could this be a tax-efficient thing to do with your money, but it could accelerate your wealth building.

If we circle back to our previous example and adjust our annual contribution to $10,000 per year, you would have a $1 million superannuation fund by the time you’re 53, all else being equal.

What about if you’re older?

If you’re in your 50s or 60s then you may need to make bigger contributions to your superannuation as you may not be able to leverage compounding as much as someone in their 20s to 40s.

Let’s imagine you have just turned 55 and have $250,000 in your superannuation. To get that to $1 million, you will need to add $20,000 to your fund for 10 years and generate an average 10% per annum return.

What else could you do?

It’s important to keep an eye on the performance of your superannuation fund.

While it may be unnecessary to switch funds if you have a year of underperformance, if you notice a trend of this happening, you might want to move your money to a new fund.

After all, it could make a very big difference over the long term.

For example, $100,000 compounding at 7% per annum would become $387,000 in 20 years.

Whereas $100,000 compounding at 10% over the same period would become $673,000 million. That’s almost $300,000 more because of that 3% outperformance.

Final thoughts

Overall, it is entirely possible to build a $1 million superannuation fund. You just need to map out your path to that figure based on your age and capital.

The post How to build a $1 million superannuation fund appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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• Here’s how the ASX 200 market sectors stacked up this week
• Here are the top 10 ASX 200 shares today
• 7 ASX 200 shares with ex-dividend dates next week
• 5 things to watch on the ASX 200 on Friday
• This ASX 200 energy stock is predicted to pay a dividend yield of almost 8%!

Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP) shares are traditionally a popular option for passive income investors.

And it isn’t hard to see why.

The mining giant regularly shares a large portion of its profits with its shareholders through the distribution of both an interim and final dividend.

This has seen the Big Australian cumulatively return tens of billions of dollars to investors over the past few years.

The good news for investors looking for a passive income boost is that the next BHP dividend is only days away from being announced. On Tuesday 20 February, the miner will be releasing its half year results and declaring its interim dividend for FY 2024.

$10,000 a year of passive income from BHP shares

If you want to generate $10,000 of income from BHP shares, then you would need to make a reasonably large investment. Though, analysts believe it could be well worth doing.

According to a note out of Goldman Sachs, its analysts are expecting the miner to pay a fully franked US$1.49 per share (A$2.28 per share) dividend in FY 2024. Based on the current BHP share price of $45.61, this equates to an attractive 5% yield for investors.

This means that you would need to own 4,386 BHP shares to pull in passive income of $10,000. That’s an investment of approximately $200,000.

But as I said above, it could be worth the investment.

As well as getting $10,000 of income from its BHP dividends, Goldman expects your shares to increase in value meaningfully.

It has a buy rating and $49.40 price target on them. If they were to rise to this level, they would have a market value of almost $217,000.

Throw in the passive income and you’re looking at a ~$27,000 return on your investment. Not bad if you ask me!

The post I’d need this many BHP shares for passive income of $10,000 a year appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended Goldman Sachs Group. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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The share market has historically been a great place to grow your wealth.

Over many decades, it has delivered investors an average annual return of approximately 10%.

This has allowed investors to turn their excess capital into something significant.

But how long would it take to turn $20,000 into $100,00 with ASX dividend stocks? Let’s find out.

Turning $20k into $100k with ASX dividend stocks

Firstly, if you’re not in immediate need for the income generated from ASX dividend stocks, then it would pay to reinvest your dividends.

By doing so, you can take advantage of compounding fully to supercharge your returns.

Secondly, a return of 10% is what share markets have generated historically. I would expect the same again over the long term, but it is not a guarantee.

With that in mind, a single investment of $20,000 earning a 10% per annum would take 17 years to turn into $100,000.

But you don’t necessarily have to settle for that. If you want to get to your goal sooner, you could make additional contributions.

For example, a $20,000 investment earning 10% per annum with $500 monthly contributions takes 7 years to turn into $100,000.

Beating the market

The 10% return is based on historic averages. Some investors will outperform the index if they can unearth market-beating ASX dividend stocks.

For example, the shares of footwear retailer Accent Group Ltd (ASX: AX1) have achieved an average total return of 14.8% per annum since 2014.

This would have turned $20,000 into approximately $80,000 over the last decade.

A company that has delivered even stronger returns for investors is computer hardware and software distributor Dicker Data Ltd (ASX: DDR). This ASX dividend stock has recorded an average total return of 27% per annum over the last 10 years.

That would have turned a $20,000 investment into approximately $220,000.

The key is to identify high quality ASX dividend stocks that have strong long-term growth potential, competitive advantages, and robust business models. If you can find these shares, you may get to $100,000 quicker than you think.

The post How long would it take to turn $20,000 into $100,000 with ASX dividend stocks appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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• Last time this ASX 300 stock reported results, it surged 19%. Will it deliver again next week?
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• Dicker Data shares charge higher on dividend boost

Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended Dicker Data. The Motley Fool Australia has positions in and has recommended Dicker Data. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Accent Group. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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Well, it’s that time of year again. Every three months, US companies are required to file a 10F report, which details their financial moves over the preceding quarter.

The 10F filing from Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc (NYSE: BRK.A)(NYSE: BRK.B) is probably one of, if not the, most anticipated on the entire American stock market.

The last time Berkshire Hathaway filed a 10F report, we covered some of Buffett’s significant stock sales, as well as the far fewer buys.

So what does the latest report tell us?

What has Berkshire Hathaway been buying (and selling)?

Compared to the November 10F, this February’s report was far tamer. However, Buffett was still a net seller of stocks over the three months to 31 December.

Here are some of Berkshire’s major sales, according to WhaleWisdom:

• HP Inc (NYSE: HPQ), with Berkshire selling US$2.4 billion worth of stock
• Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL), US$1.93 billion sold
• D.R. Horton Inc (NYSE: DHI), with US$710 million sold
• Paramount Global Inc (NASDAQ: PARA) with US$450 million sold
• Markel Group Inc (NYSE: MKL) with US$259 million sold

In contrast, Buffett’s buys were a lot less enthusiastic:

• Chevron Corp (NYSE: CVX), with Berkshire buying US$2.36 billion worth of stock
• Occidental Petroleum Corp (NYSE: OXY), US$1.17 billion purchase
• Sirius XM Holdings Inc (NASDAQ: SIRI), US$167 million purchase

Buffett doubles down on big oil

This is an interesting report to go through. Buffett is famous for his buy-and-hold investing, once commenting that his favourite holding time for an investment is “forever”. So it’s interesting to see Berkshire trim its largest position (accounting for more than 50% of Berkshire’s portfolio) in Apple. Of Course, US$1.9 billion is something of a drop in the bucket – Berkshire still owns almost US$166.5 billion worth of Apple stock.

But the sale is still significant, given what Buffett has previously said.

Also significant is Buffett’s buyup of oil giant Chevron, as well as Occidental. Last quarter’s 10F filing revealed that Berkshire had offloaded shares in Chevron. As such, it’s notable to see Buffett buying them back up, as well as shares in fellow oil stock Occidental. The recent volatility in oil prices (and thus the share prices of oil stocks) could have something to do with this.

Buffett’s other major sale was in tech company HP. HP shares haven’t gone anywhere for a while but did rally around 20% between October and December last year. So perhaps this gave Buffett an excuse to sell a big chunk of shares.

Foolish takeaway

Buffett’s portfolio moves often seem to contradict the advice that he so generously showers on ordinary investors. Because we rarely get explanations or insights into Buffett’s thinking (and if so, they usually come months later), I tend to think it’s best to take what Buffett says as gospel advice, rather than what he does.

The post What can ASX investors learn from Warren Buffett’s latest buys and sells? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Motley Fool contributor Sebastian Bowen has positions in Apple and Berkshire Hathaway. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended Apple, Berkshire Hathaway, Chevron, HP, and Markel Group. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has recommended Occidental Petroleum. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Apple, Berkshire Hathaway, and Markel Group. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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It’s funny to call an ASX stock that’s rocketed 217% in the past year a “bargain”.

But that’s precisely the situation we have with Neuren Pharmaceuticals Ltd (ASX: NEU), according to the experts at Blackwattle.

Let’s check out their rationale:

‘A pause for breath’

The Neuren share price has plunged 8.2% since late December.

But the simple fact is that the Blackwattle team is not worried.

“Neuren fell 5% in January, which we saw as a pause for breath, after rising 115% over the previous 3 months,” read its memo to clients.

The steep climb in the preceding quarter was due to multiple factors.

“The rise over the previous three months was driven by the release of strong revenue growth from Daybue, their sole approved drug treating Rett Syndrome in the US and positive phase 2 trial results for their new drug NNZ-2591.”

The new drug development is critical in the Blackwattle team’s continued bullishness.

“The phase 2 results for NNZ-2591 were particularly exciting and provide strong confidence for NNZ-2591 to progress towards a phase 3 trial.”

A huge 2024 expected for this ASX stock

Blackwattle experts are far from the only ones not at all put off by either the massive rise in the past year or the diving stock price over the past six weeks.

Broking platform CMC Invest shows all five analysts covering Neuren still rating the stock as a buy.

“We continue to retain a large position in the company given the multiple value accretive upcoming catalysts in 2024,” read the memo.

“The key drivers for the portfolio tend to be fundamental company updates which give high quality companies the opportunity to demonstrate their ongoing strength and the market can reassess the outlook and what to pay for it.”

Neuren Pharmaceuticals is scheduled to release its preliminary financial results on 23 February.

The post A hot ASX stock with ‘multiple catalysts’ looming is 8% down. Time to buy appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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• Why Inghams, IAG, Neuren Pharmaceuticals, and Pro Medicus shares are sinking today
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• If you’d put $20,000 in this ASX healthcare stock in December 2021, you’d have $257,000 now
• Top ASX shares to buy in February 2024
• Is now the right time to buy this ASX 200 stock? Here’s my take

Motley Fool contributor Tony Yoo has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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I believe that buy and hold investing is the best way to grow your wealth.

By investing over the long term, investors are able to benefit fully from the power of compounding. This is what happens when you generate returns on top of returns.

It explains why a return of 10% per year turns $10,000 into $11,000 in one year but almost $70,000 in 20 years.

The only problem is that some readers may not be fans of stock picking or can’t decide which ones to buy and hold.

But don’t let that hold you back. Not when there are exchange traded funds (ETFs) out there that make life easy for investors.

For example, the two ASX ETFs listed below provide investors to large and diverse groups of shares in one fell swoop. This means you’re not exposed to individual stock risk.

Here’s what you need to know about them:

BetaShares NASDAQ 100 ETF (ASX: NDQ)

The BetaShares NASDAQ 100 ETF provides investors with access to the 100 largest non-financial companies on the famous Nasdaq index. These are global behemoths such as Alphabet, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Tesla.

Given the positive long-term outlooks of many of its holdings, it would not be surprising to see this ETF outperform the market again over the next decade or two.

VanEck Vectors Morningstar Wide Moat ETF (ASX: MOAT)

Warren Buffett is a big fan of buy and hold investing and it certainly has served him well over multiple decades.

If you want to follow in its footsteps, then you could look at the VanEck Vectors Morningstar Wide Moat ETF. This ETF invests in the types of companies that the Oracle of Omaha would normally buy. These are companies with attractive valuations, strong business models, and competitive advantages.

The post Buy and hold these ASX ETFs for 10 years or more appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. Randi Zuckerberg, a former director of market development and spokeswoman for Facebook and sister to Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro has positions in BetaShares Nasdaq 100 ETF. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended Alphabet, Apple, BetaShares Nasdaq 100 ETF, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Tesla. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has recommended the following options: long January 2026 $395 calls on Microsoft and short January 2026 $405 calls on Microsoft. The Motley Fool Australia has positions in and has recommended BetaShares Nasdaq 100 ETF. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Alphabet, Apple, Meta Platforms, Nvidia, and VanEck Morningstar Wide Moat ETF. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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Wesfarmers Ltd (ASX: WES) shares are definitely worth a spot in my ASX dividend income portfolio in 2024. The recent FY24 first half-year result was a real reminder of the quality of the business.

There are some wonderful businesses in the Wesfarmers portfolio such as Kmart, Bunnings, Officeworks, Priceline, InstantScripts and so on.

When it comes to ASX dividend shares, I like the idea of getting a good dividend yield. But there’s more to it than just that – I want to see dividend growth over time, profit growth and the potential for more growth in the future.  

Wesfarmers shares tick all of the boxes, in my opinion.

Dividend growth

In the FY24 half-year result, Wesfarmers’ board decided to increase the dividend per share by 3.4% to 91 cents. While that dividend growth isn’t as strong as recent inflation has been, it’s solid enough considering the business can deliver capital growth of the Wesfarmers share price.

This payment represented a dividend payout ratio of 72.3% of its net profit after tax (NPAT). I think this is a fairly generous amount, but it also leaves more than a quarter of the profit inside the business to invest for more growth.

Dividend growth is something that Wesfarmers is aiming to provide shareholders – it has grown its dividend each year since FY21.

Net profit growth

Wesfarmers pointed to Kmart as the key business that helped deliver good financial performance in the HY24 result.

Despite all of the difficulties faced in the current economic environment, Wesfarmers managed to deliver revenue growth of 0.5% to $22.7 billion, earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) growth of 1.6% to $2.2 billion and NPAT growth of 3% to $1.425 billion.

Bunnings saw total sales growth of 1.7% to $9.95 billion and generated earnings before tax (EBT) of $1.28 billion, which was a a growth of 0.3%.

Kmart saw sales growth of 7.8% to $4.88 billion and EBT grew by 26.5% to $601 million.

Wesfarmers says its strong focus on providing good value for households is resonating and enabling it to win market share.

Why I’m confident on Wesfarmers shares

The long-term for the company looks very promising. Kmart’s Anko products are doing so well that it’s expanding the distribution of the business into new markets globally, such as Canada.  

Bunnings is also a very strong business that is steadily growing organically and from its acquisitions, with Beaumont Tiles being one of the more recent buys.

I am a big believer in businesses having the investment flexibility to buy other companies, particularly when it diversifies their earnings. Wesfarmers has a long track record of moving into (and out of) industries if it thinks the long-term outlook is worth making a move.

For example, I really like the company’s efforts to invest in healthcare because of the long-term tailwind of ageing demographics.

According to Commsec, the business could pay a grossed-up dividend yield of 4.4% and it could reach 5.3% by FY26.

I think this business is definitely worth a spot in my ultimate ASX dividend income portfolio in 2024.

The post Why I’d put Wesfarmers shares in my ultimate ASX dividend income portfolio in 2024 appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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• If I could buy only one ASX stock this February earnings season, it would be…
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• What can Wesfarmers’ results tell us about the future of ASX lithium shares?
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Motley Fool contributor Tristan Harrison has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended Wesfarmers. The Motley Fool Australia has positions in and has recommended Wesfarmers. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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ASX earnings season is now in full swing on the Australian share market. We’ve already heard from some big names so far, including Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA), CSL Ltd (ASX: CSL), Telstra Group Ltd (ASX: TLS) and Wesfarmers Ltd (ASX: WES). Next week, Medibank Private Ltd (ASX: MPL) will join them

Yes, Medibank is scheduled to drop its latest earnings, covering the six months to 31 December 2023, next Thursday, 22 February.  It’s a report I’ll be watching like a hawk.

I am interested in all of the financials the company is set to give investors a look at. Last year, my Fool colleague Tristan covered how the insurer expected to “achieve total resident policyholder growth in FY24 of between 1.5% to 2%”. It will be interesting to get a report card on how that’s going.

I’m also keen to see how Medibank’s investment portfolio is faring. After all, higher interest rates have boosted the company’s investment returns in the past.

But I’ll be paying special attention to what Medibank has to say about its next dividend.

Why I’ll be watching the next Medibank dividend

I’ve long regarded Medibank as a leading candidate in the ASX healthcare space for dividend investors. It has something that most ASX shares don’t. That’s explicit support from the Australian government.

There are many government policies that herd customers towards Medibank and its private health insurance offerings. The Medicare surcharge, lifetime health cover loadings, private health insurance rebates… not too many other ASX shares benefit from this kind of customer encouragement.

This has helped shape Medibank into a reliable dividend payer. As such, it’s the dividend announcement from Medibank that I’ll be paying the closest attention to next week.

In 2023, Medibank showered investors with its largest dividends since the company was privatised in 2014. Shareholders enjoyed a March interim dividend worth 6.3 cents per share, and a final dividend in October of 8.3 cents per share. Both payments came fully franked. And both payments were increases over 2022’s interim and final dividends of 6.2 cents and 7.3 cents per share, respectively.

These dividend payments have resulted in Medibank shares offering a generous fully-franked dividend yield of 3.86% at current pricing. If Medibank announces an even higher dividend next week, my belief that this company is a fantastic income stock for dividend investors will only solidify.

The post Here’s why I’ll be watching the Medibank results like a hawk appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

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• I’d buy these two resilient ASX dividend shares for big income
• Want a large and growing dividend? Medibank shares might be the answer
• The 3 best ASX dividend shares for 2024
• Top ASX shares to buy in 2024 instead of investing in a term deposit

Motley Fool contributor Sebastian Bowen has positions in CSL, Telstra Group and Wesfarmers. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended CSL and Wesfarmers. The Motley Fool Australia has positions in and has recommended Telstra Group and Wesfarmers. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended CSL. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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It was a memorable week for a number of S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) stocks as reporting season picked up speed.

Here’s why these three companies led the Motley Fool’s headline news this week.

Three ASX 200 stocks leaping into the Motley Fool’s headlines

First up, we have mining giant BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP).

The biggest of the ASX 200 stocks grabbed the Motley Fool’s headlines on Thursday after the miner got caught up in the fallout from plunging nickel prices.

This saw BHP announce an impairment of the carrying value of Nickel West along with West Musgrave (Western Australia Nickel).

The impairment for its Western Australia Nickel assets saw the carrying value drop by US$2.5 billion.

BHP also recognised an income statement charge of US$3.2 billion relating to the 2015 Samarco dam failure in Brazil.

The BHP share price closed down 1.7% on the day.

The second ASX 200 stock leading the Motley Fool’s headlines this week is Telstra Group Ltd (ASX: TLS).

Australia’s biggest telco company reported its half-year results on Thursday.

Highlights included a 1.2% year-on-year increase in total income to $11.7 billion, and net profit after tax (NPAT) was up 11.5% to $1 billion. This saw Telstra declare a fully franked interim dividend of 9 cents per share, up 5.9% from the prior interim dividend.

While these are some solid results, they fell short of consensus expectations.

The Telstra share price closed down 2.3% on the day.

Which brings us to the third ASX 200 stock leaping into the Motley Fool’s headlines this week: our nation’s biggest bank, Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA)

CBA announced its half-year results on Wednesday.

Among the highlights, CBA saw it operating income edge up 0.2% year on year to $13.65 billion. But with operating expenses ticking up by 4%, the big four bank’s cash net profit after tax slipped 3% year on year to $5.02 billion.

And CBA pleased passive income investors with a fully franked interim dividend of $2.15 a share, up 2.4% from last year.

But with investors apparently concerned about falling net interest margins (NIMs), the CBA share price closed down 1.7% on Wednesday.

As of Friday’s close, shares in the ASX 200 bank stock remain up around 14% over 12 months, not including the two dividend payouts.

The post Why these 3 top ASX 200 stocks grabbed the Motley Fool’s headlines this week appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• 5 steps to becoming a milionaire with ASX shares
• Why ASX nickel shares are ending the week with a spring in their step
• Brokers name 3 ASX shares to buy now
• ASX mining shares up amid Labor plan to spend multibillions on renewables revolution
• 7 ASX 200 shares with ex-dividend dates next week

Motley Fool contributor Bernd Struben has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has positions in and has recommended Telstra Group. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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The Australian share market has made countless millionaires over the years.

The good news is that there’s nothing to stop you from becoming one of them in the future.

Here are five easy steps to take if you want to grow your wealth with ASX shares:

Step one: Start early

Time is one of your greatest assets when it comes to investing. The longer you are in the market, the more you can benefit from the power of compounding. In respect to compounding, legendary investor Warren Buffett once said: “My wealth has come from a combination of living in America, some lucky genes, and compound interest.”

Step two: Make regular investments in ASX shares

The next step is to make regular investments. There are a few reasons for this. The first is that by investing regularly, you are able to reduce the impact of volatility on your purchases. This is because you will be purchasing more ASX shares when the price is low, and fewer shares when the price is high. In addition to this, investing in this manner lets you benefit fully from compounding. It also means that you don’t miss out on new opportunities when they arise.

Step three: Focus on quality

It can be tempting to buy into small cap ASX shares that are being hyped up on message boards. The promise of getting rich quickly is very alluring. However, most of the time people will lose money on these investments when they turn out to be all hype and no substance. Instead, investors would be better off focusing on quality companies that have strong business models, sustainable competitive advantages, and solid growth prospects. These types of investments have been the key to Warren Buffett’s success over multiple decades.

Step four: Take a long term perspective

As mentioned above, time is a great asset when investing. So, when you’re picking ASX shares to buy, it is arguably best to imagine that you are buying with the intention of holding onto them for at least a decade. Buffett once quipped that his favourite holding period was “forever.” In addition, by taking a long term approach, you can be patient with your investments. After all, it’s important to remember that shares don’t go up in a straight line. There are many ups and downs. But if you become impatient and jump out at the wrong time on a down period, you could sacrifice significant future gains.

Step five: Reinvest your dividends

The dividends paid by the likes of BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP), Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA), and Telstra Corporation Ltd (ASX: TLS) are a great source of income. But if you don’t need these funds immediately, then it is well worth reinvesting them back into the share market. By doing so, you allow the dividends to compound and grow into something larger in the future. So, when you do need them as income, you’ll be receiving a lot more than if you had withdrawn them throughout your investment journey.

Combining all steps

If you combined all these steps and invested $1,000 per month from now onwards and generated an average 10% per annum return, you would grow your portfolio to be worth $1 million after 23 years.

Investing more each month or generating larger returns would get you there even sooner.

For example, $2,000 per month and an average return of 12% per annum would get you to $1 million in just over 15 years. Though, beating the market is no easy feat and far from guaranteed.

The post 5 steps to becoming a milionaire with ASX shares appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• Why ASX nickel shares are ending the week with a spring in their step
• Brokers name 3 ASX shares to buy now
• ASX mining shares up amid Labor plan to spend multibillions on renewables revolution
• 7 ASX 200 shares with ex-dividend dates next week
• Down 12% from their highs: Are Telstra shares a post-results bargain buy?

Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has positions in and has recommended Telstra Group. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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