How much money do you need to invest to make 500 a month?
To generate $500 a month in passive income you may need to invest between $83,333 and $250,000, depending on the asset and investment type you select. In addition to yield, you'll want to consider safety, liquidity and convenience when selecting the investments you'll employ to provide monthly passive income.
With a 10% yield and monthly payout schedule, you can get to $500 a month with only $60,000 invested. That is, $6,000 per year paid on a monthly basis. Unfortunately, most stocks don't have yields anywhere near 10%. Many do have high enough yields to get you to $500 a month with diligent savings, but don't pay monthly.
Investing $1,000 a month for 30 years, with an average annual return of 7%, can yield a total of approximately $1.22 million. This calculation shows how regular, long-term investments can grow significantly over time, thanks to compound interest.
If you were to invest $200 per month over the course of the next 30 years, that would equate to a total investment of $72,000. That's significant, but it's through the effects of compounding that would get your portfolio to a more than $1 million valuation.
To generate $5,000 per month in dividends, you would need a portfolio value of approximately $1 million invested in stocks with an average dividend yield of 5%. For example, Johnson & Johnson stock currently yields 2.7% annually. $1 million invested would generate about $27,000 per year or $2,250 per month.
On average, the stock market yields between an 8% to 12% annual return. Investing $100 per month, with an average return rate of 10%, will yield $200,000 after 30 years. Due to compound interest, your investment will yield $535,000 after 40 years. These numbers can grow exponentially with an extra $100.
| Rate of return | 10 years | 20 years |
|---|---|---|
| 4% | $72,000 | $178,700 |
| 6% | $79,000 | $220,700 |
| 8% | $86,900 | $274,600 |
| 10% | $95,600 | $343,700 |
If you invest $1,000 per month, you'll have $1 million in 25.5 years. Data source: Author's calculations.
The Bottom Line
Investing $100 a month adds up over time, especially with compound interest. Making small sacrifices every day to consistently add $100 to your stock investments every month will benefit you in the long run.
How much do I need invested to make 300 a month?
If you want to generate $300 in super-safe monthly dividend income, all you'd need to do is invest $37,800 (split equally, three ways) into the following three ultra-high-yield stocks, which sport an average yield of 9.52%!
Dividend-paying Stocks
Shares of public companies that split profits with shareholders by paying cash dividends yield between 2% and 6% a year. With that in mind, putting $250,000 into low-yielding dividend stocks or $83,333 into high-yielding shares will get your $500 a month.
Assuming that you can earn this 10% average return over your investing career, if you are getting started investing this year and you want to become a millionaire in 30 years, you would need to invest $506.60 per month. This amount may seem like a lot, but it may actually be pretty doable for many people.
Too many people are paid a lot of money to tell investors that yields like that are impossible. But the truth is you can get a 9.5% yield today--and even more. But even at 9.5%, we're talking about a middle-class income of $4,000 per month on an investment of just a touch over $500K.
Currently the interest rate on a savings account is less than 1%, but it is possible to find so called 'high yield' savings accounts that pay 1%, so let's assume you put your money into one of those. $4,000 a month is $48,000 a year, and you'd need $4.8 million in the bank at 1% interest to generate $4,000 a month.
In a market that generates a 2% annual yield, you would need to invest $600,000 up front in order to reliably generate $12,000 per year (or $1,000 per month) in dividend payments.
Investing $500 per month is a lot for many people. But by reducing your spending in some areas, you'd be surprised at how much you can set aside with a proper budget. With enough time and a proper investment, this simple strategy could even turn $500 per month into $1 million.
- High-yield savings accounts.
- Certificates of deposit (CDs)
- Bonds.
- Funds.
- Stocks.
- Alternative investments and cryptocurrencies.
- Real estate.
You plan to invest $100 per month for five years and expect a 6% return. In this case, you would contribute $6,000 over your investment timeline. At the end of the term, your portfolio would be worth $6,949. With that, your portfolio would earn around $950 in returns during your five years of contributions.
- Certificate of deposit (CD)
- 401(k)
- IRA.
- Stocks.
- Cryptocurrency.
What if I invest $200 a month for 20 years?
Bottom Line. If you can invest $200 each and every month and achieve a 10% annual return, in 20 years you'll have more than $150,000 and, after another 20 years, more than $1.2 million. Your actual rate of return may vary, and you'll also be affected by taxes, fees and other influences.
For example, if an investment scheme promises an 8% annual compounded rate of return, it will take approximately nine years (72 / 8 = 9) to double the invested money.
One of the popular budgeting guidelines is the 50/30/20 rule. It says that 50% of your earnings should go to necessities, 30% to discretionary items and 20% to savings. For example, if you earn $8,000 per month, you should save $1,600 of it.
| Years to Invest | How Much to Save Monthly to Become a Millionaire |
|---|---|
| 15 | $3,069.12 |
| 20 | $1,821.01 |
| 25 | $1,139.89 |
| 30 | $735.61 |
The 50-30-20 rule recommends putting 50% of your money toward needs, 30% toward wants, and 20% toward savings. The savings category also includes money you will need to realize your future goals. Let's take a closer look at each category.
