Who wants to be a millionaire? The honest answer is that most of us would love it, but we are going the wrong way about it, new statistical analysis shows. The winning strategy is simple.
If you are determined to be a millionaire the best way to go about it is to invest your full tax-free individual savings account (Isa) allowance every year.
The typical investor in a Stocks and Shares Isa who maxes out their annual £20,000 tax-free allowance can expect to become a millionaire within 25 years, assuming average annual growth of 5 percent.
Yet a lottery player who bought £20,000 worth of tickets annually and enjoyed average luck could only expect to win one jackpot every 4,507 years.
Marie Oldfield, chartered statistician with the Royal Statistical Society, who carried out the research, said: “The path to riches is likely to be far quicker if you invest in a Stocks & Shares Isa instead of handing your money to Camelot.”
She said a Stocks and Shares Isa is a “dead cert” way to make a million, yet the number of investors is dwarfed by the number trying their luck with the lottery.
Incredibly, more than 70 percent of the UK adult population play the lottery, or 45 million in total. In contrast, there are just 2.7 million Stocks & Shares Isa accounts.
Right now, there are 6,100 lottery millionaires, almost four times the 1,365 Isa millionaires across the three major investment platforms Hargreaves Lansdown, AJ Bell and Interactive Investor.
However, that will change as Isa pots compound over the years.
The difference in success rates are stunning.
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If 1,000 lottery players invested £20,000 a year and enjoyed average luck, just 25 of them would become millionaires over a 30-year period.
The other 975 players would have collectively thrown away an incredible £585 million on losing lottery tickets.
However, if those 1,000 people had invested £20,000 in Stocks and Shares Isa instead, every single one of them could expect to be a millionaire after 30 years.
“Collectively, they would be worth £1 billion,” Oldfield said.
Lord Lee of Trafford, who became the country’s first Isa millionaire in 2003, said: “The Isa remains the best tax-free investment wrapper in the Western world, and I hope this data will encourage more young people to take-up serious long-term investing.”
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Simon Jones, chief executive of InvestingReviews.co.uk, said these days everyone wants a rock-star lifestyle and their very own place on millionaires’ row, but the majority are going the wrong way about it.
“Happily, that dream looks set to come true for the canny army of armchair investors who squirrel money away in their Stocks & Shares Isas every year.”
While there are more lottery millionaires than Isa millionaires today, that will change as investment pots compound over time, Jones added.
“In the race to join the rich list, Isa millionaires are fast turning the tables on lottery players. Isa millionaire numbers are going to explode in the years ahead.”
There is one catch, though. To become an Isa millionaire over 25 years, you need to have a spare £20,000 a year to invest every year. Few people have that.
For the vast majority, the lottery is still the best option for those dreaming of making riches.
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