Would you be able to invest like an ISA millionaire by 2032?

According to Hargreaves Lansdown, its ISA millionaires prefer active funds and make early, consistent investments

We disclose the top funds they invested in , along with the amount your portfolio would need to have in order to join the club by 2032.

For many investors who wish to take full advantage of the tax wrapper, becoming an ISA millionaire is likely their goal.

Although it might seem unattainable, it is not as hard as some people believe to become a member of this exclusive club.

Investing like an investor is the first step. ISA millionaires are frequently smart investors who manage their money by understanding and using the principles of investing.

You might find it interesting to read How to Become an ISA Multi-Millionaire The Investment Trusts that Could Have Made You an ISA Millionaire For instance, many of them are well aware that making early and consistent investments in their ISAs can increase their long-term returns.

Victoria Hasler, head of fund research at Hargreaves Lansdown, describes them as a "keen bunch," to put it another way.

Being an ISA millionaire will probably require years of discipline and astute investing, but that doesn't mean you should put off starting.

ISA millionaires' preferred funds, investing strategies, and ways to become a member are examined.

How an ISA millionaire makes investments.

One of the greatest ways to increase your chances of maximizing returns is to invest early in each tax year.

In the first two weeks of the 2025 - 2026 tax year, nearly a third (30 percent) of Hargreaves Lansdowns ISA millionaires opened or topped up an ISA.

The previous year, 34 percent of ISA millionaires topped up their accounts in the first two weeks of the 2024 - 2025 tax year, according to HL.

According to recent studies, early-bird ISA investors outperform those who wait until the last minute to invest their entire 20,000 ISA allowance by 34,000 over a ten-year period.

By investing early, savers enable their money to grow more than they would have if they had invested at the end of the year, taking advantage of compounding throughout the year.

According to Hasler, "many jumped at the chance to start investing in a tax-efficient way as soon as they received their new ISA allowance at the beginning of the year."

The significance of compounding is recognized by ISA millionaires. They are aware of the old investing proverb that says it's not about timing the market but rather about time in the market," she continued.

Just 2% of ISA millionaires made investments in the final week of the 2024 - 2025 tax, which Hasler says demonstrates a degree of organization and discipline.

In addition to investing early in the tax year, ISA millionaires allocate their funds in slightly different ways than other savers.

Where do millionaires in ISA invest?

Blue-chip companies, along with a good mix of dividend stocks, were the most popular investments among ISA millionaires in the first few weeks of the new tax year.

This preference may be explained in part by the club's average age. The average ISA millionaire, according to HL, was 74 last year. For retirement support, older investors frequently look for dividend income.

According to HL's research, ISA millionaires are also more likely than non-millionaires to top up or purchase active funds, with active managers overseeing six of the top ten funds.

Two of these active funds, including the most well-liked fund, were based in the UK, while the other four were worldwide. Hasler makes the following suggestion: "Perhaps ISA millionaires can now recognize the UK market's worth.

FTSE 100 UK stocks are another common investment for ISA millionaires.

"Our ISA millionaires tended to favor higher-yielding stocks, which is in line with the popularity of income-focused funds," Hasler says.

Additionally, she highlights that among ISA millionaires, a UK government bond (gilt) ranked seventh in terms of popularity, which she says is "perhaps a sign of the times that investors are looking to less risky investments."

Non-fund investments with HL ISA millionaires that are most popular (717 April 2025).

Popular funds with HL ISA millionaires (717 April 2025) include Comtech Telecommunications Legal & General Group plc, BP Plc, Hexagon Composites ASA, AstraZeneca plc, Shell plc, and Treasury 4.75 percent 22/10/43-Gilt Genel Energy plc, GSK plc, and Lloyds Banking Group plc.

Legal & General European Index Legal & General International Index Trust Legal & General Global Technology Index Trust Rathbone Global Opportunities Legal & General UK 100 Index Trust Lindsell Train Global Equity Legal & General US Index BNY Mellon Global Income Artemis Global Income Artemis High Income In addition, the investment platform claims that most of its millionaires have adopted a measured approach to investing, choosing a well-diversified portfolio over high-risk wagers on volatile positions.

Kate Marshall, investment analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, states that while some people enter the world of investing with the intention of becoming wealthy quickly, the vast majority of ISA millionaires have amassed a fortune through the much more dependable strategy of becoming wealthy gradually.

According to her, "they don't necessarily take enormous risks: many consistently invest as much as possible of their annual allowance in a diverse and balanced portfolio, every year, for decades."

Ed Monk of Fidelity stated that "anyone that's built a million pounds in their ISA probably won't be phased by a bit of turbulence in markets." This attitude toward risk is evident in other investment platforms as well.

Where Fidelity's ISA millionaires diverge from HLs, though, is in where they put their money.

Even though HL's ISA millionaires have developed a greater preference for UK funds and stocks, Fidelity's still has a significant bias toward US stocks.

Six out of the ten most popular funds that Fidelity's ISA investors have bought so far in 2025 are at least 50% weighted to US stocks, with a number of them also heavily focusing on tech stocks.

Fidelity's ISA millionaires love these funds (4 April 2025).

Legal & General Global Technology Index Trust UBS Global Enhanced Equity Income Fund Legal & General Cash Trust Fidelity Index US Fund Fidelity Multi Asset Open Strategic Fund Legal & General Global 100 Index Trust Orbis OEIC Global Balanced Fund Fidelity Index World Fund Fidelity Cash Fund.

What is the number of ISA millionaires?

An increasing number of people have more than a million pounds in their ISA.

As of the end of December 2024, Hargreaves Lansdown reported that 1,243 ISA millionaires were on its platform, which is 14% more than six months earlier and more than double what it was in 2022.

In contrast, there were only 168 ISA millionaires in 2017, which means that the number has increased by nearly 600% over the previous seven years (2017-2024). This begs the question, will you be able to become an ISA millionaire in 2032, seven years from now?

By 2032, are you able to become an ISA millionaire?

The question of how many more ISA millionaires there will be in seven years (2032) is raised by the seven-year increase in ISA millionaires between 2017 and 2024.

You will only be able to join the club by 2032 if you have already begun investing, as the annual ISA limit is 20,000.

Nevertheless, if you take a long-term approach and regularly invest, you may be astonished at how rapidly your nest egg increases.

In Hargreaves Lansdown, the youngest ISA millionaire is only 28 years old, despite the fact that the average age of club members is 74.

The amount you invest annually and the rate of return you are able to attain will determine how long it takes you to become an ISA millionaire.

Assume you invested about 1,666.66 per month, spending your entire yearly ISA allowance of £20,000.

Based on the numbers we entered into Hargreaves Lansdown's investment calculator, it would take 26 years to become a millionaire if you hit a growth rate of 5% annually.

Your portfolio would be worth 1,049,744 at the conclusion of the 26-year period. Nearly 520,000 of this would have been your personal contributions. Growth in investments would have contributed about 530,000.

It would take you 21 years to become a millionaire if you were to invest the same monthly amounts as previously mentioned and manage to earn an 8 percent annual return on your ISA portfolio.

The amount of your return may vary depending on the stocks or funds you choose to invest in. The average annual return on the US stock market is more like 10 percent over the long run.

If the markets decline in some years, investors will lose money, but in other years, their investments will grow significantly.

Through price returns, the S&P 500 grew by over 23% in 2024. The trade policies of US President Donald Trump have made this year much more difficult, with the S&P 500 down more than 5% so far.

If you were to maximize your annual allowance each year and have a portfolio worth approximately 592,000, you would already have a chance of becoming an ISA millionaire by 2032, assuming a 5 percent annual return.

With an annual return of 8%, you would already require a portfolio valued at about £475,000.