Stocks and Shares ISA returns over a five-year horizon could turn £7,300 a year into a pot worth around £36,388 by mid-2030, based on a 9% annual return assumption, on total contributions of £29,200. That is the compounding arithmetic behind a habit as modest as £20 a day.
What Stocks and Shares ISA Returns Could Look Like by 2030
The 9% figure is not arbitrary. AJ Bell‘s analysis of global equity ISAs shows the average portfolio returned 141.8% over the ten years to end of 2023, equivalent to roughly 9.2% a year. Other datasets sit in the 8%-10% range depending on region and style.
The contrast with cash is stark. A competitive Cash ISA at around 4.5% would generate just £328.50 of interest on a £7,300 deposit in a single year. The Barclays 2024 Equity Gilt Study, cited on AJ Bell’s ISA calculator page, found that over 130 years shares outperformed cash nine times out of ten over any ten-year period, and that over the past 20 years equities returned 3.1% a year above inflation compared with a 1.8% annual loss from cash.
All capital gains, dividends, and interest inside the ISA wrapper are free from UK tax, which lets compounding work without the drag that applies in a standard account. The current annual ISA allowance is £20,000, so £7,300 a year sits comfortably within it.
F&C Investment Trust: a Case Study in Long-Run Compounding
Hitting 9% a year requires more than passive hope. One vehicle that has delivered above that level over long periods is F&C Investment Trust (LSE: FCIT), founded in 1868 and diversified across listed global equities, unlisted securities, and private equity.
According to its annual financial report filed with the London Stock Exchange (LSE), FCIT delivered a total shareholder return of 619.1% over the twenty years to end of 2025, equivalent to 10.4% per annum. Over the ten years to end of 2025, £1,000 invested with dividends reinvested grew to £3,283.
For FY 2025, the trust reported a share price total return of 14.6%, ahead of the 14.2% posted by the FTSE All-World index. The NAV total return was 11.6% over the same period, as reported by TradingView, reflecting the trust’s use of gearing and a period when the share price discount narrowed.
The trust holds stock in over 400 companies, with Nvidia as the largest single position at 4.3% of the portfolio, followed by Alphabet at 3.4%, Apple at 2.5%, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company at 2.0%, and Applied Materials at 1.3%.
On income, FCIT paid three interim dividends of 3.8p per share during FY 2025, and the board proposed a final dividend of 5.2p, bringing the total to 16.6p per share, a 6.4% increase and the trust’s 55th consecutive annual dividend rise. The Kepler report hosted on Columbia Threadneedle’s document server shows net revenue per share for FY 2025 reached 17.97p, meaning the 16.6p total dividend was fully covered by revenue alone. Revenue reserves stood at approximately £125.5m as at 31 December 2025, equal to around 1.6 times the dividends paid in the prior twelve months. The prospective yield at current prices is approximately 1.4%, with the final dividend subject to shareholder approval.
The final dividend was approved at the annual general meeting on 29 April 2026. Shareholders at that meeting also approved a 4-for-1 share split, which took effect on 11 May 2026, reducing the nominal NAV per share and share price to reflect the four-fold increase in shares issued.
Hargreaves Lansdown data shows the trust’s market capitalisation at approximately £6.44bn, with total assets of £6.76bn and net debt of £496.65m. The trust was trading at a discount to NAV of approximately 8.79% at the time of that data, against a 12-month average discount of 8.15%: that persistent discount means buyers are currently acquiring the underlying portfolio at below its stated asset value.
The 9% average-market assumption is not a ceiling. A trust with a twenty-year annualised return of 10.4% illustrates what patient, diversified stock-picking can add over a full market cycle. The discount to NAV, close to its 12-month average, gives any new buyer a clear reference point to watch.
