A lifelong second income for just £10 a week? Here’s how!

A lifelong second income for just £10 a week? Here’s how!© Provided by The Motley Fool

Setting up a second income not just for next year, or even the next decade, but the rest of my life appeals to me.

Such dividends are never guaranteed, but by diversifying a portfolio across a number of different shares, hopefully there will always be some income even if individual shares reduce or cancel their payouts along the way.

To put that into perspective by the way, FTSE 100 investment trust Scottish Mortgage last cut its dividend per share almost a century ago, after the famous 1929 Wall Street crash !

With a spare £10 a week, here is the approach I take to building such passive income streams.

What to look for when buying dividend shares

I think it is too easy – and potentially unhelpful – to complicate things when it comes to the stock market. So like billionaire investor Warren Buffett, I tend to think of a share as a small stake in a company.

I would not invest in a company I do not understand. Nor would I buy into one unless I felt upbeat about its long-term prospects – and felt the price I was paying represented good value for what I was getting.

Dividend Heroes