If you have $500 burning a hole in your pocket, then it could be worth putting it into the share market.
After all, if you were to do this every month, history shows that you could grow your wealth significantly.
For example, based on an expected (but not guaranteed) return of 10% per annum, an investment of $500 a month into ASX shares would become worth $100,000 in 10 years.
And if you were to keep going for a further 10 years, your investment portfolio would grow to $360,000.
Finally, a further decade of investing this way would see you hit the million-dollar mark.
Clearly, even relatively modest investments have the potential to grow into something material thanks to the power of compounding.
With that in mind, let's now take a look at a few ASX shares that could be good options for that first $500 investment.
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Lovisa Holdings Ltd (ASX: LOV)
If you're making a $500 investment, you ideally want to invest in something that you can buy and hold for the long term. This means you can avoid paying brokerage costs more than you need to, which eat into your returns.
Lovisa arguably ticks all the boxes for a long-term investment. It has a very bright future thanks to its global expansion, which is only really getting started.
It is because of this expansion that Morgans is very bullish on Lovisa and has an add rating and $35.00 price target on its shares. It has previously noted that its plan to "enter mainland China in FY24, [is] paving the way for significant longer-term growth."
BetaShares NASDAQ 100 ETF (ASX: NDQ)
Another quality option for that $500 investment could be the BetaShares NASDAQ 100 ETF.
This exchange-traded funds (ETF) is home to 100 of the best companies that the world has to offer. This includes the likes of Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) and Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA), as well as a plethora of tech giants and household names.
Given the quality on offer among these names, this ETF looks well-placed to continue delivering strong returns for investors long into the future.
Xero Ltd (ASX: XRO)
Finally, this cloud accounting platform provider could be a great ASX share to buy and hold with a $500 investment.
Especially given its industry-leading position in a market that Goldman Sachs estimates to comprise over 100 million small to medium sized businesses globally. It believes that this gives it a ">NZ$100bn TAM [total addressable market]." This compares to Xero's current subscriber base of 4.2 million.
Goldman currently has a buy rating and $164.00 price target on its shares.
