I'd imagine most people would love to be able to live off retirement income from ASX dividend shares because of how easy it is to watch the dividends flow into our bank accounts.

Anyone can start building their portfolio with retirement in mind from square one. But, someone could really accelerate their passive income earnings if they have $50,000 to invest.

When thinking about retirement income, I'd want to own businesses I'm confident are likely to grow their payouts in the coming years.

I'm going to talk about how I'd split $50,000 across multiple ASX dividend shares and how much dividend income that could produce.

Washington H. Soul Pattinson and Co. Ltd (ASX: SOL)

I'd put the first $15,000 into Soul Patts shares. The investment house has been operating for more than 120 years and has paid a dividend in every one of those years. Additionally, it has grown its annual dividend every year since 2000, which is the longest growth record on the ASX.

The ASX dividend share is invested in a wide variety of sectors including telecommunications, resources, financial services, agriculture, swimming schools, building products, industrial properties, and plenty of other sectors.

Soul Patts currently has a trailing grossed-up dividend yield of 3.5%, including franking credits.

MFF Capital Investments Ltd (ASX: MFF)

I'd put the next $15,000 into MFF shares. This investment business focuses on owning high-quality international shares with impressive economic moats and strong growth outlooks. We're talking about names like Alphabet, Visa, Amazon, and Mastercard.

In my opinion, MFF's investment style gives it a higher chance of relatively good returns over the long term. The ASX dividend share can use some of those investment profits to pay its annual ordinary dividend, which has increased every year since 2018.

It's expecting to pay a dividend for FY25 that translates into a grossed-up dividend yield of 5.1%, including franking credits. It's also trading at a discount of around 10% to its pre-tax net tangible assets (NTA).

I like the high levels of diversification offered by these first two businesses, which is why I'm willing to put $15,000 into each of them.

Centuria Industrial REIT (ASX: CIP)

With the next $10,000, I'd put that into this real estate investment trust (REIT) focused on industrial properties. These properties are exposed to several positive growth drivers, such as the increasing adoption of e-commerce, data centre demand, and the increased need for refrigerated space (for food and medicine).

There is limited space in our capital cities for new, large warehouses, which helps push up the rent and occupancy rate. I think this will help the ASX dividend share grow its rental profits and distributions in the coming years. RBA cash rate cuts could also help decrease the cost of debt and increase the valuation of the properties.

Its FY25 distribution equates to a distribution yield of 5.2%.

APA Group (ASX: APA)

With the final $10,000, I'd want to put it into APA shares. This business owns a significant portfolio of energy assets, including gas pipelines, other gas infrastructure, renewable energy generation, and electricity transmission.

APA has grown its distribution every year for 20 years in a row, which is the second-best record on the ASX. The ASX dividend share has provided guidance that its FY25 distribution per unit would increase by 1.8% to 57 cents per security, translating into a distribution yield of 6.9%.

Its top line is growing thanks to the vast majority of its revenue being linked to inflation. It is also regularly adding to its portfolio thanks to acquisitions and investing in creating new pipelines or other assets.

How much dividend income these ASX dividend shares would produce

If I invested $50,000 across these businesses as I outlined, it would create approximately $2,500 of annual dividend income, which is a solid level to start with and can grow from here.