Let's say you want to become a millionaire in five years. If you're starting from scratch, online millionaire calculators (which return a variety of results given the same inputs) estimate that you'll need to save anywhere from $13,000 to $15,500 a month and invest it wisely enough to earn an average of 10% a year.
The longer you wait to start saving, the more cash you'll have to put aside each month to reach your goal. If you wait until retirement is 20 years away, you will need to save $1,382 per month to hit the million-dollar mark, assuming a 10% return. At 6% you will need to save $2,195 per month!
In order to hit your goal of $1 million in 10 years, SmartAsset's savings calculator estimates that you would need to save around $7,900 per month. This is if you're just putting your money into a high-yield savings account with an average annual percentage yield (APY) of 1.10%.
If you can afford to put away $1,400 per month, you could potentially save your first $100k in just 5 years. If that's too much, aim for even half that (or whatever you can). Thanks to compound interest, just $700 per month could become $100k in 9 years. “The first $100,000 is the hardest to save.”
Saving any amount of money isn't easy and a big sum like $40,000 is a huge accomplishment. Now it's time to figure out what to do with that big old pile of dough. If you have credit card bills, pay them first, and it's also a very good idea to have three to six months of living expenses banked in case of an emergency.
Focus on the long-term
If you can manage to earn a 10% return on your investment every year for 30 years, your $10,000 could grow to as much as $174,000—all without contributing another penny on top of your original investment. That's the magic of compound interest.
Is It Enough Money? You can retire on a million dollars, but it will not be easy. First, you must carefully budget and invest your money to ensure you do not outlive your savings. With careful planning, you can retire comfortably on $1 million.
Retiring at 65 seems like a typical target, but it takes careful planning and a sufficient nest egg to pull off. If you accrue $2 million during your career, you can pay yourself $80,000 annually without touching your principal, which translates to a healthy monthly budget.
If your portfolio were to earn a modest 6% return, you'd have $600,000 in interest per year. And given that the average American spends $66,921 per year (as of 2021), $10 million is more than enough to retire at 30 in most cases. However, that may not be true if you have an expensive lifestyle when you retire.
Investing in the Stock Market
So, if you invested your $1,000,000, it would generate $100,000 in interest in the first year ($1,000,000 X 0.10 = $100,000). If you let it compound annually for 10 years, you would generate $1,593,742 in returns for a total of over $2,1593,742.
Based on the median costs of living in most parts of America, $5 million is more than enough for a very comfortable retirement. Based on average market returns, $5 million can support many households indefinitely.
If you retire with $500k in assets, the 4% rule says that you should be able to withdraw $20,000 per year for a 30-year (or longer) retirement. So, if you retire at 60, the money should ideally last through age 90. If 4% sounds too low to you, remember that you'll take an income that increases with inflation.
How old is the average millionaire? The average millionaire is 57 years old. This is because it takes smart financial decisions, hard work, and wise investments to become a millionaire, most of which don't fully pay off until around the age of 50 or 60.
Assuming you retire at the age of 60 and make it to 85 (fingers crossed you'll celebrate the 100 too!) that's 25 years to cover financially. With $2 million in the pocket, it comes to about $80,000 per year or $6,667 per month to spend. And we're just talking about savings alone!
The ASFA Retirement Standard Explainer says a comfortable retirement lifestyle would need $640,000 in super for a couple, or $545,000 for a single person.
Yes, for some people, $2 million should be more than enough to retire. For others, $2 million may not even scratch the surface. The answer depends on your personal situation and there are lot of challenges you'll face. As of 2023, it seems the number of obstacles to a successful retirement continues to grow.
On the higher end, those organisations recommend individuals to save $545,000 to $745,000 in super by ages 65 to 67, for a comfortable or high-spending retirement. The only scenario where $1 million is set as the savings goal is for a high-spending couple in retirement.
It suggests a $690,000 super balance for a couple, or a $595,000 balance for a single person, should provide a comfortable retirement, assuming the age pension will also come into play.
The Federal Reserve's most recent data reveals that the average American has $65,000 in retirement savings. By their retirement age, the average is estimated to be $255,200.
For example, if you put $10,000 into a savings account with a 4% annual yield, compounded daily, you'd earn $408 in interest the first year, $425 the second year, an extra $442 the third year and so on. After 10 years of compounding, you would have earned a total of $4,918 in interest.
What will 100k be worth in 20 years? If the nominal annual interest rate is 4%, a beginning balance of $100,000 will be worth $219,112.31 after twenty years if compounded annually.
It would take $72,000 in total contributions, making $27,147 in total earned interest. Alternatively, if they choose assets that provide a 9% annual return, which is akin to more aggressive investment, they would need to invest $505 per month for ten years to accumulate $100,000 in total.