How long to become a millionaire investing $1,000 a month?
To become a millionaire by investing $1,000 a month, it would take slightly less than 30 years with an average annual return rate of 7%. The exact time can vary depending on the actual returns and market conditions, but consistent investing over this period is a reliable path to reaching this milestone.
Investing $1,000 a month for 20 years would leave you with around $687,306. The specific amount you end up with depends on your returns -- the S&P 500 has averaged 10% returns over the last 50 years. The more you invest (and the earlier), the more you can take advantage of compound growth.
Assuming that you can earn this 10% average return over your investing career, if you are getting started investing this year and you want to become a millionaire in 30 years, you would need to invest $506.60 per month. This amount may seem like a lot, but it may actually be pretty doable for many people.
Saving a million dollars in five years requires an aggressive savings plan. Suppose you're starting from scratch and have no savings. You'd need to invest around $13,000 per month to save a million dollars in five years, assuming a 7% annual rate of return and 3% inflation rate.
In fact, at the end of the five years, if you invest $1,000 per month you would have $83,156.62 in your investment account, according to the SIP calculator (assuming a yearly rate of return of 11.97% and quarterly compounding).
| Discount Rate | Present Value | Future Value |
|---|---|---|
| 6% | $1,000 | $3,207.14 |
| 7% | $1,000 | $3,869.68 |
| 8% | $1,000 | $4,660.96 |
| 9% | $1,000 | $5,604.41 |
According to our calculations, a $1000 investment made in February 2014 would be worth $5,971.20, or a gain of 497.12%, as of February 5, 2024, and this return excludes dividends but includes price increases. Compare this to the S&P 500's rally of 178.17% and gold's return of 55.50% over the same time frame.
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.
- Freeport-McMoRan Inc (NYSE:FCX)
- Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) ...
- AES Corp (NYSE:AES) ...
- Tarsus Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:TARS) ...
- ChargePoint Holdings Inc (NYSE:CHPT) ...
In his experience, “millionaires usually don't accumulate their wealth in a year from a single business venture.” It's more about consistently growing their wealth over several years and diversifying into various income streams.
How to make a quick million dollars?
- Build an Online Business. Starting your own business is probably the fastest way to make a million dollars. ...
- Start a Side Hustle. ...
- Invest in Real Estate. ...
- Sell Online Courses. ...
- Start Freelancing. ...
- Sell eCommerce Products. ...
- Become an Influencer. ...
- Try Coaching or Consulting.
The time it takes to become a millionaire depends on how much you save and the return you get on your money. If you invest $1,000 per month and get an 8% annual return, you'll be a millionaire in 25.5 years. The key to being a millionaire is to start investing right away and to be consistent about it.
Once you have $1 million in assets, you can look seriously at living entirely off the returns of a portfolio. After all, the S&P 500 alone averages 10% returns per year. Setting aside taxes and down-year investment portfolio management, a $1 million index fund could provide $100,000 annually.
Have a look at the above chart and you'll see that if you put a grand into MSFT stock two decades ago, today it would be worth more than $24,000. The same amount invested in the S&P 500 20 years ago would theoretically be worth almost $6,500 today.
If you start by contributing $1,000 a month to a retirement account at age 30 or younger, your savings could be worth more than $1 million by the time you retire. Here's how much you should expect to have in your account by the time you retire at 67: If you start at 20 years old you should have $2,024,222 saved.
| Years Invested | Balance At the End of the Period |
|---|---|
| 10 | $102,422 |
| 20 | $379,684 |
| 30 | $1,130,244 |
| 40 | $3,162,040 |
After 20 years, your $50,000 would grow to $67,195.97. Assuming an annual return rate of 7%, investing $50,000 for 20 years can lead to a substantial increase in wealth.
Over the years, that money can really add up: If you kept that money in a retirement account over 30 years and earned that average 6% return, for example, your $10,000 would grow to more than $57,000. In reality, investment returns will vary year to year and even day to day.
| Discount Rate | Present Value | Future Value |
|---|---|---|
| 2% | $100 | $121.90 |
| 3% | $100 | $134.39 |
| 4% | $100 | $148.02 |
| 5% | $100 | $162.89 |
A $10,000 investment in Tesla back in April of 2014 would now be worth roughly $121,460 right now -- and that's even factoring in the stock's pullback this year.
What if you invested $1,000 in Netflix 10 years ago?
If you had invested in Netflix ten years ago, you're probably feeling pretty good about your investment today. According to our calculations, a $1000 investment made in February 2014 would be worth $9,138.15, or a gain of 813.81%, as of February 12, 2024, and this return excludes dividends but includes price increases.
So, if you held onto your 0.753 ounces of gold from your initial $1,000 investment, it would be worth approximately $1,432 today. This means that your $1,000 investment would have grown by about 43% in nominal terms.
Based on that figure, an annual income of $500,000 or more would make you rich. The Economic Policy Institute uses a different baseline to determine who constitutes the top 1% and the top 5%. For 2021, you're in the top 1% if you earn $819,324 or more each year. The top 5% of income earners make $335,891 per year.
“Becoming a millionaire by 40 is not impossible,” said Baruch Silvermann, CEO of The Smart Investor. “But it will require a lot of hard work, dedication and a lot of luck.” That's especially true if you don't get going until you're in your 30s.
Millionaires — those who have a net worth of at least $1 million —are, perhaps not surprisingly, on the older end. They're predominantly 55 and older; just 2.4% are under the age of 35.
