How much do you need to invest in stocks to become a millionaire?
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.
With the right strategy, you could potentially earn $1 million or more -- even if you're not a stock market guru. There are two important steps to maximizing your earnings in the market: invest in the right places, and invest consistently for as long as possible.
If the S&P 500 outperforms its historical average and generates, say, a 12% annual return, you would reach $1 million in 26 years by investing $500 a month.
Once you get your money working for you, it can grow quickly even if you aren't investing a lot. Investing $1 a day can turn into tens of thousands of dollars over a long period of time. You can get started by opening a brokerage account and researching low-cost index funds.
“Ideally, you'll invest somewhere around 15%–25% of your post-tax income,” says Mark Henry, founder and CEO at Alloy Wealth Management. “If you need to start smaller and work your way up to that goal, that's fine. The important part is that you actually start.”
Even with above-average gains of 15% per year, it would still take more than 30 years for a $10,000 investment to grow to $1 million.
The stock market's average return is a cool 10% annually — better than you can find in a bank account or bonds. But many investors fail to earn that 10% simply because they don't stay invested long enough. They often move in and out of the stock market at the worst possible times, missing out on annual returns.
Assuming an average annual return rate of about 10% (a typical historical average), a $10,000 investment in the S&P 500 could potentially grow to approximately $25,937 over 10 years.
Some experts recommend withdrawing 4% each year from your retirement accounts. To generate $500 a month, you might need to build your investments to $150,000. Taking out 4% each year would amount to $6,000, which comes to $500 a month.
Can investing in stocks make you rich? This question is rarely posed anymore since data has overwhelmingly proved that investing in the stock markets is one of the best ways to increase your wealth over time.
Is $100 too little to invest?
Investing just $100 a month can actually do a whole lot to help you grow rich over time. In fact, the table below shows how much your $100 monthly investment could turn into over time, assuming you earn a 10% average annual return.
It may seem like $100 isn't a lot of money to invest in the stock market. But over time, you can add to that total and grow your stake in a business. Investing even a small amount is a good way to at least get your feet wet and slowly gain some exposure to a stock without going all-in right away.
While $1,000 may not seem like much, it's enough cash to start growing your money and securing your financial future, especially if investing becomes a habit. Don't let small amounts prevent you from earning larger ones down the road.
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.
Reinvest Your Payments
The truth is that most investors won't have the money to generate $1,000 per month in dividends; not at first, anyway. Even if you find a market-beating series of investments that average 3% annual yield, you would still need $400,000 in up-front capital to hit your targets. And that's okay.
Stock | Expected Change in Stock Price* |
---|---|
Tesla Inc. (TSLA) | 61% |
Mastercard Inc. (MA) | 14.2% |
Salesforce Inc. (CRM) | 7.2% |
Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) | 11.3% |
There are two approaches you could take. The first is increasing the amount you invest monthly. Bumping up your monthly contributions to $200 would put you over the $1 million mark. The other option would be to try to exceed a 7% annual return with your investments.
1: Simply let compounding work its magic. Over the long haul, the stock market has provided average annual total returns somewhere in the neighborhood of 10%. If the future ends up like the past, $100,000 would grow into $1 million in just over 24 years from compounding alone.
Singh uses the example of putting $10,000 and an additional $7,100 into the market. If the historical stock market return is 7% a year, it will take eight years to grow your money from $10,000 to $100,000.
While it's theoretically possible to earn $1,000 daily through day trading or stock market investments, it's important to note that such earnings are not guaranteed, and they come with significant risks. Day trading and stock market investments can be highly volatile, and there are no guarantees of profits.
What stock will make me rich in 2024?
Stock | 2024 return through March 31 |
---|---|
Janux Therapeutics Inc. (JANX) | 250.9% |
Trump Media & Technology Group Corp. (DJT) | 254.1% |
Super Micro Computer Inc. (SMCI) | 255.3% |
Viking Therapeutics Inc. (VKTX) | 340.6% |
Key Takeaways
Trading is often viewed as a high barrier-to-entry profession, but as long as you have both ambition and patience, you can trade for a living (even with little to no money). Trading can become a full-time career opportunity, a part-time opportunity, or just a way to generate supplemental income.
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.
Discount Rate | Present Value | Future Value |
---|---|---|
5% | $1,000 | $2,653.30 |
6% | $1,000 | $3,207.14 |
7% | $1,000 | $3,869.68 |
8% | $1,000 | $4,660.96 |
Years Invested | Balance At the End of the Period |
---|---|
10 | $102,422 |
20 | $379,684 |
30 | $1,130,244 |
40 | $3,162,040 |
References
- https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/got-%24500-a-month-to-invest-heres-how-the-sp-500-could-make-you-a-millionaire
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