How much money will I have if I save $500 a month?
Did you know that if you save $500 each month, you'll end the year with $6,000 in savings? This substantial amount of money can be put toward IRA contributions, paying off credit card debt or other outstanding debt, or tucking it away in an emergency fund.
| Rate of return | 10 years | 30 years |
|---|---|---|
| 4% | $72,000 | $336,500 |
| 6% | $79,000 | $474,300 |
| 8% | $86,900 | $679,700 |
| 10% | $95,600 | $987,000 |
Saving $1,500 a month is an excellent goal to have. It can help you build up your savings and put you in a better financial position for the future. Having this amount of money saved each month can give you more flexibility when it comes to making decisions about spending or investing.
Investing $100 per month, with an average return rate of 10%, will yield $200,000 after 30 years. Due to compound interest, your investment will yield $535,000 after 40 years. These numbers can grow exponentially with an extra $100.
If you start at 30 years old you should have $1,150,036 saved. If you start at 40 years old you should have $613,361 saved. If you start at 50 years old you should have 283,890 saved. If you start at 60 years old you should have $81,623 saved.
Saving $1,000 per month can be a good sign, as it means you're setting aside money for emergencies and long-term goals. However, if you're ignoring high-interest debt to meet your savings goals, you might want to switch gears and focus on paying off debt first.
If you save roughly $600 per month at a 6% return, after 10 years you'd nearly have saved a whopping $100,000. But most people, especially in today's economy, can't free up $600 per month to build their savings.
$1,000 at 0.01 percent APY will only be $1,001 at the end of 10 years. But $1,000 at 5 percent APY will be $1,629 after 10 years. And if you added just $50 a month, you'd have $9,411 saved up – at 5 percent APY after 10 years.
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.
It depends on what you're doing and how much you make: If you're one person making $100K before taxes, it's pretty solid and means you're financially frugal. If you make $350K, even in the Bay Area, saving only $2K/month as a single person would be rather minimal, and would be a sign that you're living “overlarge”.
How to become a millionaire by saving $100 a month?
By investing $100 every month from the ages of 25 to 65 into the likes of a Roth individual retirement account (IRA), Gen Z could retire as millionaires. “With a 12% annual average rate of return—the markets can do that for you—you'd have a million dollars,” she explains.
In fact, if you sock away $400 a month over a 43-year period, and your invested savings generate an average annual 10.5% return, then you'll end up with $3.3 million. And that should be enough money to enjoy retirement to the fullest.
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%.
It says that 50% of your earnings should go to necessities, 30% to discretionary items and 20% to savings. For example, if you earn $8,000 per month, you should save $1,600 of it. There's no guarantee, however, that a general guideline is going to work for you.
If you're focused on long-term growth, investing $100 each month could be a good move for you. Many people invest through an IRA account. Check out our list of the best IRA accounts to learn more about how these investment accounts function.
Long-term investor: Let's say that you are investing $100 per month with retirement in mind. You plan to invest $100 per month for 30 years and expect a 6% return. In this case, you would contribute $36,000 over your investment timeline. At the end of the term, your bond portfolio would be worth $97,451.
Estimated saving rates range from less than 5 percent for the bottom quintile of the income distribution to more than 40 percent of income for the top 5 percent.
Overall, Americans have a median of $5,300 and an average of $41,800 in savings, according to the Federal Reserve.
Nearly one in four (22 percent) U.S. adults said they have no emergency savings. Despite economic challenges, the percentage remains relatively unchanged year-over-year. In 2022, 23 percent of Americans had no emergency savings.
As you can see over 5 years $150 a week really adds up, allowing you to save up for your retirement or a house deposit.
What if I save $20 dollars a week?
Small amounts will add up over time and compounding interest will help your money grow. $20 per week may not seem like much, but it's more than $1,000 per year. Saving this much year after year can make a substantial difference as it can help keep your financial goal on your mind and keep you motivated.
Rule of thumb? Aim to have three to six months' worth of expenses set aside. To figure out how much you should have saved for emergencies, simply multiply the amount of money you spend each month on expenses by either three or six months to get your target goal amount.
| Discount Rate | Present Value | Future Value |
|---|---|---|
| 17% | $100 | $2,310.56 |
| 18% | $100 | $2,739.30 |
| 19% | $100 | $3,242.94 |
| 20% | $100 | $3,833.76 |
- U.S. Treasury Bills, Notes and Bonds. Risk level: Very low. ...
- Series I Savings Bonds. Risk level: Very low. ...
- Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS) Risk level: Very low. ...
- Fixed Annuities. ...
- High-Yield Savings Accounts. ...
- Certificates of Deposit (CDs) ...
- Money Market Mutual Funds. ...
- Investment-Grade Corporate Bonds.
We'll play it safe and assume you get an annual return of 8%. If you invest $1,000 per month, you'll have $1 million in 25.5 years. Data source: Author's calculations.
