Last week I crossed over $300,000 invested in the markets. I said $300,000 is halfway to $1,000,000. Now, I will prove it.

First off, let me say this. I know on paper that $300k is not halfway to $1 million. But, you are forgetting something very powerful. In simple math terms, $300k is NOT half way. But, when you sprinkle in this one powerful thing, it actually changes the entire landscape of how you will think about investing.

One of my favorite sayings is “Your first $100k is the toughest. But every $100k after gets progressively easier”.

Who said that? Me. haha. I tweeted that a while back. But it is so true. Getting to that first $100k invested makes you feel like you are doing all the work (because you are). But the next $100k gets a little easier, then the next gets a little easier. Once you get to $300k, you are already half way to that coveted $1,000,000. Let me explain:

How is this possible? Our friend Compound Interest.

If we assume a 7% annual rate of return & look at invested $5k, $10k, $20k or $30k per year, we come up with this graph:

How this graph reads is this: Assuming 7% average rate of return, if you are investing $5,000 per year, it will take you 12.37 years to get to $100,000 invested. That 12.37 years is 31.64% of the time it takes to get to $1,000,000. It will take you a total of 23.57 years to get to $300,000 invested, which is 60.28% (over half way) to get to $1,000,000 invested. It will take you 29.87 years to get to $500,000 invested & a total of 39.1 years to get to $1,000,000 invested.

As you invest more per year, the first $100,000 is less % of the total time it takes to get to $1,000,000.

If we were to take the average of all 4 investment totals, to get to $300,000 invested would take 14.30 years total & would account for 51.16% of the time it takes to get to $1,000,000 invested. So, in terms of time, mathematically speaking, $300,000 is halfway to $1,000,000😉.

This is due to compounding. The more money you get invested, the more compounding helps you.

• Earning 7% on $50,000 is a return of $3,500

• Earning 7% on $100,000 is a return of $7,000

• Earning 7% on $500,000 is a return of $35,000

• Earning 7% on $1,000,000 is a return of $70,000

This is why I am so focused on getting a lot of money invested now. The more I can invest now, the more compounding will help me throughout my life.

So I hope this explains my tweets this week going over this controversial take I have lol. If you are still confused, you can read more of this study from the source: https://www.liveoffdividends.com/300k-is-half-way-to-one-million

& finally, for all those who said I can’t do math… I got a 28 on my ACT on the math section 😉 

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Tweet of the Week:

Wild what two years can do for the housing market with raising rates🤯

Thank you so much for reading & I will see you next week! Until then, keep buying assets & stacking those dividends. 🙂 

- Decade Investor