Calculators · Investing
How to Get to a Million
Example: $500 a month. 40 years. You put in $240,000. Compounding adds $995,771, 81% of the final balance.
Where $500 a month gets you in 40 years at 7%
$1,235,771
Hits your $1,000,000 goal at 37.2 years.
The curve does the heavy lifting
Year by yearEvery year of the plan, in dollars
| Year | Added | Growth | Balance | Today’s $ |
|---|
Show the mathHow the numbers are worked out
“The first $500K takes 28 years. The second takes 9.”
The eighth wonder of the world?
You’ve probably heard this one credited to Einstein. Flip between the two views.
“Compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world. He who understands it, earns it… he who doesn’t… pays it.”
— supposedly Albert EinsteinNo record he ever said it. The math works anyway.
The quote traces to investment-company advertising (one ad from 1916). Einstein’s name was attached by 1976, 21 years after he died.“Compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world. He who understands it, earns it… he who doesn’t… pays it.”
An earlier version of this quote was credited to Albert Einstein. There is no record he said it. The idea first appears in investment-company advertising, and Einstein’s name was attached decades after his death. The math, we regret to report, is still correct.
Source: Quote Investigator, “Compound Interest Is Man’s Greatest Invention” (2011), which traces the closely related “greatest invention” version. The 1916 ad and the 1976 Einstein credit come from that research.
Follow the moneyCompound interestInflationPurchasing powerSee the numbers: the dollar since 1800
Education, not financial advice. This is an illustration, not a forecast: it assumes the same average return every year. Real markets swing up and down, and taxes and fees aren’t included.
Inflation sources: the Fed’s 2% goal; BLS consumer price index, average 1913–2026 (via OfficialData.org).
Method matches Calculator.net’s Investment Calculator: the yearly rate is converted to an equivalent monthly rate, then applied month by month. Check: $500/mo, 7%, compounded annually, 40 years, end-of-month deposits → $1,235,771.