Guide

How much to invest
to reach $1 million

Worked backward from the goal, by the age you start, with the caveat most articles skip.

Published August 15, 2026 · 6 min read

Key takeaways

Starting at 25, roughly $405 a month reaches $1 million by 65 at a 7% return.
Starting at 45, the same goal needs roughly $1,970 a month.
Waiting twenty years does not double the cost. It nearly quintuples it.
A million dollars in thirty years buys considerably less than a million today.

The short answer

Assuming a 7% average annual return and starting from zero, here is the monthly contribution needed to reach $1 million by age 65:

Starting age	Years to grow	Monthly needed	Total contributed
25	40	$405	$194,400
30	35	$584	$245,300
35	30	$855	$307,800
40	25	$1,277	$383,100
45	20	$1,970	$472,800
50	15	$3,214	$578,500
55	10	$5,846	$701,500

Look at the last two columns together. The 25-year-old reaches a million having contributed $194,000 — compounding supplies the other $806,000. The 55-year-old contributes $702,000 for the same result, because there is not enough time left for growth to do the heavy lifting.

Run these numbers yourself

Every figure on this page came from the calculator. Change the inputs to match your own situation and watch what moves.

Open the calculator

The cost of waiting five years

Every five-year delay raises the required monthly contribution by roughly 45% to 65%. From 25 to 30 costs an extra $179 a month. From 45 to 50 costs an extra $1,244 a month for the identical goal.

Put differently: a 25-year-old who delays until 35 has to more than double their monthly savings to catch up.

If you already have savings

Starting balances change the picture substantially. To reach $1 million by 65 at 7%:

Starting at 35 with	Monthly needed
$0	$855
$25,000	$692
$50,000	$530
$100,000	$204

That last row is worth pausing on. $100,000 invested at 35 grows to roughly $761,000 by 65 on its own at 7%, so only a small monthly top-up closes the gap. Money already invested is doing more work than money you have not saved yet.

How much the rate assumption changes things

Starting at 35 with $0, to reach $1 million by 65:

Assumed return	Monthly needed
5%	$1,226
7%	$855
9%	$588
11%	$399

Tempting to plan on the 11% row. Resist it. If the return comes in lower and you saved $399 a month for thirty years expecting a million, you will land closer to $470,000 with no time to correct.

The inflation problem nobody mentions

A million dollars thirty years from now will not buy what a million buys today. At 2.5% inflation, it has roughly the purchasing power of $475,000 in today's money. At 3%, closer to $410,000.

This does not mean the goal is pointless — it means "a million dollars" is a round number, not an analysis. If you want $1 million in today's purchasing power in thirty years, you are actually aiming for something closer to $2.1 million, and the monthly figures roughly double.

A more useful way to frame it

Rather than picking a round number, work backward from spending. A common rule of thumb suggests withdrawing about 4% of a portfolio annually in retirement. On that basis, $1 million supports roughly $40,000 a year before taxes.

Ask what annual income you want, multiply by 25, and you have a target with actual meaning behind it. It is a rough guide rather than a guarantee, but it beats a number chosen because it sounds impressive.