How Much Do I Need to Invest Each Month to Reach $1 Million?
Start with the $1 million example or enter your own target. Adjust your starting balance, time horizon and hypothetical return to estimate the monthly contribution needed to reach your goal.
Calculate your monthly target
Illustrative estimate only. The entered annual return is divided by 12 to obtain the monthly rate used by this calculator. Actual investment returns can vary and may be negative; taxes, fees and market volatility are not modeled.
Estimated monthly investment needed
Rounded to the nearest whole currency unit.
Starting amount: —
Future contributions: —
Estimated investment growth: —
Projected ending value: —
A simple baseline
With no starting balance, a 30-year time horizon and a hypothetical 7% annual return divided by 12 to obtain the monthly rate, the calculator estimates the monthly amount required to reach $1 million.
The result changes significantly when you change the time horizon or assumed return. Starting earlier generally reduces the monthly amount required.
Why time matters so much
Compounding has more time to work over longer periods. That means the difference between starting 10 years earlier or later can have a large effect on the monthly contribution needed to reach the same goal.
Important assumptions
This calculator divides the entered annual return by 12 to obtain the monthly rate and models regular contributions at the end of each month.
It does not model taxes, investment fees, inflation, contribution timing differences or real-world market volatility.
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