How much do you need to invest in S&P 500 to become a millionaire?
Here's how a 10.25% return would break down if you invested $5,000 at the beginning of each year over four decades. Data source: Author's calculations. As you can see from the chart, investing $5,000 annually in the S&P 500 would make you a millionaire in a little over 30 years, assuming average 10.25% annual returns.
If the S&P 500 outperforms its historical average and generates, say, a 12% annual return, you would reach $1 million in 26 years by investing $500 a month.
Assuming an average annual return rate of about 10% (a typical historical average), a $10,000 investment in the S&P 500 could potentially grow to approximately $25,937 over 10 years.
Assuming that you can earn this 10% average return over your investing career, if you are getting started investing this year and you want to become a millionaire in 30 years, you would need to invest $506.60 per month. This amount may seem like a lot, but it may actually be pretty doable for many people.
S&P 500 index funds: Historically, these have offered returns between 10% and 14% per year, translating to $100,000 to $140,000 annually on a $1 million investment.
According to our calculations, a $1000 investment made in February 2014 would be worth $5,971.20, or a gain of 497.12%, as of February 5, 2024, and this return excludes dividends but includes price increases. Compare this to the S&P 500's rally of 178.17% and gold's return of 55.50% over the same time frame.
As a result, the broad-market index has an excellent historical track record of generating wealth. Over its history, the S&P 500 has generated an average annual return of 9%, including re-invested dividends. At that rate, even a middle-class income is enough to become a millionaire over time.
How a monthly investment of $300 could grow into $618,900. The S&P 500 returned 164% over the last decade, or about 10% per year. At that pace, $300 invested monthly in an S&P 500 index fund would be worth about $60,000 in one decade, $215,400 in two decades, and $618,900 in three decades.
In 1980, had you invested a mere $1,000 in what went on to become the top-performing stock of S&P 500, then you would be sitting on a cool $1.2 million today.
| Discount Rate | Present Value | Future Value |
|---|---|---|
| 20% | $1,000 | $38,337.60 |
| 21% | $1,000 | $45,259.26 |
| 22% | $1,000 | $53,357.64 |
| 23% | $1,000 | $62,820.62 |
Can I become a millionaire in 5 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.
- Freeport-McMoRan Inc (NYSE:FCX)
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- ChargePoint Holdings Inc (NYSE:CHPT) ...
Suppose you're starting from scratch and have no savings. You'd need to invest around $13,000 per month to save a million dollars in five years, assuming a 7% annual rate of return and 3% inflation rate. For a rate of return of 5%, you'd need to save around $14,700 per month.
The market is thriving. Have you missed the best time to invest? After a rough couple of years, the stock market is finally surging again. The S&P 500 (^GSPC -0.88%) has been reaching new heights, soaring by a whopping 41% from its lowest point in October 2022.
According to Schwab, even if you invested in your annuity on the day of your retirement, with $1 million you can potentially collect $6,000 per month or more for the rest of your life. All of which is to say that with $1 million, you can certainly collect a comfortable amount of money in your retirement.
The average yearly return of the S&P 500 is 10.56% over the last 100 years, as of the end of February 2024. This assumes dividends are reinvested. Dividends account for about 40% of the total gain over this period. Adjusted for inflation, the 100-year average stock market return (including dividends) is 7.4%.
A $10,000 investment in Tesla back in April of 2014 would now be worth roughly $121,460 right now -- and that's even factoring in the stock's pullback this year.
The S&P 500 is all US-domiciled companies that over the last ~40 years have accounted for ~50% of all global stocks. By just owning the S&P 500 you miss out on almost half of the global opportunity set which is another ~10,000 public companies.
Investing in an S&P 500 fund can instantly diversify your portfolio and is generally considered less risky. S&P 500 index funds or ETFs will track the performance of the S&P 500, which means when the S&P 500 does well, your investment will, too. (The opposite is also true, of course.)
Here's how a 10.25% return would break down if you invested $5,000 at the beginning of each year over four decades. Data source: Author's calculations. As you can see from the chart, investing $5,000 annually in the S&P 500 would make you a millionaire in a little over 30 years, assuming average 10.25% annual returns.
How fast does money grow in S&P 500?
S&P 500 annual returns
Over the past 30 years, the S&P 500 index has delivered a compound average annual growth rate of 10.7% per year. Data source: Slickcharts.com.
Historically, the market trends upwards over time: While there can be corrections and downturns, the S&P 500 has historically delivered positive returns over the long term (at least 10 years).
The S&P 500 is an index, so it does not pay dividends; however, there are mutual funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that track the index, which you can invest in. If the companies in these funds pay dividends, you'll receive yours based on how many shares of the funds you hold.
S&P 500 investments
The SPDR S&P 500 ETF, which trades under the ticker SPY, is the oldest and biggest ETF to track the S&P 500, with about $425 billion in assets under management. It's administered by State Street Global Advisors. It pays a dividend quarterly and had a yield of about 1.3% as of November 2021.
S&P 500 Monthly Return is at 3.10%, compared to 5.17% last month and 3.51% last year. This is higher than the long term average of 0.56%. The S&P 500 Monthly Return is the investment return received each month, excluding dividends, when holding the S&P 500 index.
