By: Akaisha Kaderli / Billy Kaderli
Do you dream of becoming a millionaire? Living a life of luxury, no money worries, traveling when and where you want.
Wow! Sounds great doesn’t it?
Well, you can become a millionaire and live the life of your dreams.
Everyone has heard that if you just give up that latte or pack your lunch daily you can achieve this goal. And you can, but that’s only half of the story—perhaps you can wrap your mind around the following idea more easily.
Martha, Lori, Vicki, and Akaisha, all Early Retirees
When to Begin Your Journey
Smart Sally, is really smart.
On the day she was born, she deposited $10.00 into the S&P 500 index. Fidelity is now offering a no fee, no minimum account balance fund which would work for this.
Assuming that the S&P 500 Index performs as it has for the last 100 years, Sally’s investment will grow at a ten percent annual rate with dividends reinvested.
Chart of the S&P 500 performance from October, 1917 to October, 2018, Over a 10% Annual Return
Sally knows that ten dollars isn’t going to get her to a million in her lifetime—that’s how smart she is—so she adds $10.00 each day, and after one year her account has grown to $3,838.21. Not bad for her first birthday.
Sally also understands the importance of paying herself first. Before that latté, before going out shoe shopping, before anything else including rent, car payments or purchasing a home, she makes her deposit into her future.
She continues with her investment plan making contributions daily, and on her 34th birthday her account has grown to $1,047,105.61. Congratulations Sally on being a millionaire and—while most of her friends are trying to figure out what they are going to do with their lives at that age—she has accumulated a substantial nest egg.
This is the Power of Compounding.
But Sally isn’t finished.
She has big dreams.
So, she continues with making ten-dollar daily deposits into her account and on her 40th birthday has close to two million dollars: $1,934,668.51. Wow! In just six years that’s almost a doubling of her account value, and her total daily investment was only $146,000 over that forty-year period.
Again, this illustrates the Power of Compounding.
What if You Start Later in Life?
Not everyone cannot be as smart as Sally and begin investing right at birth, but Johnny is no slouch and began his program on his 15th birthday with his grass cutting, leaf raking and snow removal proceeds and by the time he was 55 years old—which is considered early retirement—he too accumulated close to 2 million dollars.
Even if you waited until you were 25 years old to start this plan when you reach the standard retirement age of 65, you will have a sizable net worth.
Chart of Smart Sally’s years of investing and her contributions
This pay-yourself-first-plan is separate from your student loans, from your company’s 401(k) matching plans, separate from purchasing a vacation, a home, or having a child. This money is for YOU and is not to be touched for anything else in your life until it can produce enough gains per year to cover your living expenses.
Once there, you are considered to be Financially Independent.
The takeaway from this exercise is to get started as early as you can, pay yourself first, and even small deposits of ten dollars a day will grow to where you, too, can travel the world and live your life on your terms.
What are You Waiting for?
Take charge of your life and make it happen. Live your dream of becoming a millionaire. Start today!
Editor’s note: If you have children or grandchildren, your commitment to this simple investing/savings plan for them will surely change their lives. We would recommend not letting them know about this gift until they are older and wiser, so as not to place temptation to spend in front of them!
About the Author
Billy and Akaisha Kaderli are recognized retirement experts and internationally published authors on topics of finance, medical tourism and world travel. With the wealth of information they share on their award winning website RetireEarlyLifestyle.com, they have been helping people achieve their own retirement dreams since 1991. They wrote the popular books, The Adventurer’s Guide to Early Retirement and Your Retirement Dream IS Possible available on their website bookstore or on Amazon.com.Featured image via Unsplash.