What does investing every month turn into?

Put in what you already have and what you add each month. The answer is in today’s money, so it means the same thing in thirty years as it does now.

Already invested

Adding each month

For how long

Return after inflation

5.0%

What it becomes

How much of that is your own money

What the same plan actually did

Checking every starting month in the real data…

The honest version

A single rate is a convenient lie. No decade returns its average. The spread in the section above is the same monthly plan run through history instead of through one number, and the gap between the worst stretch and the best one is wider than most people picture when they pick 7%.

The early years feel like nothing is happening, because at the start almost every dollar in the balance is a dollar you put there. The year growth finally passes what you have paid in is on the note above, and it moves a long way when you drag the return slider. It is also the part most people quit before reaching.