Quote:It'll take more than $100 a month.   If a person invests $800 a month and earns 5% return, in 40 years they will have 1.2 million.  

 

If they earn 6% return, they will have 1.5 million.  

 

If they invest $500 a month and earn 7% return,, they will have 1.2 million. 

 

From 1950 to 2009, the total real return of the S&P 500 (adjusted for inflation) was 7%.  

 

The median family income in the US in 2014 was $51,000.   That means half the families in the country earn more than that.  I believe those families could make do on a little less spending money, and manage to set aside $500 a month.   So a million dollar retirement fund, adjusted for inflation, is attainable.   Difficult for those at the bottom of the top half, which would be $51,000 a year income, but still, attainable.  It would require some sacrifice and a lot of discipline, but when I say half the people in the country could get rich if they really really tried, keep in mind that $51,000 a year is the very bottom of the top half.   Half the families in the US earn more than that.  A family earning 60, 70, 80 thousand a year would have a much easier time of it.