No. 02 — Save
How to save $100k
At $1,000 a month and a 7% return, $100,000 arrives in 6.6 years. At $2,000 a month it arrives in 3.7. The gap between those two lines is almost entirely what you contributed — not what the market did.
The timeline, by monthly contribution
This is the whole plan in one table. Find your monthly number, read across, and that is your date. There is no version of this where a clever product shortens the row.
| Invested per month | Years to $100,000 | Of which you contributed |
|---|---|---|
| $250 | 17.2 | $51,600 |
| $500 | 11.1 | $66,600 |
| $750 | 8.2 | $73,800 |
| $1,000 | 6.6 | $79,200 |
| $1,250 | 5.5 | $82,500 |
| $1,500 | 4.7 | $84,600 |
| $2,000 | 3.7 | $88,800 |
| $2,500 | 3.0 | $90,000 |
| $3,000 | 2.5 | $90,000 |
7% average annual return, compounded monthly, contributions made at month-end, starting from $0. Contributed column is the monthly amount multiplied by the elapsed months.
Why growth barely matters yet
Look at the $1,000/month row again: of the $100,000, about $79,200 is money you moved out of your paycheck. Compounding supplied roughly a fifth. Now run the same $1,000/month at the other end of the road — the leg from $900,000 to $1,000,000 takes just 1.3 years, and your contributions over that stretch total about $15,600. The market delivers the other 84%.
That is the asymmetry. The first $100k is a savings problem wearing an investing costume; the last $100k is an investing outcome you mostly watch happen. Which is why the lever here is your savings rate, not your fund selection, and why the psychological grind of this stage gets its own treatment in the first $100k. The mechanics of the full trip are in how to save a million dollars.
Your monthly number, by take-home pay
Percentages are easier to hold onto than dollar targets, because they survive raises. Below: take-home income (after tax, before spending) at four savings rates, the dollars per month that implies, and the years to $100,000 at 7%.
| Take-home | 10% | 15% | 20% | 25% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $417 · 12.5 yrs | $625 · 9.4 yrs | $833 · 7.6 yrs | $1,042 · 6.4 yrs |
| $75,000 | $625 · 9.4 yrs | $938 · 6.9 yrs | $1,250 · 5.5 yrs | $1,563 · 4.5 yrs |
| $100,000 | $833 · 7.6 yrs | $1,250 · 5.5 yrs | $1,667 · 4.3 yrs | $2,083 · 3.5 yrs |
| $150,000 | $1,250 · 5.5 yrs | $1,875 · 3.9 yrs | $2,500 · 3.0 yrs | $3,125 · 2.5 yrs |
Years computed at 7% annual, compounded monthly, month-end contributions, from $0. Add the years figure to the current year for your target date.
Two things fall out of this grid. Moving from 10% to 20% roughly halves the wait at every income level — the rate matters more than the salary. And a $50,000 earner saving 25% beats a $100,000 earner saving 10%. If your rate is currently near zero, the fix is a written plan for where the money goes, which is what budgeting is for.
Fill the accounts in this order
Order matters because each step has a different guaranteed return. Work down the list, and only move to the next rung once the current one is done.
1. Your 401(k), up to the full employer match. A 50% match is an instant 50% return on the money, a 100% match is 100%, and neither is available anywhere else at any risk level. Skipping it to pay down a 6% loan is a bad trade by an order of magnitude. See 401(k) for how matches vest and what the current contribution limit is.
2. High-interest debt. Anything above roughly 8–10% — credit cards, most personal loans — is compounding against you faster than a portfolio compounds for you. Paying off a card at 22% is a guaranteed, tax-free 22% return; nothing in the market offers that. Method in get out of debt.
3. An emergency fund of three to six months of expenses. This is not a return-seeking asset. It exists so that a transmission or a layoff doesn't force you to sell investments at the worst moment or reopen the card you just cleared. Sizing rules in emergency fund.
4. A Roth IRA, then the rest of your 401(k) space. Tax-advantaged room is use-it-or-lose-it — each year you don't fill it is gone permanently. Whether Roth or traditional wins depends on your bracket now versus in retirement; the comparison is laid out in Roth IRA. Check the current IRS limits rather than trusting any number you read in an article.
5. A taxable brokerage account. No contribution cap, no withdrawal age, slightly worse tax treatment. This is where the overflow goes, and where money you might need before 59½ belongs.
The two things that break the timeline
Lifestyle creep. The plan dies quietly when every raise gets absorbed by rent, a car payment, and a slightly better version of everything. The defence is mechanical: when your pay rises, increase the automatic transfer first, on the same day, before the money touches your checking account. A person who banks half of every raise reaches $100k years earlier than a person on the same salary curve who banks none.
Holding it in cash. Saving $100,000 in a savings account is a much longer road than the tables above — those timelines assume the money is invested. Cash held for a decade also loses real purchasing power to inflation. Once the emergency fund is funded, additional savings belong in the market. Run your own numbers in the millionaire calculator to see what the difference costs.
Educational content, not financial, tax, or legal advice. Figures are illustrations based on stated assumptions, not guarantees; markets involve risk, including loss of principal.