Yes, making $10 million in 10 years is extremely challenging but possible, requiring massive income, aggressive saving/investing (potentially $30k+ monthly depending on returns), high-growth investments, and/or a successful business, as traditional saving won't suffice for such rapid wealth accumulation. It's about exponential growth, smart business ventures, or high-risk/high-reward strategies, not just saving.
If you are starting from scratch, you will need to invest about $4,757 at the end of every month for 10 years. Suppose you already have $100,000. Then you will only need $3,390 at the end of every month to become a millionaire in 10 years.
Costs and Lifestyle
As we noted up top, with $10 million in retirement savings, you very likely can generate more than enough income to live a very comfortable life. Even without investment growth, $10 million allows you to withdraw $100,000 per year for 100 years.
With a traditional savings account, you might find an interest rate near the June 2025 average of 0.38%, but with a high-yield savings account, that interest rate might top 4%. On a $10 million portfolio, you could receive an annual income of $400,000 per year.
Your savings rate: Saving for the long-term typically brings a recommendation of 10-15% of your income, but if you're trying to go from $0 to $1 million in 10 years then you'll likely need to increase that percentage. The exception is if you have a very large amount of income coming in every year.
Achieving a 30% return in a single year is possible with aggressive strategies and a dose of luck, along with the resilience to withstand market volatility. However, sustaining such high returns year after year poses a formidable challenge.
The answer is likely yes for most people — if you invest and manage your money wisely. With $10 million on hand, you can comfortably retire at age 40. Here are a few things to consider as you make your own plans but you may want to work with a financial advisor.
If you wanted to earn an average $3,000 per month, you would need to invest $1.6 million ($36,000 divided by 2.2%). While there is nothing wrong with passive investing, most investors are likely to do much better if they build their own investment portfolio.
Once you have $1 million in assets, you can look seriously at living entirely off the returns of a portfolio. After all, the S&P 500 alone averages 10% returns per year. Setting aside taxes and down-year investment portfolio management, a $1 million index fund could provide $100,000 annually.
Generally, a liquid net worth of at least $1 million would make you a high net worth (HNW) individual. To reach a very high net worth status, you'd need a net worth of $5 million to $10 million. Individuals with a net worth of $30 million or more might qualify as ultra-high net worth.
If you have $1 million saved up by 45, it's definitely worth considering early retirement. So long as you live modestly, there is reason to believe you would get by just fine in a low-cost-of-living area.
And given that the average American spends $66,921 per year (as of 2021), $10 million is more than enough to retire at 30 in most cases. However, that may not be true if you have an expensive lifestyle when you retire. Factors like inflation, healthcare costs and a volatile stock market can derail your retirement.
Put aside just $13.70 per day, and at the end of the year you'll have $5,000; double that to $27.39 daily and you'll have $10,000 by year-end—and that doesn't include the interest you may earn. You can save money by making a budget, automating savings, reducing discretionary spending and seeking discounts.
In fact, at the end of the five years, if you invest $1,000 per month you would have $83,156.62 in your investment account, according to the SIP calculator (assuming a yearly rate of return of 11.97% and quarterly compounding).
There are two approaches you could take. The first is increasing the amount you invest monthly. Bumping up your monthly contributions to $200 would put you over the $1 million mark. The other option would be to try to exceed a 7% annual return with your investments.
To illustrate the power of compound interest, consider an investment of $500 per month at an average annual return of 7%. Over 20 years, the total contributions would amount to $120,000, but the investment could grow to approximately $265,000 due to compounded gains.
While ZipRecruiter is seeing annual salaries as high as $90,500 and as low as $22,500, the majority of 5000 A Month salaries currently range between $49,500 (25th percentile) to $69,500 (75th percentile) with top earners (90th percentile) making $81,000 annually across the United States.
The $1,000 per month rule is designed to help you estimate the amount of savings required to generate a steady monthly income during retirement. According to this rule, for every $240,000 you save, you can withdraw $1,000 per month if you stick to a 5% annual withdrawal rate.
Moderate-Risk Portfolio (4% to 5% Annual Return)
Let's assume the 4% withdrawal rate commonly cited in retirement planning. A $10 million portfolio is likely to last 30 years or more, although actual longevity depends on market performance and spending habits.
For example, with $2 million in savings, you should be able to safely pay yourself an annual retirement “salary” of $80,000, which is 4% of $2 million. At that rate, your money should generally continue growing faster than you spend it.
By the time you reach your 40s, you'll want to have around three times your annual salary saved for retirement. By age 50, you'll want to have around six times your salary saved.
While exact real-time figures vary, estimates from around 2025 suggest approximately 400,000 to over 500,000 Australians held over $1 million in superannuation, with about 2.5% of the population reaching this milestone as of mid-2021, a figure that has likely grown with strong investment returns, though many more hold significant balances and millions are projected to reach this goal by retirement, especially men.
The short answer: to retire on $80,000 a year in Australia, you'll need a super balance of roughly between $700,000 and $1.4 million. It's a broad range, and that's because everyone's circumstances are different.
Yes, you can likely retire at 70 with $800,000, but it depends heavily on your annual spending, investment returns, and eligibility for government support like the Age Pension, potentially supporting a modest to comfortable lifestyle, though a very high-spending one might require more capital, according to wealthlab.com.au, Toro Wealth and Frontier Financial Group. Using the "4% Rule", $800,000 could provide around $32,000/year initially, but factoring in the Age Pension and lower expenses (like no mortgage/work costs) can make it stretch further, possibly supporting a single person's $44k-$50k/year needs.