A field guide to your first $1,000,000
One million dollars is a math problem, not a mystery.
Earn more than you spend, invest the difference in boring assets, and give compounding enough years to work. This site maps the whole route — the numbers, the accounts, the milestones — with no products to sell you.
The road is not evenly paved. The first $100k is the slowest stretch; the last $100k can arrive in little over a year. Here's why.
Illustrations assume a steady 7% annual return, compounded monthly, before inflation — roughly the long-run inflation-adjusted return of the US stock market. Real returns arrive unevenly. See compound interest for the full math.
The route, in order
Four jobs, done in sequence
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Widen the gap
Net worth grows on the spread between income and spending. Raising income has no ceiling; cutting costs does. Negotiate, build skills, add earners.
Increase your income → -
Capture the gap
A savings rate you can hold for a decade beats a heroic one you abandon by March. Automate transfers, kill high-interest debt, keep a cash buffer.
Save a million dollars → -
Put the gap to work
Low-cost index funds inside tax-advantaged accounts do the heavy lifting. No stock picking, no timing — just decades of ownership.
Start investing → -
Refuse to interrupt it
Most fortunes are lost to selling in panics, not to bad funds. The final skill is staying invested through every headline for twenty years.
Millionaire habits →
Start here
Most-read guides
- How to make a million dollarsThe master plan: the four levers, the timelines, and the order to pull them in.
- The first $100kWhy the hardest milestone matters most, and how long it actually takes.
- Compound interestThe engine of the whole plan, explained with real numbers.
- Millionaire statisticsWho millionaires really are: ages, careers, inheritances, and habits.
- Financial independenceWhat $1,000,000 buys: the 4% rule and the math of never needing a paycheck.
- Side hustlesExtra income streams ranked by effort, ceiling, and time to first dollar.
Check the map
Where do you stand today?
Compare your balance sheet against median net worth by age, see how long the trip takes at your savings rate, or open the millionaire calculator and get a date. Every page on this site is indexed in the footer below — pick the one that matches the problem in front of you.