Monthly $1K into S&P 500? Here's Your 30-Year Payoff

Dumb question: what if you just… kept it simple?

Forget stock picking. Just throw $1,000/month into an S&P 500 index fund, chill for 30 years, and watch the compound interest do the heavy lifting.

The math is kinda wild:

• Year 5: $72.5K (you put in $60K)
• Year 10: $186.7K (you put in $120K)
• Year 20: $649.5K (you put in $240K)
• Year 30: $1.796 million (you put in $360K)

Assuming 9.5% average annual returns—which is actually conservative compared to the S&P’s historical 10.2% since 1965.

Here’s where it gets spicy: dividend income. Right now S&P 500’s dividend yield is around 1.2% (thanks mega-cap tech), but historically it’s closer to 2.9%.

If you hit that 2.9% historical average? Your $1.8M portfolio spits out $52K/year in passive income. Just sitting there.

The catch? You’re not actually gonna keep all that in stocks at retirement. Smart move is gradually pivot to bonds/fixed income when you’re close to tapping it. But the point stands—you don’t need to be a stock-picking genius to build real wealth. Time + consistency + boring index funds = surprisingly powerful combo.

Warren Buffett wasn’t wrong about this one.