Every drop counts: 30 years of investing, illustrated

Every drop counts.

What could €150 a month grow into over thirty years, if the return stays at an assumed 6% a year? Scroll to watch two reservoirs fill: your own deposits, and what the assumed return adds.

Monthly deposit

€150

Assumed return

6% a year

Period

30 years

Balance after 30 years

€150,677

An illustration, not a forecast: the 6% is an assumption, and real returns vary and can be negative. Before fund costs, tax and inflation.

Scroll to start the clock

01 Years 0 to 10

Patience

In the first ten years most of the balance is your own money: €18,000 of €24,582 is what you put in, 73%.

The assumed return is still small next to your deposits, so progress looks slow. Every deposit you make now is what the later years build on.

Your deposits: €18,000; 73% of the balance
Assumed return: €6,582; 27% of the balance
Balance after 10 years: €24,582; 120 monthly deposits

02 Years 10 to 20

The turning point

From about year 12, the assumed return on the balance in one year is more than the €1,800 you deposit in a year.

From here the balance does more of the work than the monthly deposit. After twenty years the assumed return is €33,306, close to the €36,000 you put in.

Your deposits: €36,000; 52% of the balance
Assumed return: €33,306; 48% of the balance
Balance after 20 years: €69,306; 240 monthly deposits

03 Years 20 to 30

The long run

In the last ten years the assumed return adds more than it did in the first twenty combined.

At year thirty the assumed return is €96,677, against €54,000 deposited. That holds only while the return does: a lower return, higher costs or a weak stretch early on would change these numbers.

Your deposits: €54,000; 36% of the balance
Assumed return: €96,677; 64% of the balance
Balance after 30 years: €150,677; 360 monthly deposits

Investing involves risk of loss. The figures presented by this calculator are for illustrative purposes only and do not constitute financial advice. Past performance does not guarantee future results.

Three moments, one picture

The share of the balance that is your own money falls from 73% to 36% while the amounts keep growing.

Year 10

Deposits lead

73% 27%

Your deposits Assumed return

In the first 120 months the balance is mostly what you put in. The assumed return is a small part of it.

Year 20

Close to even

52% 48%

Your deposits Assumed return

Deposits and assumed return are about level. From about year 12 the return in a year is more than €1,800.

Year 30

Return leads

36% 64%

Your deposits Assumed return

Nearly two thirds of the balance is assumed return, much of it return on earlier return. That is compound return.

Try your own numbers

Change the monthly amount, the years, the return and the fund costs in the calculator. These numbers are the starting point.

Open these numbers in the calculator

Assumptions: €150 a month, 6% a year before fund costs, the same every month, for 30 years. No tax, no transaction costs, no inflation. Amounts are rounded to whole euros and calculated with the same formula as the calculator.