Moneywise and Yahoo Finance LLC could earn fee or income by means of hyperlinks within the content material under.
Whereas becoming a member of the millionaire membership could really feel out of attain for a lot of younger Individuals, the facility of compounding could make it attainable.
It’s easy: you make investments a small sum of cash every month right into a low-cost index fund. Once you earn dividends, you mechanically reinvest these proceeds to purchase extra shares, and your returns develop over time.
However there’s a catch, says private finance YouTuber Mark Tilbury: the magic solely actually occurs after you’ve invested your first $100,000.
“Don’t fret about incomes thousands and thousands,” Tilbury stated. “As an alternative, concentrate on the primary $100,000 as a result of, after that, your web value will go loopy.”
However Tilbury wasn’t the primary to notice the importance of this milestone.
Billionaire investor Charlie Munger is usually credited for popularizing the significance of the primary $100,000, as soon as describing it as “a b—-, however you gotta do it” as a result of “after that, you possibly can ease off the gasoline slightly bit.”
However hitting that $100,000 milestone is hard for younger Individuals at present — particularly when you think about the elevated price of residing and sky-high dwelling costs. About 56% of Individuals imagine the price of residing is simply too excessive, in accordance with a survey carried out by Politico final month (1).
Whereas it would take you longer to achieve this milestone than it did earlier generations, it’s nonetheless value pursuing.
Right here’s why the primary $100,000 is so necessary and learn how to attain it rapidly.
After you hit $100,000, “compound curiosity stops being lame,” in accordance with Tilbury. “Getting that chunk of cash as quick as attainable is the important thing. […] When you get up to now, it’s virtually inevitable that you just’ll be rich when you simply spend money on a low-cost index fund.”
To get there, Tilbury suggests individuals observe what he calls the GROWTH technique:
Gaining management of your funds is essential for attaining long-term monetary stability and reaching your targets. And in accordance with Tilbury, there’s just one option to acquire management of your funds — budgeting. When you’ve assessed your price range, there could even be methods you possibly can shave off some pointless {dollars} and keep away from pointless spending.
As an example, the typical American spends practically $1,080 a 12 months on subscriptions alone — with about $200 wasted on unused ones, in accordance with CNET’s annual subscription survey (2). Simply by cancelling a subscription you not use, you may save a whole lot every year — cash that might as a substitute be invested towards your $100,000 aim.
Budgeting apps like Rocket Cash will be a wonderful software for monitoring your spending and assembly your monetary targets.
The app tracks all of your spending — together with subscriptions — month-to-month, permitting you to see the place your cash goes always. Plus, their concierge service allows you to establish and cancel undesirable subscriptions simply.
Rocket Cash’s Monetary Targets characteristic means that you can automate your financial savings, serving to you construct your nest egg within the background with none further effort.
On the subject of constructing your funding portfolio, Tilbury advocates for the ‘rooting your funding’ mannequin, which prioritizes investing a set amount of cash every month, whether or not that is $50 or $500.
One option to root your investments is thru an automatic portfolio like one supplied by Acorns.
Spending cash is inevitable, regardless of how cautious you might be together with your price range. However with instruments like Acorns — an automatic financial savings and investing app – you possibly can root your investments as you spend.
Acorns helps you construct your funding portfolio by rounding up every buy in your credit score or debit card to the closest greenback. From there, Acorns mechanically make investments the spare change right into a diversified portfolio of ETFs. This fashion, even your on a regular basis spending turns into part of your constant funding technique, serving to you root your investments and develop your wealth over time.
In the event you enroll at present, you possibly can obtain a $20 enroll bonus to assist kickstart your investing journey.
One other option to root your funds is by diversifying exterior of the inventory market, and gold generally is a stable possibility, particularly in relation to saving for retirement.
Gold — typically touted as a safe-haven asset throughout attempting financial instances — was the best-performing asset of 2025. The worth of the yellow steel hit a document excessive of over $4,300 per ounce again in October, reaching a 65% improve by the tip of the 12 months (3).
And amid heightened uncertainty over tariffs, gold could possibly be a useful asset. Goldman Sachs predicts gold costs to achieve $4,900 per ounce by the tip of 2026 (4).
“Gold is now an institutional asset and seen as a hedge for ‘the whole lot’,” Tim Seymour stated throughout an interview with CNBC (5).
One option to spend money on gold that additionally gives important tax benefits is to open a gold IRA with the assistance of Thor Metals.
Gold IRAs permit traders to carry bodily gold or gold-related property inside a retirement account, thereby combining the tax benefits of an IRA with the protecting advantages of investing in gold, making it a beautiful possibility for these seeking to probably hedge their retirement funds towards financial uncertainties.
To be taught extra, this free data information contains particulars on learn how to rise up to $20,000 in free metals on qualifying purchases.
When you get your cash working for you, it’s time to optimize your tax administration by doing issues like claiming all out there tax credit and deductions, maximizing your tax-advantaged retirement accounts and tax-deferred financial savings accounts, and even beginning a enterprise and benefiting from write-offs.
A certified monetary advisor will help you with all this and extra. With Advisor.com, you’ll find the perfect advisor to your wants — each by way of what they will supply your funds, and what they’ll cost to be just right for you.
Advisor.com is a free service that helps you discover a monetary advisor who can co-create a plan to achieve your monetary targets. By matching you with a curated record of the perfect choices for you from their database of 1000’s, you get a pre-screened monetary advisor you possibly can belief.
You’ll be able to then arrange a free, no obligation session to see in the event that they’re the appropriate match for you.
To construct a stable monetary basis and transfer nearer to attaining a excessive web value, eliminating debt ought to be a prime precedence. For instance, the present common annual proportion price (APR) for a brand new bank card is a staggering 24.92%, in accordance with LendingTree (6).
Carrying high-interest debt can severely hinder your means to develop your wealth and safe your monetary future.
The private finance YouTuber suggests diversifying and rising your revenue by beginning a facet hustle. In the event you’d prefer to go for a low-effort facet hustle with the potential for top returns, actual property could be your reply.
Tilbury not too long ago posted on X about how he used the earnings from certainly one of his newest enterprise offers. He stated, “From that one deal, I earned sufficient to purchase a rental unit, which has since generated plenty of passive revenue for me.”
If you wish to generate funding revenue from the actual property market, there are many alternatives to speculate with out having to seek out and buy a property your self outright.
As an example, crowdfunding platforms like Arrived mean you can enter the actual property marketplace for as little as $100.
Backed by world-class traders like Jeff Bezos, Arrived makes it straightforward to suit these properties into your funding portfolio no matter your revenue stage. Their versatile funding quantities and simplified course of permit accredited and non-accredited traders to make the most of this inflation-hedging asset class with none further work in your half.
An alternative choice is mogul, which lets you spend money on the highest 1% of single-family rental properties throughout the nation.
Based by former Goldman Sachs analysts, mogul’s crew vets each single property, making certain they provide a minimal 12% return even in draw back eventualities. Throughout the board, the platform options a median annual IRR of 18.8%. Their cash-on-cash yields common between 10% and 12% yearly.
You’ll be able to earn month-to-month rental revenue, in addition to real-time capital appreciation and tax advantages — all with out the necessity for a hefty downpayment or 3 A.M. tenant calls.
Each funding is secured by actual property, not depending on the platform’s viability. Every property is held in a standalone Propco LLC, so traders personal the property — not the platform.
Getting began is simple — simply join an account and browse out there properties. When you confirm your data with their crew, you possibly can make investments like a mogul in just some clicks.
With heightened self-discipline, reaching this monetary milestone can set your networth on an upward trajectory. Tilbury stresses that you’ll want to “discover your interior self-discipline” to place all these steps into observe.
“Self-discipline is the foreign money of success,” Tilbury stated. “The extra you mint, the wealthier your future will grow to be.”
Step one is saving — and saving your cash requires self-discipline.
One option to start saving is with the Wealthfront Money Account, which will help you construct an funding base by means of a mixture of high-interest charges and ease of entry.
A Wealthfront Money Account can present a base variable APY of three.25%, however new shoppers can get a 0.65% increase over their first three months for a complete APY of three.90% supplied by program banks in your uninvested money. That’s eight instances the nationwide deposit financial savings price, in accordance with the FDIC’s December report.
With no minimal balances or account charges, in addition to 24/7 withdrawals and free home wire transfers, your funds stay accessible always. Plus, Wealthfront Money Account balances of as much as $8 million are insured by the FDIC by means of program banks.
We rely solely on vetted sources and credible third-party reporting. For particulars, see our [editorial ethics and guidelines].
