My wife hit $100k in her 401(k) before 30

In January, my wife’s 401(k) crossed $100,000.

I couldn’t be more proud. It took a lot of hard work, consistency, and discipline to get there before age 30.

But $100k isn’t just a nice, round number that sounds good.

Legendary investor Charlie Munger once said:

“The first $100,000 is a b*tch, but you gotta do it. I don’t care what you have to do – if it means walking everywhere and not eating anything that wasn’t purchased with a coupon, find a way to get your hands on $100,000. After that, you can ease off the gas a little bit.”

But why is that first $100k such a big deal?

Because of compounding.

Let’s look at the math.

Assumptions

• You invest $10,000 per year

• You earn a 7% annual return (S&P 500 average, adjusted for inflation)

To reach your first $100k:

🕐 Takes 7.84 years

To go from $100k → $200k:

🕐 Takes 5.10 years

That’s 35% faster than the first $100k.

And it only accelerates from there:

• $200k → $300k: 3.78 years

• $300k → $400k: 3.01 years

• $400k → $500k: 2.50 years

Why? Compounding.

Benjamin Franklin said it best:

“Money makes money. And the money that money makes, makes money.”

Once you have $100k, that money starts doing the heavy lifting. Then $200k works even harder. And so on.

So, how long till $1 million?

Same assumptions:

• Investing $10,000 per year

• Earning a 7% annual return

Here’s how long it would take to reach each milestone:

• $500k → $600k: 2.12 years

• $600k → $700k: 1.83 years

• $700k → $800k: 1.60 years

• $800k → $900k: 1.41 years

• $900k → $1,000,000: 1.26 years

That’s 30.66 years total from $0 to $1 million.

But here’s the wild part…

You only had to contribute $10,000 per year, or $300,000 total.
The other $700,000 came from growth — your money making more money.

And if you think about it in terms of time…

• It takes about 25.5% of the total time to reach the first $100k

• The remaining $900k only takes 74.5%

So by hitting $100k, my wife is already a quarter of the way to becoming a millionaire.

That’s the power of compounding.

What This Means for You

If you're just starting out, hitting that first $100k might feel impossible. But do everything you can to get there. Even if you can’t invest $10k a year, something is always better than nothing.

And once you hit it, it’s smooth sailing from there.

Now you know the math behind $100k and why it’s such an important milestone.

Darrell