Do you dream of becoming a millionaire but fear your average job with its average paycheck just can’t get you there? Don’t be too quick to jump to such a conclusion.

Plenty of people have surprised even themselves when their retirement account eclipsed the seven-figure mark. And in such cases, time has often ended up doing most of the work.

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With that as the backdrop, here’s a look at what it would take to amass $1 million in your workplace 401(k) over the course of 30 years.

Crunching the numbers

Obviously, a 401(k) isn’t your only option when it comes to saving for retirement. You’ve also got traditional — or contributory – IRAs, and their close cousin, the Roth IRA. You can also put money into more than one such retirement account in any given year. Just make sure you understand the tax rules of your various contributions.

For most people, though, a 401(k) account is their best first option for two reasons.

The first is the simple fact that 401(k) plans have much higher contribution limits than other types of IRAs. For 2025, 401(k) contributions are capped at $23,500 of the employee’s own money, or $31,000 for anyone aged 50 and over. That far exceeds the $7,000 limit (or $8,000 for age 50 and up) for traditional and Roth IRA accounts.

And the second reason you want to prioritize saving in a 401(k) is the fact most employers will match a portion of your contributions to the account. Mutual fund company and retirement plan administrator Fidelity reports that during the third quarter of last year, employers contributed an average of $1,240 to each of their workers’ 401(k) accounts versus average contributions of $2,350 from employees themselves.

The question remains, however: How much money would you need to put into a 401(k) every month to grow it to $1 million over the course of a 30-year career? As the graphic illustrates, assuming you’re invested in an S&P 500 index fund that continues to dish out its average annual return of 10%, $450 per month would do the job.

Data source: Calculator.net. Chart by author.

Just remember that while any money that’s put into a 401(k) account is allowed to grow tax-free, unless it’s a Roth 401(k), it is taxable as you withdraw it.

The rest of the story

There are some other important footnotes to add here. Chief among them is the fact that $1 million in 30 years won’t be quite the meaningful amount it is today. Presuming the annual consumer inflation rate lingers at about 3%, the equivalent amount of money in 2055 would be just a little less than $2.5 million.

Also bear in mind that while $450 per month in today’s dollars would leave you with $1 million (again, in today’s dollars) in 30 years, coming up with an extra $450 a month back in 1995 wouldn’t have been so easy. Adjusting for inflation, that would have felt like about $1,000 per month then.

On the flip side, as time marches on and your income — hopefully — outgrows inflation, you could increase your monthly contributions to your 401(k) account. The purpose of this exercise is to just offer some basic scope and illustrate how the a seven-figure nest egg is actually more attainable than you previously imagined.

Take another look at the graphic, and you’ll see the role time plays in this process. Specifically, notice that the yearly investment gains being made in this 401(k) account didn’t become bigger than the annual contributions themselves until about two-thirds of the way through the 30-year time frame. Then, these gains exploded, causing roughly half of the account’s total ending value to materialize in just the final six years of the 30-year span in question.

Of course, you had to suffer through nickel-and-dime progress for over two decades to reach the point where there was enough money to start driving this serious investment growth.

Just do it

One word of caution: Your progress won’t be nearly as smooth and evenly paced as the chart above, which assumes the S&P 500 logs a steady 10% gain every year. In reality, some years will be worse, while others will be better.

Given enough time, though, the average annual gain of 10% is a pretty reliable figure.

The big takeaway here is that building a million-dollar retirement nest egg isn’t quite as out of reach as you might believe. Even if you don’t have an extra $450 per month or 30 years to invest your savings, doing something is better than nothing. Adopt a reasonable budget to start saving as soon as possible, and remember you can always boost your contributions in the future.

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James Brumley has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.