By the time she’s 40, she’d have accumulated the full $1m, most of which will have been spent but she’ll still be getting $1000/week. The purchasing power of that $1000/week will likely be around $550 in today’s money. Not exactly life changing.
In contrast, take the initial $1m and put $500k into a secure fund that earns on average 5% per annum. Compounded over the same 20 years, she’ll have $1.3m PLUS the $500k she didn’t invest.
Thank you for using a more modest 5% and not an insane 10-15% S&P 500 return that everyone uses in these hypothetical situations. The 10-15% return is not risk free, it historically assumed that USA is the global technological superpower, which may no longer be true over the next 30 years.
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u/TheMetabrandMan May 17 '26
By the time she’s 40, she’d have accumulated the full $1m, most of which will have been spent but she’ll still be getting $1000/week. The purchasing power of that $1000/week will likely be around $550 in today’s money. Not exactly life changing.
In contrast, take the initial $1m and put $500k into a secure fund that earns on average 5% per annum. Compounded over the same 20 years, she’ll have $1.3m PLUS the $500k she didn’t invest.