What happens when your money starts earning money?
Compound growth is the quiet engine behind every long-term plan: your money earns, then those earnings start earning too. Here's the good news — time does most of the work, and you can watch it happen below.
Nothing you enter is saved or sent anywhere — the math runs entirely in your browser.
Set to $0 to see the starting amount grow on its own.
A planning assumption, not a promise — no rate of return is guaranteed.
Projected balance in 30 years
$0
Your money, year by year
Your next moves (educational, not advice)
- Your $250 a month becomes $100,000 of contributions over 30 years — before raising it, check that it captures any employer 401(k) match first.
- Growth ($259,505) now outweighs what you put in — time is doing the heavy lifting, and the biggest risk is interrupting it.
- Turn on the cost-of-waiting comparison above the chart to see what the same plan looks like starting 5 years later.
WealthChem Compound Growth worksheet — educational estimate only
Starting amount $10,000, contributing $250 per month at an assumed 7.0% annual return for 30 years → projected balance $359,505 ($100,000 contributed, $259,505 growth).
Assumed returns are hypothetical and not guaranteed. Generated by wealthchem.com/tools/compound-growth. Not financial advice.
The formula, in the open
FV = PV(1+r)^n + C × ((1+r)^n − 1) ÷ r
Example: $10,000 at 7% for 30 years with no contributions ≈ $76,123Assumptions
- Contributions are added once a year and compound annually in this model — many real accounts compound more often
- The assumed return stays the same every year; real markets move up and down around an average
- Figures are before taxes and fees, and not adjusted for inflation
Limitations
- An assumed return is a planning input, not a promise — no rate of return is guaranteed
- Doesn't model taxes, fees, or pauses and raises in your contributions over time
- The cost-of-waiting comparison changes only the start date and keeps everything else identical — real life rarely cooperates that neatly
Want the concept behind the math? What is financial independence? The idea this curve is building toward →