I’m in my early 20s (22 to be exact), working in tech, and aiming for $10 million by age 45. I’ve always loved the idea of financial independence – not just to retire early, but to reach a point where I never have to worry about money again.
Here’s the plan I’m following, let me know if you think it is feasible.
Investing and Saving:
I invest about $8,000 per month, and plan to ramp that up as my income grows.
My portfolio is roughly 70% VOO (S&P 500) and 30% QQQM (Nasdaq).
I max out 401(k), Roth IRA, and HSA each year, then funnel the rest into a brokerage account.
Everything is automated and I invest first, spend what’s left. (which is around $3k a month right now)
I live below my means: no car payment, no college debt, have a roommate to offset rent costs right now, and most meals cooked at home.
If the market averages 8–9% annually, this path should roughly land me around:
Age 22: $100k (currently what I have)
Age 25: $450K
Age 30: $1.2M
Age 35: $2.6M
Age 40: $5.3M
Age 45: $10M
Lifestyle and Real Estate
In 20s: keep housing cheap and living expenses cheap
Early 30s: upgrade to a bigger place, maybe a nicer home in the suburbs (once married and have kids).
Around 45: buy my “dream home,” something around the multi-million range (modern, custom home, big backyard, space for cars and family). At this point I would get a couple nice cars as well.
What I’d Do With the Money (Since I Always Wonder This Myself):
I think about this a lot – if I actually hit the $10M mark, what would I do with it?
Here’s how I picture it:
Travel: Spend a few months a year exploring new countries, business-class flights, 5-star hotels – just to experience the world.
Cars: I’ve always loved cars. I’d probably build a small collection – something like a Lamborghini Hurucan, Mercedes SUV, and maybe a Bentley later on.
Watches: Not excessive, but I’d love a few nice timepieces once I’ve truly earned them.
Family: Support my future kids through college, help them start their lives, and maybe give them some seed money for investments.
Home: The dream is a beautiful, quiet place to live out my 40s and beyond — fully paid off, customized exactly how I want.
Health & Freedom: After 45, I’d slow down, focus on health, fitness, and living stress-free while letting my investments compound.
I know markets fluctuate, life changes, and goals evolve but that’s the vision. I’m just curious if people here think it’s actually doable if I stay disciplined with investing and lifestyle control.
Is $10M by 45 realistic, or am I underestimating how expensive life gets as you grow older?
Would love to hear from anyone further along the path.
My Plan to Hit $10 Million by 45 (and What I’d Actually Do With It)
byu/ConsiderationLife673 infinancialindependence
Posted by ConsiderationLife673
5 Comments
$10M at a 4% withdrawal will net you about 400K a year. Is that enough for the lifestyle you describe with the travel, the multimillion dollar house and the vehicle collection? Remember bigger houses come with bigger bills and more work just to maintain. Going to hire a housekeeper and someone for yardwork?
> Is $10M by 45 realistic, or am I underestimating how expensive life gets as you grow older?
Yes and yes.
10M by 45 is realistic with a high income and high savings rate during the first years of working. You’ll also need pretty good market returns which might be an issue pretty soon.
You are possibly massively underestimating the cost of living. I know many people who spend 20k per month once they have a house and kids. I know people whose property taxes alone are 20-40k a year. Childcare in HCOL can be 2500 per month or more, it also doesn’t get cheaper when they go to school because extracurriculars, including sports, have become very expensive.
The key is to hit your early investment milestones before the lifestyle expansion happens. If you are at 450k at 25 it becomes much easier to hit your 10M at 40 number by virtue of simply living within your income and not touching your investments.
The expected life you lay out may or may not be possible. The house alone is potentially going to be hard to carry, especially if you spend $$$ remodeling and the taxes are high. 10MM with a paid off house is very different than having a multi-million dollar mortgage.
By all means keep a good savings rate going but your mental energy might be better spent on what your goals are between 22-45. Build the life you want now. Focus on fitness and stress goals now too. Not to be a downer but not everyone makes it to 45. You mention future kids so keep in mind your partner may have different goals too. Life is compromise, and adaptation, and living it one year at a time. Make the best of each one.
Something is off with your calculations. You have to contribute a lot more to go from 5.8 to 10 in the last 5 years for example. It looks like you have done the best case analysis.
Also note that 10m in 20 years wont be what 10m is today.
There are many FI websites that do simulations with real market numbers, takes account into inflation, large expenses etc.
Honestly at 20, it would have been impossible for me to predict how life would look like in my 30s or 40s. So I would say focus on saving as much as you can but also enjoy your life. Dont avoid traveling etc just to save.
Currently i’m near your target in age and dollars. In my mind it’s a realistic goal but i’d also frame that you can be very very happy and financially independent with less, so don’t get hung up on an absolute number, shoot for the freedom you want.
Don’t sleep on doing things now and lean into creating meaningful relationships. It gets WAY harder to have those later, the few i do have are absolute treasures.
lean into your health and habits – those are much much easier to address when your metabolism cooperates. After about age 35 or so it gets much harder and bad decisions on food/etc catch up to you.
Dont miss any key experiences now, if you have a successful career and multiple kids, your free time is likely going to disappear for a while. Traveling with a family is just night and day different than doing something yourself.
If you’re on a good path you can lean into funding the kids stuff later. I’d focus on your own retirement for quite a while. If you’re not successful towards your goals you’ll be happy you waited, if you are successful you can probably cash flow any goals you wanted to achieve for the kids.
I will say mentally ‘stuff’ doesn’t excite me nearly as much as it did when i was 20. Have a single nice musical instrument, house is fine but no desire to go bigger, etc. For the first time ever i recently bought the top ‘trim’ on a vehicle (sensible make/model not luxury) and feels nice driving it around but also confirms i wasn’t missing much before. I’m not saying don’t reward yourself with things that fit your budget today, just acknowledge that your mindset may change over time and that is fine.