How much will $100 a month be worth in 5 years?

Investing $100 a month for 5 years means paying in $6,000 in total. At a hypothetical 7% annual return it would grow to $7,120: $6,000 from your contributions and $1,120 from investment growth. At 4% the balance would be $6,618 ($618 of growth), and at 10% it would be $7,656 ($1,656 of growth).

At 4% a year

$6,618

$618 of that is growth

At 7% a year

$7,120

$1,120 of that is growth

At 10% a year

$7,656

$1,656 of that is growth

4%, 7% and 10% are example rates, not forecasts. Real returns change from year to year and are never guaranteed, and these figures leave out fees, taxes and inflation.

$100 a month for 5 years at different rates of return

Annual return	Final balance	Total contributed	Interest earned
1%	$6,149	$6,000	$149
2%	$6,302	$6,000	$302
3%	$6,458	$6,000	$458
4%	$6,618	$6,000	$618
5%	$6,781	$6,000	$781
6%	$6,949	$6,000	$949
7%	$7,120	$6,000	$1,120
8%	$7,294	$6,000	$1,294
9%	$7,473	$6,000	$1,473
10%	$7,656	$6,000	$1,656
11%	$7,843	$6,000	$1,843
12%	$8,034	$6,000	$2,034

Assumes no starting balance, a contribution at the end of every month, and a constant rate compounded once a year (an effective annual rate). You pay in $6,000 in every row; only the growth changes, from $149 at 1% to $2,034 at 12%.

Try your own numbers

The calculator starts with this example at 7%. Change the amount, rate or time period, add a starting balance, or switch the compounding, and the result updates as you type.

Balance after 5 years

$7,120

15.7% of that is interest. Your balance is 1.19 times what you put in.

Total contributions

$6,000

Interest earned

$1,120

Growth by year

Contributions
Interest

Year-by-year breakdown

Year	Contributions	Interest	Balance
1	$1,200	$38	$1,238
2	$2,400	$163	$2,563
3	$3,600	$380	$3,980
4	$4,800	$697	$5,497
5	$6,000	$1,120	$7,120

How much is your money and how much is growth?

At 7%, 5 years is not long enough for growth to overtake what you pay in: growth is 16% of the final balance and the other 84% is your own money. Keep contributing at the same pace and growth would pass contributions during year 19. A different rate moves that point, but not into these 5 years: it would come in year 14 at 10% and in year 33 at 4%.

In year 5 alone, the balance earns $423 at 7%. That is less than the $1,200 you add that year, and compares with $38 of growth in year 1.

What if you change the plan?

Each row changes one thing and keeps everything else the same, at the 7% example rate. The comparison is with $100 a month for 5 years, which ends at $7,120.

Change	Final balance	Difference
Keep contributing for 5 more years (10 years in total)	$17,105	+$9,986
Contribute $200 a month instead of $100	$14,239	+$7,120
Start with $10,000 already invested	$21,145	+$14,026
Contribute at the start of each month instead of the end	$7,160	+$40
Earn 6% a year instead of 7%	$6,949	−$171

Another 5 years adds $6,000 of your own money and raises the balance by $9,986. The extra $3,986 is growth, most of it earned on money that was already invested. A return that is one point lower leaves you with $171 less after 5 years, which is roughly what a 1% annual fee would cost.

Working backwards: to reach $10,000 in 5 years at 7%, starting from zero, you would need to invest about $140 a month.

When would the balance reach $10,000?

The table shows the year in which the balance first reaches each amount, assuming the same $100 a month continues for as long as it takes. Years in bold fall within this page's 5-year period.

Balance reaches	At 4%	At 7%	At 10%
$2,500	Year 3	Year 2	Year 2
$5,000	Year 4	Year 4	Year 4
$10,000	Year 8	Year 7	Year 7

How this is calculated

The rate is treated as an effective annual rate, so the balance grows by exactly 7% over a full year. The monthly rate that compounds to 7% a year is:

Monthly rate = (1 + 0.07)^1/12 − 1 = 0.5654%

With $100 added at the end of each month for 60 months (5 × 12), the contributions grow to:

Balance = 100 × [1.005654⁶⁰ − 1] ÷ 0.005654 ≈ $7,120

The rates shown here are rounded; the result uses full precision. Of that balance, 100 × 60 = $6,000 is your contributions and the remaining $1,120 is growth. Every other row in the rate table uses the same formula with a different annual rate. The compound interest calculator page explains the formulas in more detail.

Frequently asked questions

How much interest will $100 a month earn in 5 years?

It depends on the rate of return. At a constant 7% a year, $100 a month for 5 years earns $1,120 on top of $6,000 in contributions, for a balance of $7,120. At 4% the growth is $618, and at 10% it is $1,656. These rates are examples, not predictions.

How long does it take to reach $10,000 investing $100 a month?

With a constant 7% annual return and no starting balance, the balance passes $10,000 during year 7. For comparison, at 10% it takes until year 7, and at 4% it takes until year 8.

How much do I need to invest each month to have $10,000 in 5 years?

At a constant 7% annual return you would need about $140 a month for 5 years, starting from zero. At 4% you would need about $151 a month, and at 10% about $131 a month.

$100 a month over other periods

Other monthly amounts for 5 years

A single lump sum for 5 years

See all compound interest examples in one table, or start from scratch with the compound interest calculator.