I have been going through my files and I found my old 401k statements. I had to recreate some of the missing amounts, but basically I started with $289.90 in 401k contributions, and added $38.25-39.02 with each semi-monthly paycheck over 2+ years. My total contribution in cash was $1,890.63.
When I left that company in 2005, I rolled over that money on December 18, 2005 into a Traditional IRA account. It was worth $2,897.47. A 53.25% rate of return!
Almost 2 years later, as of Tuesday, September 25, 2007, it was worth $3,669.48. A 94.09% rate of return on over 4 years of investing! I have added nothing to this account since the rollover. I thought I did, but I can’t find record of it. (Quicken’s Find feature will search all your accounts for you. Nothing. Zip. Zilch.)
I’m not savvy enough at the moment to figure the actual annualized rate of return, but using the Rule of 72, it’s about 18%, which is not too shabby.
So if you aren’t thinking about saving, think on this. I saved about $70-80 bucks a month for about 2 years, did nothing to it for an additional 2 years, and it’s worth $3,669.48 now.
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
this is SO cool.
can’t wait to watch my money grow!
Great post! I invest my $65 expense check every month and it really is amazing to watch it grow. It really is amazing to watch it grow and compounding is such a wonderful thing!
Nice!