Here’s How Much Money You Need To Save Each Day To Become A Millionaire

Becoming a millionaire can seem like a pretty lofty goal — or even just a fantasy — but according to financial adviser David Bach in his book “Smart Couples Finish Rich,” all it takes is a little planning.

It might seem impossible, but starting off saving just $2 a day when you’re 20 or $20.55 when you are 40 can get you to be a millionaire by the time you’re 65.

According to Bach, the key to getting rich is sticking to a savings and investment plan as early as you can. So how exactly will $2 a day get you to be a millionaire in time for retirement? Bach created a chart, which Business Insider recreated, to illustrate how you can build your wealth over the years.

The chart assumes you start with no money invested, and it assumes a 12 percent annual return. That may be a little aggressive—even the historically standard baseline of an 8 percent return on investment may be considered too aggressive these days—but it can give you an idea of what a few dollars a day can do.

The key to accumulating wealth is to not just save money but to invest and let it multiply. According to the authors of the wildly popular “The Millionaire Next Door:

The Surprising Secrets of America’s Wealthy,” on average millionaires invest 20 percent of their income (and, accordingly, the majority of them live well below their means).

Robert T. Kiyosaki echoes this advice in “Rich Dad, Poor Dad: What The Rich Teach Their Kids About Money That The Poor And Middle Class Do Not!,” which bills itself as the #1 Personal Finance Book of All Time (and indeed over 27 million copies of the Rich Dad series have been sold worldwide). Earning a lot of money won’t automatically lead to wealth. It’s how much you keep and what you do with it that counts.