How do you project your future net worth? For example, "I'm on pace to hit 1 million in 7 years."
How in the world do you figure that out? Is there an online calculator I could play with?
It's a Future Value Calculation. The simplest online calculator I've found is:
http://www.ultimatecalculators.com/future_value_savings_calculator.htmlYou can also run it either by hand, using a financial calculator, or in excel. Definitely a valuable skill and worthwhile to take the time to learn how these calcs work, as a firm understanding of this concept will forever change the way you view money.
The basic FV calculation is:
FV = PV*(1+i)^nThis doesn't include payments. It's just the future value (FV) of a present value (PV) of money, assuming an interest rate (i) and number of compounding periods (n).
For example, assume you have $100k invested at 7% for 10 years.
PV= $100,000
i= 7%
n= 10
FV= ?
$100,000(1.07)^10 = $196,715.14
Now, to add payments the formula is: FV = PV*(1+i)^n+PMT/i((1+i)^n-1).
That one get's tricky, so a simpler (and lengthier) way to solve by hand with payments is:
Year 1: (100,000*1.07)+10,000 = $117,000
Year 2: (117,000*1.07)+10,000 = $135,190
Year 3: (135,190*1.07)+10,000 = $154,653
And so on..
You can build an excel table to calculate this info more quickly. Some of the online calculator results will vary slightly depending on whether the payment is calculated at the beginning or end of the period, but you get the basic idea.
Hope this helps. Feel free to ask additional questions.