A hundred dollars into ten thousand

Three years, a starting hundred, a payment every month. Below is what the payment has to be, and how the ten thousand divides between the money you put in and the money the portfolio earned.

A month, for 36 months
$237.71
Your own money in the target
$8,658
Added by the portfolio
$1,342
86.6% paid in 13.4% earned
Return a yearMonthlyYou put inEarnedShare earned
0% $275.00 $10,000.00 $0.00 0.0%
4% $259.24 $9,432.64 $567.36 5.7%
6% $251.79 $9,164.44 $835.56 8.4%
8% $244.62 $8,906.32 $1,093.68 10.9%
10% $237.71 $8,657.56 $1,342.44 13.4%
12% $231.05 $8,417.80 $1,582.20 15.8%
15% $221.49 $8,073.64 $1,926.36 19.3%
20% $206.67 $7,540.12 $2,459.88 24.6%

What the arithmetic says

01

The payment carries the plan

At ten percent a year the portfolio adds $1,343 of the ten thousand. The other $8,657 is money you paid in. A plan of this length reaches its number on the schedule of payments, and the return decides how much smaller the payment can be.

02

Then five percent a year

Ten thousand dollars paying five percent is $500 a year. Left in the account it compounds: $10,500 after a year, $11,025 after two, $11,576 after three.

03

What a missed payment does

Miss one payment and the target moves out by roughly a month. The plan screen keeps the schedule and the count of payments made, so the gap is visible rather than discovered at the end.