Free Lottery Ticket with a Guaranteed Win

When I started my working life some 45 years ago, I would buy a weekly lottery ticket. I knew there was no real chance to win, but buying the ticket gave me something else. For the few days leading up to the draw, I could imagine what I would do if I won a million dollars.

When I worked at a hospital for a while, we had a staff lottery program. We all bucked up once a week, and many tickets were purchased. Leading up to the draw, people would talk about quitting their jobs and doing something else if they won. Likely, having a lottery pool at a workplace says more about the workplace than the people buying the tickets. You are in big trouble if winning a lottery is the only path to your dream life or job.

But what if there was a way to live that dream of becoming a millionaire where it is guaranteed to happen?

I’m here to tell you that I wish someone had shared this with me when I was 25 years old. Here’s how it works.

Using a search engine, look up “investment calculator.”  I have my favourite that you can find here. If you were 25 years of age right now, how can I guarantee you would be a millionaire?

When you click on the calculator, you will see 5 simple boxes to fill in. Let me help you.

In the first box, put the amount of money you have saved now to be $100.

In the second box type in 40, representing the number of years from now when you will turn 65.

In the third box, type in the expected return rate over the 40 years. I wish it were more significant than 12%, but for this exercise, put in 12.

In the box “Compound,” put in monthly. I’ll explain this term in future newsletters and blogs, but for now, see it as how often you get paid on your investment and re-invest that money you earn.

In the final box, put the amount of money you will add each month for 40 years. Let’s also set that amount to $100. Most of us can find a way to scrape that amount each month to save. If you can’t, we will work on that in future newsletters, but for now, let’s dream.

At the bottom, it asks when you want to put in your 100 new monthly dollars. I’d check at the beginning of the month, as that helps your money grow faster.

After hitting calculate, you see that after 40 years, you have 1.2 million dollars.

But let’s dream some more. Let’s say you can scrape together $200 per month. When you hit calculate, you will have 2.38 million dollars. If you get a second job and add $400 per month, you will have 4.7 million dollars.

I play with this calculator a lot. It’s helped me focus on what I need to do to achieve my financial goals. Keep playing with the numbers and learn how the final number changes when you adjust the time, the initial amount you deposit, and the rate of return. It truly will feel like you have won the lottery because you can make this a reality.

If you want more information or details on this topic, subscribe to my weekly podcast, where these ideas are fully explored.