Charlie Munger - The first $100K is a b****, but you've gotta do it.

Charlie Munger said this quote in the late 1990s, but he made his first $100K in the 1960s. Adjusted for inflation, $100K back then is around $1.086M today.

Why is a million dollars so important today? The magic of compound interest really kicks into high gear. If you read about how fast additional millions came to multimillionaires, you'll see a similar pattern between all of them.

The first million dollars in investments took a long time. The second million much less time. The third million even less time. This assumes you're working and investing additional funds.

Our first million dollars in investments took 22 years of working for me and seven years of working for my wife.

Exactly two years later we hit two million dollars in investments. Here's a break down from a recent Reddit post I made:

2023 - we invested $220K

2024 - we invested $227K

2025 - we are on track to invest $176K

Let's just keep it simple and divide by two for the half years.

June 2023 to December 2023 - $110K

2024 - $227K

January 2025 to June 2025 - $88K

Total Contributions: $110K plus $227K plus $88K equals $425K

In two years we invested $425K and market returns made up $575K in two years.

As people get closer to retirement, keep in mind they are making more money and possibly contributing more to investments while their original million or millions compounds.