Many people aspire to amass a $1 million nest egg for retirement — including a Reddit poster who recently shared their financial details and asked if they’d be able to end up with seven figures.

The Redditor said they were 39 years old, had $273,000 saved already, and had contributed the maximum to their 401(k) plan over the last few years.

Given these details, will the Redditor end up achieving their target goal of $1 million — and when is that likely to occur?

Can you take a $273K nest egg to $1 million before retirement?

There’s some good news for the Reddit poster. Even if they never contributed another dime to their nest egg, their $273,000 could top $1 million in 15 years. In fact, if they earned a 10% average annual return, in 15 years, they would have around $1.14 million to their name.

That’s thanks to the power of compound growth. When you have money invested, those funds earn money even without any extra effort on your part. With $273K earning a 10% return, at the end of year one, the money would have grown to $300,300.00 even without a contribution. With the higher principal balance, the money would earn more next year, and even more after that. Within just five years, the Redditor could have $439,669.23 just because of their money working for them.

Compound interest is really powerful and it is a really important reason to invest early and often. If you can put away a quarter of a million by 40, you’ll be on a direct path to becoming a millionaire retiree at a pretty young age.

Continuing to max out your contributions still makes good sense

It’s great news for the poster that no additional contributions are needed to hit the million-dollar target, but that doesn’t mean it makes sense to stop investing.

If the Redditor can afford to max out their 401(k) in the coming years, they should absolutely do that. This will accelerate the timeline to reach millionaire status and make it possible to grow truly wealthy by retirement.  And, even better, Uncle Sam and their employer will help them out.

The government subsidizes 401(k) contributions by allowing you to invest with pre-tax dollars. Since the maximum contribution limit for employees is $23,500 in 2025, the poster could save up to $5,170 on their taxes by contributing the maximum if they’re in the 22% tax bracket — or more if they pay a higher tax rate.

If their employer matches contributions, this is free money that will also help them grow their wealth much more quickly. Say they make $100,000 and their employer matches 50% or 100% of contributions up to 4% of their salary. Their company could put another $4,000 into their 401(k), giving them a total annual contribution of $27,500 even though their take-home income only goes down by $18,330.

Adding another $27,500 per year to a $273,000 investment account will result in millionaire status in around nine years. That’s not a bad place to be at 48 years old.

The Reddit poster’s story shows the importance of saving early and aggressively — and these numbers show just how valuable 401(k) contributions can be. If you can, aim to get as close as possible to maxing yours out so you can become a millionaire too. A financial advisor can help you come up with a plan to do that if you aren’t sure where to get started on your own, so it’s worth getting that help if you want to get rich.

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