A recent article breaks down the math on reaching $1 million using S&P 500 ETFs like VOO or SPY. Assuming the historical 10% average annual return, a $500k lump sum takes about 8 years to hit a million. If you're starting from scratch, investing $450 a month takes 30 years to reach the $1 million mark. Bumping that up to $1,000 a month gets you there in 23 years. If you can only do $300 a month, it takes 34 years. The main takeaway is that you don't need a huge income to do this. You just need to start early, stay consistent, and rely on broad market index funds rather than trying to pick individual stocks.