“If you make $68,000 a year, the average salary, and you do this your entire life, just 15% of your paycheck, you'll end up a millionaire at retirement at 65,” Kevin O'Leary said in an Instagram video Fortune reported in March. It is the kind of claim that invites a reality check, and most of the ones published since have checked the wrong number.
His arithmetic is simple enough to verify in a line. Fifteen percent of $68,000 is $10,200 a year, or about $850 a month. Run that forward, and it's roughly $5.3 million at a 10% annual return and roughly $2.2 million at 7%. The $68,000 is an approximation rather than an official statistic, and Fortune notes national estimates for an average salary run from about $66,000 to $69,000.
