Can’t Max Out Your Roth IRA? These Small Wins Could Still Make You Rich.

The maximum amount of money that you can contribute each year to your Roth IRA is $7,000 if you’re under age 50. While maxing out your Roth IRA is ideal, it’s not always possible—especially if you earn a low income. But if you can’t max out your Roth IRA, you can still make incredible progress on your wealth-building journey even if you don’t invest the full amount.

What you might not know is that the secret to building wealth isn’t money: it’s time. That’s why you still have the potential to build massive wealth on a lower income if you start investing early enough. If you can’t max out your Roth IRA, getting 10%, 25%, or 50% of the way there could still build a life-changing amount of wealth.

Your most important wealth-building tool is time, not money.

Time—not money—is by far your most powerful wealth-building tool. The longer your money is invested, the more your money grows. That’s why you don’t need to earn a high income to build wealth, and that’s why you could still make incredible progress on your wealth building journey if you can only reach 25% or 50% of your Roth IRA contribution limit.

If you max out your Roth IRA every year—meaning you invest $7,000 a year in your Roth IRA—for 15 years, you probably won’t have nearly as much as someone who contributes only 25% of the maximum ($1,750 a year) for 42 years.

If you invest $7,000 a year for 15 years, you will have contributed $105,000 and your wealth could grow to $201,855 if you get an 8% rate of return:

However, if you invest $1,750 a year for 42 years, you will have contributed $73,500 and your wealth could grow to $600,905 if you get an 8% rate of return:

In this scenario, if you invest $1,750 a year starting in early adulthood, you could end up with $399,050 more than if you invest $7,000 a year for 15 years. In the first scenario where you invest for 42 years, you will have contributed $31,500 less than in the second scenario where you invest for 15 years, but you could end up with hundreds of thousands of dollars more simply because you started to invest earlier.

As these examples show, time is your most important wealth-building tool. If you always choose investing a little bit—even if it’s just $5 at a time—over investing nothing at all, your future self will thank you.

You could still build serious wealth even if you can’t max out your Roth IRA.

Investing 10% of your Roth IRA contribution limit

If you start investing early enough, even getting only 10% of the way to maxing out your Roth IRA could still build serious wealth. If you can only invest $700 a year instead of the full $7,000 it takes to max out your Roth IRA, you should still be incredibly proud of the progress that you’re making on your wealth-building journey.

Depending on how early in your 20s you start investing and what rate of return you get, just investing $700 a year could yield more than 250k, 500k, or even 800k by the time you reach age 62. That’s why investing something is far better than investing nothing at all.

Here’s how just reaching 10% of your Roth IRA contribution limit each year could help you build wealth if you start in your 20s:

And if you start investing at least $700 a year in your 30s, you still have the potential to build a six-figure net worth:

Investing 25% of your Roth IRA contribution limit

If you can’t yet max out your Roth IRA, you still have the potential to build a life-changing amount of wealth if you only get 25% of the way there—that is, if you can only contribute $1,750 to your Roth IRA instead of the full $7,000.

If you can’t max out your Roth IRA, you should still be excited about your financial future. If you start investing in your 20s and can only invest $1,750 a year, you could potentially have close to 1 million dollars or more by age 62:

And if you’re in your 30s, you could potentially have several hundred thousand dollars by age 62 if you get 25% of the way to maxing out your Roth IRA every year. If you’re in your early 30s, you even have the potential to build half a million dollars or more by age 62 just by investing 25% of the Roth IRA contribution limit:

Investing 50% of your Roth IRA contribution limit

And your wealth could skyrocket even more if you can get 50% of the way to maxing out your Roth IRA—that is, if you invest $3,500 a year.

Reaching the 50% mark of your Roth IRA contribution limit is where things start to get really exciting for your financial future: If you’re in your 20s and can invest at least $3,500 a year in your Roth IRA, you could potentially become a multi-millionaire by age 62:

And if you’re in your 30s and get 50% of the way to maxing out your Roth IRA, you could potentially have anywhere from several hundred thousand dollars to 1 million or more by age 62:

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The benefit of small, incremental progress is clear: If you can only afford to reach 10%, 25%, or 50% of your Roth IRA contribution limit, it absolutely is still worth it. You still have the potential to build life-changing wealth even if you can’t max out your Roth IRA—you just have to commit to making incremental progress one step at a time.