[s73v3r_]

"We need to do a better job of framing things like "if you switch to a worse phone plan and save $10 per month to invest, you will probably have something around $30,000 in 30 years while only investing $3,600."."

Prove that is possible. Find an investment that will do that.

[slg]

Those were back of the napkin numbers. The S&P 500 has an average annual return around 10%. With a monthly investment of $10, it would take just over 32 years to get to $30,000. So I might have been a little too generous but the numbers are still realistic and the specific numbers were not really the point of the comment anyway.

[s73v3r_]

The numbers were very much a part of the comment, and thus it is quite valid to guarantee you're still operating in reality when you make claims like that. Your 32 years to get $30,000 makes a lot of assumptions. One, that in 32 years $30k is going to be a significant amount of money, still. Second, that the person investing does not have an event in their life that would drain away any investments that they have, like an illness.

[bluGill]

I can only find you that in hindsight - I can figure out the correct investments to have made over the last 30 years, but I can't tell you next years.

For a reasonable return on investment you would be looking at 10k-15k final total depending on your luck.