Compound interest is the difference between the cash you contribute to an investment and the actual future value of the investment. In this case, by contributing just $11,500 per year with the annual contribution being increased by 4% per year (cumulative contributions of $456,814) you are able to accumulate $626,012 over 10 years. Compound interest makes up $169,197 of your future balance. <div id="chart1Container">Chart will load here</div> <script type="text/javascript"> <!-- var myChart1 = new FusionCharts( "Pie2D", "myChart1Id", "100%", "100%", "0", "1" ); myChart1.setXMLData("<chart showValues='1' showFCMenuItem='0' decimals='0' formatNumberScale='0' startingAngle='45' enableRotation='1' caption='Value Of Compound Interest' xAxisName='' numberPrefix='$' bgColor='FFFFFF' showBorder='1' borderColor='FFFFFF' borderThickness='1' canvasBgColor='ffffff' showAlternateHGridColor='0' plotGradientColor='' numberSuffix='' thousandSeparator=',' decimalSeparator='.'><set value='319000.0' label='Beginning Balance' /><set value='137814.0' label='Annual Contributions' /><set value='169197.0' label='Compound Interest' /></chart>"); // --> </script> <table class='pure-table pure-table-bordered' role='grid'><tr><th scope="col">Year</th><th scope="col">Beginning Balance</th><th scope="col">Savings @ 3.96%</th><th scope="col">Interest @ 3.70%</th><th scope="col">Ending Balance</th></tr><tr><td role="rowheader" scope="row">1</td><td>$319,000</td><td>$11,500</td><td>$12,229</td><td>$342,728</td></tr><tr><td role="rowheader" scope="row">2</td><td>342,728</td><td>11,955</td><td>13,123</td><td>367,807</td></tr><tr><td role="rowheader" scope="row">3</td><td>367,807</td><td>12,429</td><td>14,069</td><td>394,305</td></tr><tr><td role="rowheader" scope="row">4</td><td>394,305</td><td>12,921</td><td>15,067</td><td>422,293</td></tr><tr><td role="rowheader" scope="row">5</td><td>422,293</td><td>13,433</td><td>16,122</td><td>451,848</td></tr><tr><td role="rowheader" scope="row">6</td><td>451,848</td><td>13,965</td><td>17,235</td><td>483,047</td></tr><tr><td role="rowheader" scope="row">7</td><td>483,047</td><td>14,518</td><td>18,410</td><td>515,975</td></tr><tr><td role="rowheader" scope="row">8</td><td>515,975</td><td>15,093</td><td>19,649</td><td>550,717</td></tr><tr><td role="rowheader" scope="row">9</td><td>550,717</td><td>15,690</td><td>20,957</td><td>587,364</td></tr><tr><td role="rowheader" scope="row">10</td><td>587,364</td><td>16,312</td><td>22,336</td><td>626,012</td></tr></table>