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 $11,600 per year with the annual contribution being increased by 4% per year (cumulative contributions of $456,349) you are able to accumulate $625,571 over 10 years. Compound interest makes up $169,223 of your future balance. <div id="chart1Container">Chart will load here</div> <script type="text/javascript"> <!-- var myChart1 = new FusionCharts( "Pie2D", "myChart1Id", "100%", "100%", "0", "1" ); myChart1.setXMLData("<chart showValues='1' showFCMenuItem='0' decimals='0' formatNumberScale='0' startingAngle='45' enableRotation='1' caption='Value Of Compound Interest' xAxisName='' numberPrefix='$' 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='137349.0' label='Annual Contributions' /><set value='169223.0' 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 @ 3.70%</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>$11,600</td><td>$12,232</td><td>$342,832</td></tr><tr><td role="rowheader" scope="row">2</td><td>342,832</td><td>12,029</td><td>13,130</td><td>367,991</td></tr><tr><td role="rowheader" scope="row">3</td><td>367,991</td><td>12,474</td><td>14,077</td><td>394,543</td></tr><tr><td role="rowheader" scope="row">4</td><td>394,543</td><td>12,936</td><td>15,077</td><td>422,555</td></tr><tr><td role="rowheader" scope="row">5</td><td>422,555</td><td>13,414</td><td>16,131</td><td>452,101</td></tr><tr><td role="rowheader" scope="row">6</td><td>452,101</td><td>13,911</td><td>17,242</td><td>483,254</td></tr><tr><td role="rowheader" scope="row">7</td><td>483,254</td><td>14,425</td><td>18,414</td><td>516,093</td></tr><tr><td role="rowheader" scope="row">8</td><td>516,093</td><td>14,959</td><td>19,649</td><td>550,702</td></tr><tr><td role="rowheader" scope="row">9</td><td>550,702</td><td>15,513</td><td>20,950</td><td>587,164</td></tr><tr><td role="rowheader" scope="row">10</td><td>587,164</td><td>16,087</td><td>22,320</td><td>625,571</td></tr></table>