Where should $300 a month go?

Four places to put the same monthly deposit, raced over 30 years.

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Suggested caption: “Which bucket is your money sitting in?”

Source line: Illustrative fixed returns with monthly compounding; real returns vary.

Date	Stocks (8%)	Bonds (5%)	High-yield savings (4%)	Under the mattress
Year 0	0	0	0	0
Year 1	3,760	3,699	3,679	3,600
Year 2	7,832	7,587	7,508	7,200
Year 3	12,242	11,674	11,493	10,800
Year 4	17,018	15,971	15,640	14,400
Year 5	22,190	20,487	19,956	18,000
Year 6	27,792	25,234	24,448	21,600
Year 7	33,858	30,224	29,123	25,200
Year 8	40,428	35,469	33,988	28,800
Year 9	47,544	40,983	39,052	32,400
Year 10	55,250	46,779	44,322	36,000
Year 11	63,595	52,871	49,807	39,600
Year 12	72,634	59,275	55,515	43,200
Year 13	82,422	66,007	61,456	46,800
Year 14	93,023	73,083	67,639	50,400
Year 15	104,504	80,521	74,073	54,000
Year 16	116,937	88,339	80,770	57,600
Year 17	130,403	96,558	87,740	61,200
Year 18	144,986	105,197	94,993	64,800
Year 19	160,780	114,278	102,542	68,400
Year 20	177,884	123,824	110,399	72,000
Year 21	196,408	133,858	118,576	75,600
Year 22	216,470	144,405	127,086	79,200
Year 23	238,197	155,492	135,943	82,800
Year 24	261,727	167,147	145,160	86,400
Year 25	287,210	179,397	154,753	90,000
Year 26	314,808	192,275	164,737	93,600
Year 27	344,697	205,811	175,127	97,200
Year 28	377,066	220,039	185,941	100,800
Year 29	412,123	234,996	197,196	104,400
Year 30	450,089	250,718	208,909	108,000