Use this rule to quickly find out when your investments will double in value (2024)

When we put our money in the market, or before we even do, one of the biggest questions we have is: How long will it take for this investment to really grow?

Luckily, there's a mathematical shortcut to help you estimate the future value of an investment. The Rule of 72 is a quick way to figure out approximately the number of years needed to double your invested money.

Using your rate of return, the Rule of 72 is a simplified formula that measures the effect of compound interest on your investment dollars. As a refresher, compound interest is calculated on your principal amount, plus your accumulated interest. It essentially pays interest on top of interest and is a huge perk of investing in the market since your interest earned is automatically reinvested, earning you even more.

Subscribe to the Select Newsletter!

Our best selections in your inbox. Shopping recommendations that help upgrade your life, delivered weekly.Sign-up here.

How to calculate the Rule of 72

To use the Rule of 72 formula, simply divide 72 by the expected annual rate of return. Take note that the formula assumes the same rate over the life of the investment.

As an example, say you invest $50,000 in a mutual fund that has a hypothetical 6% average rate of return. By using the Rule of 72 formula, your calculation will look like this: 72/6 = 12. This tells you that, at a 6% annual rate of return, you can expect your investment to double in value — to be worth $100,000 — in roughly 12 years.

When calculating the Rule of 72 for any investment, note that the formula is an estimation tool and the years are approximate. The Rule of 72 mainly works with common rates of return that are in the range of 5% to 12%, with an 8% return as the benchmark of accuracy. Lower or higher rates outside of this range can be better predicted using an adjusted Rule of 71, 73 or 74, depending on how far they fall below or above the range. You generally add one to 72 for every three percentage point increase. So, a 15% rate of return would mean you use the Rule of 73.

Keep in mind that a mutual fund or index fund are smart investing options, especially for beginners, as it offers instant diversification by pooling money from many individuals to invest in a collection of companies. They also offer somewhat predictable returns over the long run. For instance, have returned about an 11% average annualized return since 1950, be it with significant downward and upward swings in some years.

Robo-advisors likeWealthfront,BettermentandSoFiwill build you a portfolio of index funds (usually in the form of ETFs) based on your risk tolerance, time horizon and investing goals.These are good platforms to use when you're just starting out investing since robo-advisors automatically rebalance your portfolio for you and as you get closer to your investing targets. If you want more control over your investments consider a brokerage that doesn't charge commission fees, like Charles Schwab or Fidelity.

Fidelity Investments

  • Minimum deposit and balance

    Minimum deposit and balance requirements may vary depending on the investment vehicle selected. No minimum to open a Fidelity Go®account, but minimum $10 balance according to the investment strategy chosen

  • Fees

    Fees may vary depending on the investment vehicle selected. Zero commission fees for stock, ETF, options trades and some mutual funds; zero transaction fees for over 3,400 mutual funds; $0.65 per options contract. Fidelity Go® has no advisory fees for balances under $25,000 (0.35% per year for balances of $25,000 and over and this includes access to unlimited 1-on-1 coaching calls from a Fidelity advisor)

  • Bonus

    Find special offers here

  • Investment vehicles

    Robo-advisor: Fidelity Go® IRA: Traditional, Roth and Rollover IRAs Brokerage and trading: Fidelity Investments Trading Other:Fidelity Investments 529 College Savings; Fidelity HSA®

  • Investment options

    Stocks, bonds, ETFs, mutual funds, CDs, options and fractional shares

  • Educational resources

    Extensive tools and industry-leading, in-depth research from 20-plus independent providers

Terms apply.

Betterment

  • Minimum deposit and balance

    Minimum deposit and balance requirements may vary depending on the investment vehicle selected. For example, Betterment doesn't require clients to maintain a minimum investment account balance, but there is a ACH deposit minimum of $10. Premium Investing requires a $100,000 minimum balance.

  • Fees

    Fees may vary depending on the investment vehicle selected, account balances, etc. Click here for details.

  • Investment vehicles

  • Investment options

    Stocks, bonds, ETFs and cash

  • Educational resources

    Betterment offers retirement and other education materials

Terms apply. Does not apply to crypto asset portfolios.

The Rule of 72 and inflation

The Rule of 72 can also help you see how long it would take for the effect of inflation to cut your money in half.

As an example, say you have $100,000 and expect a hypothetical long-term inflation rate of 3%. Since inflation reduces your purchasing power over time, your $100,000, if not invested, would lose half its value (aka be worth $50,000) by 24 years. The calculation for this looks like: 72/3 = 24. If inflation increases from a rate of 3% to 6%, that same $100,000 would lose half its value even faster — in just 12 years (72/6 = 12).

Bottom line

The Rule of 72 is an easy way to quickly find out when your investments will double in value. It can also help you see how soon or far out inflation would eventually cut your money's value in half.

Catch up on Select's in-depth coverage ofpersonal finance,tech and tools,wellnessand more, and follow us onFacebook,InstagramandTwitterto stay up to date.

Read more

This is how much of your income should go toward investing, according to experts

Experts weigh in: Should you invest in one brokerage account or multiple?

Some stocks pay you just to hold them: Here's why you should invest in dividend growth stocks

Editorial Note: Opinions, analyses, reviews or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the Select editorial staff’s alone, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any third party.

Use this rule to quickly find out when your investments will double in value (2024)

FAQs

Use this rule to quickly find out when your investments will double in value? ›

Here's how the Rule of 72

Rule of 72
The Rule of 72 is a simple way to determine how long an investment will take to double given a fixed annual rate of interest. Dividing 72 by the annual rate of return gives investors a rough estimate of how many years it will take for the initial investment to duplicate itself.
https://www.investopedia.com › answers › what-is-the-rule-72
works. You take the number 72 and divide it by the investment's projected annual return. The result is the number of years, approximately, it'll take for your money to double.

How do you calculate when an investment will double? ›

Do you know the Rule of 72? It's an easy way to calculate just how long it's going to take for your money to double. Just take the number 72 and divide it by the interest rate you hope to earn. That number gives you the approximate number of years it will take for your investment to double.

Is the Rule of 72 true? ›

The Rule of 72 is reasonably accurate for low rates of return. The chart below compares the numbers given by the Rule of 72 and the actual number of years it takes an investment to double. Notice that although it gives an estimate, the Rule of 72 is less precise as rates of return increase.

What is the formula for doubling money? ›

The Rule of 72 is a calculation that estimates the number of years it takes to double your money at a specified rate of return. If, for example, your account earns 4 percent, divide 72 by 4 to get the number of years it will take for your money to double. In this case, 18 years.

What is the Rule of 72 backwards? ›

You can also run it backwards: if you want to double your money in six years, just divide 6 into 72 to find that it will require an interest rate of about 12 percent. where Y and r are the years and interest rate, respectively.

What is the 8 4 3 rule of compounding? ›

The rule of 8-4-3 when it comes to compounding indicates a style of investment that accelerates growth with time. Initially, a corpus doubles within 8 years through an average annual return of 12% subsequently another doubling happens for the same period after another 4 years following its initial setting up.

What is the Rule of 72 vs 70? ›

The Rule of 70 is a calculation that determines how many years it takes for an investment to double in value based on a constant rate of return. The Rule of 72 is a shortcut or rule of thumb used to estimate the number of years required to double your money at a given annual rate of return and vice versa.

How does the rule of 72 work? ›

Here's how the Rule of 72 works. You take the number 72 and divide it by the investment's projected annual return. The result is the number of years, approximately, it'll take for your money to double.

What is Rule 69 and Rule 72? ›

Rules of 72, 69.3, and 69

The Rule of 72 states that by dividing 72 by the annual interest rate, you can estimate the number of years required for an investment to double. ● The Rule of 69.3 is a more accurate formula for higher interest rates and is calculated by dividing 69.3 by the interest rate.

Why do investors use the rule of 72? ›

Using the rule of 72 allows you to have a solid idea of when your investment would double just from the investment rate. Very conveniently, the number 72 divides cleanly into 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9 and 12, allowing for a quick and simple division problem instead of your usual compound interest problem.

What is the rule of 7 in finance? ›

1 At 10%, you could double your initial investment every seven years (72 divided by 10). In a less-risky investment such as bonds, which have averaged a return of about 5% to 6% over the same period, you could expect to double your money in about 12 years (72 divided by 6).

What is the rule of 42? ›

The so-called Rule of 42 is one example of a philosophy that focuses on a large distribution of holdings, calling for a portfolio to include at least 42 choices while owning only a small amount of most of those choices.

What is the rule of 70? ›

The Rule of 70 is a calculation that determines how many years it takes for an investment to double in value based on a constant rate of return. Investors use this metric to evaluate various investments, including mutual fund returns and the growth rate for a retirement portfolio.

What is the rule of 10/20 in finance? ›

The 20/10 rule of thumb is a budgeting technique that can be an effective way to keep your debt under control. It says your total debt shouldn't equal more than 20% of your annual income, and that your monthly debt payments shouldn't be more than 10% of your monthly income.

What is the rule of 69 in finance? ›

It's used to calculate the doubling time or growth rate of investment or business metrics. This helps accountants to predict how long it will take for a value to double. The rule of 69 is simple: divide 69 by the growth rate percentage. It will then tell you how many periods it'll take for the value to double.

What is the rule of 78? ›

The Rule of 78 is a method used by some lenders to calculate interest charges on a loan. The Rule of 78 requires the borrower to pay a greater portion of interest in the earlier part of a loan cycle, which decreases the potential savings for the borrower in paying off their loan.

How long does it take a 5% investment to double? ›

Answer and Explanation:

Applying the rule of 72, the number of years to double your money is 72 divided by the annual interest rate in percentage. In this question, the annual percentage rate is 5%, thus the number of years to double your money is: 72 / 5 = 14.4.

How long will it take money to double if it is invested at 10%? ›

A 10% interest rate will double your investment in about 7 years (72 ∕ 10 = 7.2); an amount invested at a 12% interest rate will double in about 6 years (72 ∕ 12 = 6). Using the Rule of 72, you can easily determine how long it will take to double your money.

What is the Rule of 72 which amount will double faster? ›

The Rule of 72 indicates how fast your money will double at a given rate of return. 2. When you divide 72 by the estimated annual rate of return, you get the number of years it will take for your money to double. So, if you are getting 8% return annually, it would take 72/8 = 9 years to double.

Top Articles
Latest Posts
Article information

Author: Jerrold Considine

Last Updated:

Views: 6203

Rating: 4.8 / 5 (78 voted)

Reviews: 85% of readers found this page helpful

Author information

Name: Jerrold Considine

Birthday: 1993-11-03

Address: Suite 447 3463 Marybelle Circles, New Marlin, AL 20765

Phone: +5816749283868

Job: Sales Executive

Hobby: Air sports, Sand art, Electronics, LARPing, Baseball, Book restoration, Puzzles

Introduction: My name is Jerrold Considine, I am a combative, cheerful, encouraging, happy, enthusiastic, funny, kind person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.