In 2008 and 2009, my gross annual income was US$2,700. In pesos, that shakes out to over 100,000 pesos annually, which sounds a bit more liveable.
Given this context, a contribution of US$5000 to a retirement account over the span of 12 short months seemed daunting, but in 2010 I worked constantly, maintained some of my Dominican spending habits (rice and beans, anyone?) and squirreled away my pennies. Come November, I'd maxed that mo-fo out. And, if we say 2050 is my target retirement date and use 8% as the average annual return (let's just be optimistic so the potential for this money sounds more impressive, thus encouraging me to continue saving, albeit under assumption of unrealistic returns :) we could (unreasonably) expect this 5 grand to turn into $108,622.61! I'm rich!
