Of course you can become a millionaire if you really want to.

Let’s be clear, being a millionaire is not about income, being a millionaire is about net worth – the value of everything you own minus everything you owe. You may earn big bucks and live in a million dollar house and drive a $80,000 car, but if you have a mortgage and car loan, you are not a millionaire.

For a middle-income American who saves consistently, owns assets, and invests over decades, becoming a millionaire is realistic. For someone who mostly relies on wages, carries debt, and does not invest, it is much less likely.

The typical path to millionaire status is not a sudden windfall. It is usually a long runway of steady saving, owning assets, and letting compounding do the work, especially inside retirement accounts and home equity. By contrast, high spending, debt, and little investing make it much less likely even for people with solid incomes.

Here is what is possible.

If you:

• Start saving at age 25
• Retire at age 65 (40 years)
• Earn an 8% annual return, compounded monthly
• Increase your monthly savings by 3% per year (roughly 0.2466% per month)
• Make deposits at the end of each month

then the required starting monthly contribution to reach $1,000,000 is about:

$200 per month

Saving $200 a month at age 25 may be challenging for many, but it is realistic. Increasing the savings by at 3% a year assuming increasing earnings make it easier. Adding lump sums to savings helps even more.

For those with employer matches on a 401k plan and the dollars saved automatically growing with pay, reaching the million dollar or more mark is quite doable.

Just two of the major 401k record keepers report they hold 1.7 million accounts with $1 million or more. They are many more record keepers for 401k plans. The millionaires represent a disciplined tier of workers who stayed the course through multiple market downturns without cashing out or changing their investment strategies.