Have $10,000 to Invest? Here's How Much You Could Have in 30 Years

Seeing as how the cost of everything from housing to groceries to healthcare is downright exorbitant these days, it's hard to imagine being in a position where you're sitting on $10,000 that isn't earmarked for incoming bills. But maybe, just maybe, you're in that fortunate position due to a generous gift from a family member, a bonus at work, or careful financial planning of your own.

Either way, if you have $10,000 on hand, you may be hesitant to invest it. After all, that's money you could be using to improve your life in the near term. And let's be real -- investing in stocks carries some risk. So if you're finally in a place where you've gotten your hands on some money, you may not want to just throw it into the stock market and hope for the best.

But one thing you should know is that by not investing in stocks, you're doing yourself a disservice by denying your money the chance of immense growth. And once you see what a $10,000 investment could turn into over 30 years, you may be more eager to embrace the idea of owning stocks.

How does 17.5-times your initial investment sound?

Over the past 50 years, the stock market, as measured by the performance of the S&P 500 index, has generated an average annual 10% return. So if you put $10,000 into the market today and wait 30 years, there's a strong chance you'll enjoy a similar return. And if so, you could turn your $10,000 into almost $175,000.

Now let's compare that to keeping money in savings. Today's savings account rates aren't the norm, so let's assume that keeping your $10,000 in cash results in an average annual 2% return over 30 years. In that case, you're growing your $10,000 into about $18,000.

And hey, look, that's more than what you started with, so that's a win by itself. But when you compare $18,000 to $175,000, well, there's really no comparison.

Ways to make stock investing less risky

Of course, the benefit of keeping your money in cash is that you don't risk losing it provided your bank is FDIC-insured. There is a risk of losing money in the stock market.

But you can mitigate that risk in a few ways:

• Invest over a long period of time: The 10% average annual return mentioned above accounts for many periods of stock market declines. But ultimately, during the past half-century, the market's gains have clearly outpaced its losses.
• Aim to maintain a diversified portfolio of stocks: One really easy way to do this is to load up on S&P 500 ETFs, or exchange-traded funds. This way, what you're basically doing is putting your money into the broad market rather than limiting yourself to a handful of stocks that may or may not perform well.

Northwestern Mutual says that the average baby boomer has $120,300 saved for retirement. If you're able to put $10,000 into the market today and leave it be for 30 years, you may end up with considerably more from that single investment alone. So even if buying stocks doesn't exactly land in your comfort zone, it's worth pushing yourself for the financial upside.