> the plan is to invest the money in an index fund that on average earns 5% and all dividends are reinvested. I believe 5% is very reasonable on S&P 500. Yes, 5% is a conservative estimate for the S&P 500. > What value should I choose for Interest is compounded? Should it be Yearly? For the kind of rough hypothetical that is this exercise, Yearly compounding is Good Enough. > This number seems quite high, is it correct? This is the magic of compounding, which is why investing a little early is so much more important than investing a lot but later.