Investing in the stock market can be as simple as buying an index fund, adding a little bit of money every month, and watching your nest egg grow. Thanks to the mathematical magic of compound returns, the early gains build a stronger platform for future returns. The payoff can be jaw-dropping if you keep this strategy up for a couple of decades.

Read on to see how a modest monthly investment can grow to half a million dollars in 30 years. You don't even have to beat the market.

Let's keep this thought experiment very, very simple.

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Source Fool.com