Formula: years = 1,000,000,000 / yearly pay (no raises), or the year count where the running total of pay growing at your raise rate passes $1B. Default pay of $65,000 is near US median full-time pay: BLS Usual Weekly Earnings, median about $1,200 a week in 2025 (bls.gov/news.release/wkyeng.nr0.htm). Pre-tax, no investing.Hear how real billionaires did it in our interviews