SoFi & The Million-Dollar Question

Right. So, the plan. The utterly sensible, grown-up plan. Turn a thousand dollars a month into a million. Sounds…doable, doesn’t it? I mean, logically. Except, of course, logic and actual investing rarely coincide. It’s less “Wall Street” and more “wall of worry,” frankly. Still, I’ve been doing some research – mostly because the alternative is staring into the abyss of my current account – and I’ve landed on SoFi. SoFi Technologies (SOFI 1.50%). It’s… promising. Apparently, it’s been averaging gains of around 43% a year for the last three years. Which, if you extrapolate, is…significant. Though, naturally, past performance is absolutely no guarantee of future results. The universe has a cruel sense of humor, you see.

I’ve been creating spreadsheets. Lots of spreadsheets. It’s strangely soothing. It gives the illusion of control. Here’s what they say. Assuming, of course, that everything goes exactly according to plan. Which, let’s be honest, it won’t.

$1,000 Invested Per Month (in Years) 8% Annual Growth 10% Annual Growth 12% Annual Growth
5 years $70,399 $73,261 $76,234
10 years $173,839 $191,249 $210,585
15 years $325,825 $381,270 $447,357
20 years $549,144 $687,300 $864,629
25 years $877,271 $1,180,165 $1,600,006
30 years $1,359,399 $1,973,928 $2,895,992
35 years $2,067,802 $3,252,292 $5,179,962
40 years $3,108,678 $5,311,111 $9,205,097

SoFi, apparently, is one of these ‘fintech’ companies. Which is a fancy way of saying ‘bank, but online.’ They started with student loans – a demographic perpetually in crisis, naturally – and have expanded into everything from car loans to mortgages and even cryptocurrency. It’s…ambitious. A bit like me, attempting to organize my sock drawer. The results are, shall we say, unpredictable.

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They’re targeting younger consumers, which makes sense. They’re the ones with the (slightly) longer time horizons. And they’re pushing into crypto, which…well, that’s a whole other level of risk. I’ve lost track of how many units of cryptocurrency I’ve lost. It’s a number I actively avoid thinking about. Revenue is up 37% year-over-year, and membership is growing – 35% to 13.7 million people. That’s… a lot of people. I barely know 13 people. And most of them I’m pretty sure are judging me.

The CEO, Anthony Noto, says they’re “scaling exactly as intended.” Of course he does. He’s the CEO. It’s his job to sound confident, even if internally he’s panicking. I suspect all CEOs are secretly panicking. I know I would be. They added a million new members this quarter. Which is impressive, I suppose. Though I’m starting to suspect that half of them are bots.

The stock seems reasonably valued, maybe even a little undervalued. Which is…encouraging. Though I’m starting to suspect that everything is overpriced. It’s a feeling. A deeply unsettling feeling. Still, a girl can dream, can’t she? A million dollars. It would solve so many problems. Like, for example, the problem of needing to work.

Units of Cryptocurrency Lost: 12. Hours Spent Watching Charts: 9. Number of Panicked Texts to Friends: 24. Will become disciplined long-term investor: TBD.

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2026-02-21 02:02