Not Starting Early Enough

The math is brutal and unforgiving. Investor A starts at 25, invests $500/month until 35, then stops (total invested: $60,000). Investor B starts at 35, invests $500/month until 65 (total invested: $180,000). At 7% annual returns, Investor A ends up with $602,070. Investor B ends up with $566,764. The person who invested one-third as much money has MORE because they started 10 years earlier. This is compound interest — Einstein (allegedly) called it the eighth wonder of the world. Every year you delay costs more than any single bad investment you could make. The best time to start was yesterday.