Two people invest $200 a month their entire career. One starts at 25. One starts at 35. Same job. Same contribution. Completely different retirement.
The person who starts at 25 ends up with roughly $702,000 at age 65. The person who starts at 35 ends up with roughly $298,000. That is a $404,000 gap — produced by the exact same $200 monthly deposit, just 10 years apart. (Assumes 8% average annual return, retirement at age 65.)
Here is why the gap is so large: the person who started at 25 did not just invest for 10 extra years. Those first 10 years of contributions had 40 years to compound. The early dollars do most of the heavy lifting — long before the investor ever notices.
No one is behind forever. The math is not trying to shame anyone. But the cost of waiting is not “a little less at the end.” It is $404,000 less at the end. That number is worth knowing at 25, 30, 35, or right now.
Share this with anyone in their 20s or 30s who keeps saying they’ll start investing “when things settle down.”
Save this post — it’s worth coming back to.
What age did you start investing?
