Originally Posted by Schneed10
The power of saving money:
Let's say you're 30. You open an IRA account and put $5,000 in the S&P 500 index fund today. You leave it there until you retire at age 65. Historically, the S&P 500 earns about 10% per year. Some years are downers, some years are way up, and overall it comes to an average of 10%. Here's what happens:
2007: $5,000
2008: $5,500
2009: $6,050
2010: $6,655
...
2042 (retirement year): $140,512
Now let's say instead of saving $5,000 today, you decide to put it off and you start saving when you're 40 years old, in the year 2017.
2017: $5,000
2018: $5,500
2019: $6,050
2020: $6,655
...
2042 (retirement year): $54,173
See that? You wait 10 years, and you just cost yourself about $85,000. If you had started saving at age 20 instead of age 30, you'd have $364,452 by the time you hit age 65.
Point being: it is never too late. Don't wait, it just costs you money. If you're talking about saving for your child's college education, or saving for retirement, or saving for a house, whatever. Do whatever you possibly can to get time working on your side.
When it comes to saving, yesterday is gone, but today is better than tomorrow. I even like to think about Rage Against the Machine when it comes to saving money:
"It has to start somewhere, it has to start somehow. What better place than here? What better time than now?"
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