The Cost of Procrastination

A 30-year-old saving $100 monthly until age 65 would have $379,664. But if they delay starting to age 31, they’ll amass only $342,539. Delaying just one year – $1,200 – reduces their end value by $37,125. 

That is not a typo. A single year’s delay costs this investor more than 30 times the amount they failed to invest. This is why procrastination is one of the most expensive financial mistakes you can make. Time works for you when you invest early, but every year you wait is a year that compounding cannot do its job. There is no recovering those lost years. The only solution is to start – imperfectly if necessary – and start now.