The single most powerful tool I have found for motivating myself to take retirement investing seriously is a compound interest calculator, such as the one found here:
Let's do a sample calculation with the following assumptions:
Start with a $0 balance today
Contribution of $1,000 per month
Average annual growth of 8%
Compounding for 30 years
According to the compound interest calculator, this yields a future value of $1,468,150.42.
This number should surely grab your attention. If this doesn't motivate you to start taking retirement investing seriously, I don't know what will! Investing only $1,000 per month can make you a millionaire.
Now let's say you wait 5 years to begin investing, and you invest for only 25 years instead of 30 years. This yields a future value of only $947,452.98.
This is a dramatic difference. Waiting five years to begin investing can cost you half a million dollars in your future retirement. So, young people reading this: start investing now, right now, today! You will thank yourself later.
