"You may delay, but time will not, and lost time is never found again." - Benjamin Franklin
When I think about long-term investing I picture an avalanche.
An avalanche that has fully-developed can weigh as much as a million tons and reach speeds of 320km/h.
When it comes to investing, it works in much the same way. If you invest $100 per month starting at 35 and achieve an average rate of return of 6%, by the time you are 65 you will have $100,451.50 in your account.
That means you would have invested $36,000 and received $64,451.50 in growth.
Not bad.
If, however, you started 5 years earlier, you would have $142,471,03.
That’s $42,019.53 more, and all you had to add was $6,000 more of your own dollars over that 5 year period.
This chart will help you visualize the difference.
The power of slow compounding is massive and really gains steam as that mountain of snow (or dollars) builds up over time.
Starting late is better than never starting at all, but if you had the choice which path would you take?