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Many people assume they can hold off saving for retirement and make up the
difference later. But this can be a very costly mistake. The further off your
retirement is, the more time your investments have the potential to grow.
For example, invest $3,000 every year starting when you're 20 years old. If your
annual growth rate is exactly 6% per year, and you
retire after age 65, you will have accumulated almost
$680,000 (assuming no tax). If you wait until age 35
and start saving $3,000 annually, you'll accumulate only
about $254,000. And, if you wait until age 45 to start
saving, you'll accumulate only about $120,000 by the
time you retire.
Of course, this is an illustration only, and assumes a
fixed rate of return. The rate of return on your actual
investment portfolio will be different, and will vary over
time, according to actual market performance. This is
particularly true for long-term investments.