I hear many reasons why “now might not be the right time” for someone to start investing/ saving or working on other aspects of their financial plan. I understand that some people may have loans or debts they are working on paying off, a big purchase on the horizon or some think they are young and have time on their side. We can create a budget that allows for both saving and other goals or obligations such as debt or ongoing bills. Some of the common phrases we hear as advisors is from people that come into our office and say, “I wish I would have started 10 years ago”, “I should have listened to that advisor 10 years ago”, “I wish I would have met you 10 years ago”. I’ll tell you what, you and I are here now so lets get to work!

 If we are looking at getting your financial plan started, we don’t have to start by saving hundreds or thousands a month. You also don’t have to have a lump sum of cash sitting in the bank before we can talk. The important part is to just get STARTED! We can start by building good savings habits with monthly contributions that fit your lifestyle and grow your plan from there.

The power of starting to save earlier in your life can have a big impact down the road. Consider the following example:

Investor A starts at age 25 and invests $2,500/ year for 40 years. Using a modest 4% annual rate of return, by the time investor A is 65 years old, they will have accumulated $247,066.

Investor B starts at age 45 and invests $5,000/ year for 20 years. Using that same modest 4% annual rate of return, by the time investor B is 65 years old, they will have accumulated $154,846.

Investor A will have accumulated about 60% more than investor B! Even though the two investors have invested the exact same total amount of money over their respected timeframes. How exactly is this possible you may ask? Well that’s the power of compound interest. Letting your money work for you over a longer period of time and soon the interest that you earn, earns interest as well.

It all starts with a conversation with your advisor. Get the wheels in motion today!

-Dillon