Tools The Cost of Waiting

Free tool · The Cost of Waiting

What does waiting to invest really cost?

Compound growth rewards time more than money: the early years do the heavy lifting. See how much less you’d have at retirement if you start investing a few years from now instead of today, and how much more you’d need to put in to catch up.

Step 1 · Your plan

Leave blank for 65.
Leave blank for 5% a year, a common long-run planning figure for a stock-heavy mix.

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How this calculator works

Cost of waiting = balance if you start today − balance if you start later

Both plans invest the same amount every month until the same retirement age. The only difference is when they start. Money grows at your expected return after inflation, compounded monthly, so the results are in today’s dollars.

The gap is bigger than the contributions you skip, because the money you’d have invested first has the longest to compound. The catch-up figure is the monthly amount the later start would need to end up at the same place.

Real returns vary from year to year, and nobody can promise any rate. The point isn’t the exact figure. It’s the shape: starting small today usually beats starting bigger later.

Words you’ll see

Compound growth
Earning returns on your past returns, not just on what you put in. Its effect grows with time.
Real return
Investment growth after inflation. Using it keeps every number in today’s dollars.
Catch-up contribution
Here, the larger monthly amount a later start needs to reach the same balance. (It’s also the IRS name for extra 401(k) and IRA contributions allowed from age 50.)