For those of us with access to tax-advantaged retirement accounts, being over the age of 50 unlocks the ability to make additional contributions to those accounts on a pre-tax basis.Maybe those contributions don’t have the advantage of time to compound, but perhaps they can make up (at least partially) for it in volume.
A lot of the personal finance blogosphere and social media is focused on supersavers, getting started early, and the benefits of compound interest. I don’t deny that starting to save at 18, saving the majority of your income, and investing it wisely so decades of compound interest can work on it is an incredibly great way to build wealth.
Most people don’t earn all that much in their 20s, don’t save much of it, and don’t invest what they do save particularly effectively. In fact, I suspect that most people don’t spend a lot of time thinking about retirement at all until their 40s, 50s, and 60s.
However, once these people (the majority) do start thinking about it and start reading books and Googling terms, they get a little depressed at what they missed out on by not starting early. I find it hilarious to get emails from people in their late 30s and early 40s who feel like they’re getting a late start.
Everything you own, minus everything you owe. It’s your house, your cars, your boat, your savings account, and your investments. It’s even more interesting if you break the data down by age, gender, specialty, race, and where you went to school.