I posted about this several years ago, but I think it bears repeating. It is pretty much a cliche at this point to say that the earlier one starts to invest for retirement, or anything else for that matter, the better. The following chart illustrates the point. An investor that invests $10k per year at an average rate of 8% starting at age 35 will have about $1.13m at age 65. If that investor had started at age 25, he or she would instead have almost $2.6m at retirement. Which investor would you rather be?