If I could turn back time, there’s one financial mistake I wouldn’t repeat.

When I first graduated from college, I set several goals: pay off my student debt, build an emergency fund, and save for travel (something I didn’t do much of as a cash-poor student). Fortunately, getting a good job right out of college and living at home for a period of time (and thus not having to pay rent) helped me achieve this goal.

But there was one financial goal I overlooked in my early 20s. It was about funding a retirement account. As a result, I paid a lot of money. I didn’t realize it at the time.

A mistake I want to fix

I didn’t start consistently funding my retirement plan until I was 25 years old. But you could have started contributing three years ago.

When I first started working, I did not have access to a 401(k) plan through my job. But an IRA has always been an option. It was just a choice I decided not to accept. And to be fair, I was able to access my 401(k) shortly after that.

My logic was that retirement was really far away, so I had plenty of time to save for retirement throughout my career. Plus, I wanted to pay off my debt and put some money in the bank.

To be fair, my decision to focus on building an emergency fund wasn’t a foolish one. According to SecureSave data, 63% of Americans today cannot afford a $500 unplanned expense. I didn’t want to be in that position, so I prioritized short-term savings over long-term savings, which made sense.

But what I should have done was at least focus on my putting. part Put money into your retirement account. Losing three years of contributions means I am much less prepared to retire.

what i missed

You might be thinking, “What’s the big deal? So I’ve waited years to fund my retirement accounts, but how much money have I actually missed out on?” But the answer is quite a lot.

Investing your retirement savings in stocks has the potential to grow a small amount of money into a much larger sum. The average annual return on the stock market over the past 50 years has been 10%.

So let’s say I contributed $5,000 to my retirement plan 20 years ago. With the same return, $5,000 would be worth closer to $34,000. So, the way I see it, if you don’t take that action, you could potentially lose $29,000. That’s a lot of money.

Of course, I was able to change course quite early and start saving for retirement in my mid-20s. And I’ve been contributing to one piece consistently ever since. But still, if I could somehow turn back time, I would tell myself that I would start saving for retirement right away. And you might want to say the same thing to yourself. Although it may seem unnecessary if you’re young and too far from retirement, it’s smart to do so for your personal finances.

WARNING: The highest cash back card we’ve ever seen has a 0% introductory APR until 2025.

This credit card isn’t just good. It is very special as it is used personally by professionals. This card offers 0% APR for new signups for 15 months, up to 5% cashback, and no annual fee!

Click here to read the full review for free and apply in just 2 minutes.

Read reviews for free