KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Nearly two-thirds of people say they wish they had started saving for retirement before the age of 25, according to a recent Voya Financial survey.
- Delaying saving for retirement can mean losing out on significant investment returns over time.
- Gen Z started saving for retirement the earliest, compared with other, older generations, the survey by retirement plan provider Voya found.
What do Gen Z, millennials, Gen X, and baby boomers have in common? They all say they wish they had started saving for retirement earlier, according to a new Voya Financial survey.
Well beyond a majority—64%—of those surveyed said they wished they had started saving for retirement when they were under the age of 25. Although, more than half of respondents said they started saving between the ages of 18 and 34, or at an average age of 28, the survey by investment firm and retirement plan provider Voya found.
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Those Who Start Saving for Retirement Early Have Big Advantage
By saving for retirement early, people can build up a nest egg over a longer period of time and benefit from compounding returns.
For example, if you started saving $500 a month at age 25, assuming a 10% average return (based on historical S&P 500 data), you would have more than $2.6 million in your retirement account by age 65.
If you delayed investing for 10 years and instead started at age 35, however, you would have roughly $987,000 at the age of 65. By waiting 10 years to begin saving for retirement, you would lose out on more than $1.6 million in potential investment gains.
Younger Generations Start Saving for Retirement Earlier Than Older Ones
The survey conducted in May of this year found that younger generations started saving for retirement earlier than older ones.
Among all age groups, baby boomers—generally born between 1946 and 1964—reported the biggest gap between desired age to begin saving (24) and age they actually started (32).
The youngest generation, Gen Z, likely born between 1997 and 2012, had a head start compared with other generations because its members said they started investing the earliest—at an average age of about 20.
Millennials, typically born between 1981 and 1996, said they started saving at an average age of 24, and Gen X, born between 1965 and 1980, reported starting at 30.
Although people of all generations surveyed expressed a desire to start saving for retirement earlier, many noted that there were obstacles that affected their ability to save for retirement. Respondents cited the economy (64%) and inflation (61%) as their top barriers to saving.
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