How come these articles always start at 25? If you go the high school to college and out in 4 years route shouldn't you start at 22. Or is that not as pretty of a number as 25...granted I did start actually saving at 25.
We're at the point in modern society where I don't think anyone expects someone <25 to have their shit together.
I went to community college, so I started working full-time in IT at 19, two months before my 20th birthday. When I look at what my net worth was at 25 compared to my career earnings since 19, it's pretty sad. But still probably 15-20% of earnings, so just bad by comparison to what I've been doing since turning 25.
Yeah, this... I started working as a soccer referee at 14 and raked in a few hundred dollars a weekend, then later got other jobs. When I was younger I knew it was important to save, but I didn't really understand why, so I would end up with a few thousand dollars and then blow it all on ultralight backpacking gear or some other crap I didn't really need. I worked all through high school and college and don't have much to show for it except for a fancy road bike and some nice furniture sitting in my mom's garage. Because... What else was I doing with the money? I understood the importance of saving but I didn't really know what to do after that. In hindsight, I should have saved that money and used it to pay for college instead of student loans. So yeah, I definitely didn't have my shit together before 25.
Now that I am 25, I've been making steady progress on paying down my student loans (about $10K left!) and am at a point where I realize the importance of saving for the long run. Still, most people around me are clueless so it's helpful to have reminders like this chart to kick back in why it is I'm doing what I'm doing. Even starting today, if I do nothing but max out my Roth IRA I'll be ok for a traditional retirement. I know and understand the math but it still blows my mind sometimes. These reminders help to build goals and instill a sense of urgency to realize how important this is, even if I -am- way ahead of my peers.
Now once my loans are paid off (this year!!) and my Roth IRA is maxed (also this year, most likely!) what to do next is the baffling thing. (I don't work in the US so no employer match or 401k.)