Happy to say i have more than 4X the average balance at my age group.
I have worked for the same company for almost 38 years. A year into the job, when i wasn’t even 24YO, one of the old timers came to me and said, “Did you sign up for the 401K yet?” I said, “nope.”
He replied, “I’m going to get the form and we’ll sign you up now.” He sat down and filled out the form with me. When it came to the % of contribution he said, “put 10% there”
I thought to myself, “10%??? When he’s not around i’ll change it to 2%”....I never did as much. I used the money 35 years ago to get out of credit card debt then used the money 7 years later to purchase a condo in foreclosure.
It was the greatest bit of financial advice i ever received.
I tell my kids: “Invest early, invest often!”
I have done way, way better than what they’re showing. If I hadn’t, it would have been my fault.