It's pretty easy to see how it happens. People don't intuitively understand compound interest and defer. You're supposed to start saving during the most financ

It's pretty easy to see how it happens. People don't intuitively understand compound interest and defer. You're supposed to start saving during the most financially constrained portion of your life, and those are the dollars that have the most impact on your nest egg. Imagine someone starts investing $100/mo at 20 for 3% annually. Their friend who starts saving the same amount at 30 will have 30% more money, despite putting in almost as much. A person whose parents gave them $10k for retirement at 20 and only starts investing at 30 will have as much as the person who invested religiously from 20, while a person who managed both will have double.