Contribute Early

Every source I've ever read has agreed that the best thing you can do to ensure a comfortable retirement while not sacrificing your life today is to contribute starting as early as you can. I thought I'd drive home this point by showing you graphs of what saving 10% of your salary looks like if you start at 25, 35, and 45. Keep in mind that this is, in my opinion, a very rosy outlook calculator from MSN Money.

Here we go at 25:

Starting at 35:

And starting at 45:


It isn't ever too late, but obviously the sooner the better.