An early start to investing will give you the headstart you need to build a robust retirement fund because the longer you stay invested in the market, the longer your funds will get to harness the power of compounding interest and the bigger your retirement corpus will be. For early starters, experts recommend equities as the best bet for wealth creation, as they grow faster than other asset classes. But there is another benefit of starting early—it helps you gain financial discipline.

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So, the longer one rides the compounding wave, the better the chances of a bigger corpus, and the shorter the investment period, the lower the chances of a desired corpus. For example, suppose you are 25, earn a monthly salary of Rs 40,000, invest Rs 10,000 per month, and want to retire at 60. In that case, assuming the annual return on your investments is 10 per cent, which remains constant until retirement, you would have accumulated a substantial corpus. Then, compare the outcome with the results when there is a delay of 5, 10, and 15 years, considering 25 as the ideal starting age for investments. The results will vary significantly.

Starting At 25:

If you start at 25, you will have 35 years to build the fund before retirement. So, if you invest Rs 10,000 monthly, your total investment will be Rs 42 lakh upon retirement. With a 10 per cent annual return and compounding, your corpus will grow to Rs 3.83 crore.

Starting At 30 (5-Year Delay):

If you start at 30 and apply the same criteria, the total investments will be Rs 36 lakh, while the total corpus with compounding interest will be Rs 2.28 crore.

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Starting At 35 (10-Year Delay):

If you start at 35, the total investments will be Rs 30 lakh, and the total corpus at retirement will be Rs 1.34 crore.

Starting At 40 (15-Year Delay):

If you start at 40, you will have 20 years to build the fund before retirement; you will have invested Rs 24 lakh and the total corpus at 60 will be Rs 76.57 lakh.

While many other factors can impact your retirement savings, such as inflation, political upheavals and economic distress, it is apparent that a delay in retirement savings can cost you dearly. Therefore, it is in your best interest to start saving for retirement early.