The importance of starting a retirement account early

The power of compounding means that every extra year that your money is invested can have a big impact on the total that you will have saved for retirement. Chapter 5 “Your First Job and Entrepreneurship” in Financially Independent Teens presents an example where $2,000 invested into the S&P 500 index over four years ($500/year in an IRA) starting at age 16 turned into more than $269,000 by age 65!