At 30, I opened a brokerage account for the first time. I'd always thought investing was for rich people or finance people or people who understood spreadsheets. When I finally started learning, I was furious. Not because it was complicated — because it wasn't. The basic principles of investing are so simple that my only explanation for not starting sooner is that nobody in my life ever told me to.
Compound interest is real and it favors people who start early. A woman who invests $200 a month starting at 22 will have roughly twice as much at retirement as a woman who starts at 32 — investing the same amount. That gap is the cost of the eight years I spent thinking investing wasn't for me. I can't get those years back, but I can make sure the next thirty count.
If you're 30 and haven't started investing, you're not too late. But you are later than yesterday. Open an account, pick a low-cost index fund, set up automatic contributions, and stop checking it every day. It's the most boring, effective financial move you'll ever make.
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