Why does time count for more than the amount?
Starting ten years earlier does more than paying in more for ten years.
Two people pay in the same amount every month. One starts at 25, the other at 35, and both stop at 65.
The early one pays in a third more and ends with more than twice as much. The difference does not come from the amount but from the years in which the first payments are already earning.
Both stop at 65
How to read this in the simulator
In the calculator this is the investment period. Push it from 30 to 40 years and watch the base case, while the initial investment and the contribution stay where they are.
What the figure does not say
The calculation assumes an unchanging return. In reality it also matters when the good and the bad years fall, and whether a contribution is really kept up for forty years.
Education, not advice. Disclaimer