At this stage in your life, being in either high school or college, you're probably (hopefully) spending a lot of time and focus on what you'd like to do for a career, and rightfully so. You're asking, then, "Mr. Robertson, why are you suggesting we start thinking about retirement already, when we haven't even started our careers yet?" Well, at your age, your primary focus should, in fact, be on launching your career. After all, it's your career that's going to help fund your retirement, right? You can't enjoy retirement if you're unable to earn, save, or invest much during your prime working years.
With that being said, though, it's to your advantage to begin devoting at least a little thought and action to your retirement now, because you have the one asset at your disposal that is arguably the greatest, most valuable asset around - time. You have time on your side.
Even Gordon Gekko, the fictional corrupt billionaire investor so artfully portrayed by Michael Douglas in the Wall Street movies, eventually figured out the value of time:
You may not have a lot of money to save or invest right now, but with time on your side, along with a little discipline and research, you can grow very small amounts of money into a much larger pool of money in the end. Time is on your side. Don't squander this incredible asset - this incredible opportunity - that you have right now. Too many people, unfortunately, figure this out way too late.
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