The True Cost Of Delay

Most people have seen an illustration of the magic of compound interest. For example, if you save $50 each week for 20 years then you will have accumulated $165,747 even though you only contributed $52,000. But what if you waited a year before you started saving? What is the cost of that delay?

Many people will be tempted to say it is the balance at the end of the first year; $2,732. Others will argue that it is only the interest earned in the first year; $132. But neither of those methods gives you the right answer.

Let's say that person A decides to start his $50 per week saving program today but person B decides to wait one year. In 20 years time, person A has been saving for 20 years and person B for only 19 years. Person A has a balance of $165,747 and person B has a balance of $147,516 this is a difference of $18,232. That is the true cost of delay in this 20 year example.

This is all simple in this neat example but what about in real life. Studies tell us that the person who delays their saving or investment plans for a year has only a 20% chance of actually starting that plan in twelve months time. Saving and investing are not activities they are attitudes. The real cost of delay for person B is more likely to be $165,747 because they will never actually start.

This is not only true of a simple thing like saving money, this is also true of life in general. The person who delays starting any endeavor is highly unlikely to actually start it at all. Think of the cost of that. The real cost of delay in this case is the full potential of all you could become if you got serious about being successful.

What could you really achieve in life if you actually got serious about it, starting today, and gave it your best shot? Who knows? Maybe you could become a billionaire, maybe you could become a world famous musician, maybe you could become a great philanthropist, or maybe you could become a person who changes the course of world history. There is only one way to find out.

Many people don't get started because they are worried about all the problems that they might encounter along the way. Well guess what. You are going to encounter problems anyway. The difference is that most people are encountering the same problems over and over again but the person on the success trail is solving today's problems and moving on to more interesting ones.

Take for example person B mentioned above. If he never gets around to saving or investing he will face financial problems all his life. A person who gets serious about saving and investing will one day have to face the problem of what they are going to do with all the excess money they have. Which problem would you prefer?

There is only one sensible way to approach starting a new venture; you say to yourself that either I am going to start it today or I am going to stop fooling myself and admit that I will never start it.

If you have the courage to say that to yourself and mean it, then you will become a starter and starting is the most important step in succeeding.


James Delrojo would like to help you by giving you his
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