It’s Never Too Late

Dave is good mate of mine. He is also my exact opposite – yoga teacher, vegan vegetarian (won’t even touch dairy milk chocolate!) and the biggest petrol head I know!

However, despite our differences in ‘taste’, Dave is like most other guys a few years either side of 50. He begins to give his finances more thought and wants to know how much he needs to retire on? Will he have enough? And is he heading in the right direction.

Dave is also worried he may have left his run a bit late. So I share one of favourite stories with him.

The following is a true story from ‘The Little Book of Common Sense Investing’ (p.214) by John Bogle. It is an extract from a letter written by a Vanguard shareholder who didn’t start investing until age 55.

“Most of my shares were purchased when you (John Bogle) were chairman of Vanguard. I am 85 years old and had never earned more than $25,000 a year. I started investing in 1974 with $500. I have only ever bought, never sold. I remember when things were not going well, your advice was stay the course”

He enclosed a list of his investments at the start of 2004: Total value, $1,391,407!

Remember the investor started with just $500 at age 55, never earning more than $25,000.

If he received a 5% yield on his investment, his annual gross income would be $69,570 pa.

Its never too late to get started!