Julie Jason:

Start planning for retirement early.

Last week, I was invited by a local company to speak to its “young professionals group” about finances. Of course, I had to talk about — you guessed it — retirement.

Why would I want to talk to 20- year- olds about that time, decades away, when they will stop earning a paycheck?

If you fast- forward to the future and ask retirees what they regret, it is not starting to save and invest early enough.

That regret is avoidable only if someone older and more experienced brings it up. That may be your role in the life of a young member of the family.

First, the reason for regret is that you can’t make up for lost time. And time is the essential element of the equation for building wealth. The more time you have between now and retirement, the less capital you need to commit toward the goal of having a secure retirement. Hence, the retirees’ regret.

Second, you want to trigger compounding ( earning interest on interest) in a meaningful way with long-horizon investments that can produce healthy results. An example is a stock index fund of the type that is typically offered through company retirement plans.

Using the “rule of 72,” if you earn 3 percent per year, your investment will double in 24 years and double again in another 24 years, and so on and so on.

Compounding is much more pronounced with higher returns. If you earn 7.2 percent, $ 1,000 doubles to $ 2,000 in 10 years. In another 10 years, it doubles again to $ 4,000. In another 10 years, you’ll have $ 8,000 on that original investment of $ 1,000.

Third, you can leverage compounding through an employer’s 401( k) with a match. In the case of this company, the 401( k) provided a dollar- for- dollar match. I’ll share some numbers shortly.

Fourth, you need to face the fact that everyone has competing demands, such as student loans, rent and transportation. And what about plans to start a family, buy a house and save for the children’s college educations? The earlier you start, the less you will need to contribute over time, making room for other goals. Start to save for retirement when you start to work, and keep the habit going during your entire working career.

Let’s go through some numbers. Assume you are 25 and contribute a modest $ 150 a month to your company’s 401( k) plan that you invest in an S& P 500 index fund offered by the plan. Each year, as your salary increases by 3 percent, your contribution increases by 3 percent.

After 40 years, you will have invested about $ 136,000. If you experience the median return on the S& P 500 index fund ( going back to 1927) for a 40- year horizon, you would have a 401( k) balance of $ 1.5 million by the time you are 65.

But wait, you also benefit from the company’s dollarfor- dollar match. That is, for each dollar you save, the company matches dollar- for- dollar. Over 40 years, that’s another $ 136,000 invested for you by your employer, which adds an additional $ 1.5 million to your 401( k) by the time you reach 65, again assuming the median historical return for a 40year horizon.

Added together, that’s a cool $ 3 million that cost you $ 150 a month ( plus 3 percent annual increases) over 40 years.

You may ask, “What happens if I hit a bad market period?” In the worst 40- year period, your matched results would have been just shy of $ 2 million. In the best 40- year period, you would have a little over $ 6 million by the time you retired.

Your experience in the market will depend on your personal historical journey through time. In any case, you can see the value of starting early. There is no other way to leverage a small amount of money ($ 150 a month) into millions.

Only a rare 20- something is aware of the benefits of youth when it comes to building retirement wealth. As a parent or grandparent, friend or colleague, can you have a positive impact?

Don’t hesitate to discuss the importance of starting to save and invest while maximizing the company’s 401( k) plan. Tell them: The longer your horizon, the more you can benefit from compounding, the math that makes millionaires.

On another note, if you are an employer located in Fairfield County, let me know if you would like to host a presentation for your youthful employees. Email me at readers@ julie jason. com. Also let me know if your company has an interest in promoting financial literacy education — as you know from this column, that’s a particular interest of mine.

Julie Jason, JD, LLM, a personal money manager ( Jackson, Grant of Stamford ) and author, welcomes your questions/ comments ( readers@juliejason.com ). Her awards include the 2018 Clarion Award, symbolizing excellence in clear, concise communications. Her latest book, a curated collection of Julie’s columns, is “Retire Securely: Insights on Money Management From an Award- Winning Financial Columnist.” To hear Julie speak, visit www.juliejason.com/events .