It's important because there are so many temptations to try get-rich-quick schemes that promise high returns but in the end are losing propositions.  In addition, young investors especially must realize - like good wine - that harnessing the power of compound growth takes many years to reach fruition - as many as 40+ plus years. As we've seen, the rewards are significant, however.  

The powerful one-two punch is (1) saving for retirement in a Roth IRA and investing with a solid passive asset allocation strategy like WealthMaxBuilder, and (2) investing in real estate along the way.  Studies show that the optimal holding period for real estate is about 10 years.  Many individuals have built significant wealth by scaling up 2 to 3 times during their lifetime, and then scaling down to a smaller home for their retirement years.  The combination of strategies (1) and (2) can create significant sums to help you retire comfortably.

This is a topic that is covered in great detail in the Power of Compounding chapter of Essentials of Investing.  Due to the exponential growth factor of the Future Value formula (where "t" is the number of years invested), the growth on growth effect is enormous the bigger "t" is.  This means that the longer the snowball rolls down the hill, the faster it grows and the wealthier you become.  Most of the growth occurs during the later stages - so it's imperative to start saving early.

The author can be reached via email at richard@wealthmaxbuilder.com   You can also check out the web site, Facebook and YouTube channels for news and the latest videos.