Starting ten years earlier beats saving more later, because the first contributions are the only ones that get the full horizon to compound.

40
Early saver's lead at the finish38,569 USD/month
0500k1M1.5M1020304050Late saver's balanceCash the early saver actually paid in
Early valueLate valueEarly contributed

The late saver can hand over more cash in total and still finish behind: what separates the two accounts is years of compounding, and those cannot be bought back later.

Extra cash late paid72,000 USD/month
Break even monthly634 USD/month

Interactive artifact by Delineo