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 finish38,568.74
0500000100000015000001020304050Late 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
Break even monthly634.03

Interactive artifact by Delineo