Your first month, step by step

Why today beats next year

Starting at 25, 35, or 45 — the same money, three different lives

The single biggest input you control is not the fund you pick — it's the year you start. The table follows the same investor: $500 a month into a broad index fund at 7% a year, stopping at 65. Only the starting age changes:

Illustrative, before tax and inflation; 7% is a historical-average assumption, not a promise. Run your own numbers in the calculator.

• Each decade of delay roughly halves the outcome. The 25-year-old ends with about twice the 35-year-old's total and nearly five times the 45-year-old's — on almost the same money in.
• Starting later is not disqualifying — it just changes the lever. At 45 with 20 years left, the savings rate does the work compounding no longer can: $1,250/month for 20 years ends near the 35-year-old's result. Use the calculator's goal mode to find your own required monthly.
• The worst plan is waiting for a better moment. On a 20–40 year horizon, today's prices matter far less than today's start date (see time in market).

Step zero, everywhere

Before the first purchase — the universal three

United States

US checklist — first month

1. Week 1: Log into your employer's 401(k) portal. Set the contribution to at least the full employer match, into a low-cost target-date or S&P 500 index fund.
2. Week 2: Open a Roth IRA (or traditional, by income) at a major low-cost brokerage. Enable automatic monthly transfers from checking.
3. Week 2: In the IRA, set the money to buy a broad index fund automatically — a target-date fund is the one-decision option.
4. Week 3: If on a high-deductible health plan, open the HSA and invest it (see Accounts for why).
5. Week 4: Automate the calendar: one annual review date (rebalance, raise contributions with raises), then stop watching daily prices.

Japan

日本 checklist — first month

1. Week 1: Open a NISA account at a major online broker (account opening includes the tax review — allow a week or two).
2. Week 2: Set up 積立 (automatic monthly purchase) in the tsumitate quota: a low-cost S&P 500 or all-country (オルカン) index fund, charged to a credit card where the broker offers points.
3. Week 2: The fund handles currency conversion internally — no separate dollar purchase needed, and dividends reinvest automatically inside the fund.
4. Week 3: If your employer situation suits it, start iDeCo for the income deduction (remember: locked until 60 — see Accounts).
5. Week 4: If you also buy US-listed stocks directly, confirm the broker filed your W-8BEN equivalent so US dividend withholding is 10%, not 30%. Then set the annual review date and close the app.

Korea

한국 checklist — first month

1. Week 1: Open 연금저축펀드 at a securities firm (증권사 — not the insurance variant), plus a regular brokerage account in the same app.
2. Week 2: In 연금저축, set an automatic monthly purchase of a Korean-listed S&P 500 or all-world ETF — up to ₩500,000/month captures the full ₩6M annual tax credit.
3. Week 3: Decide where extra savings go: IRP (extra ₩3M of credit, stricter until 55), ISA 중개형 (flexible, partly tax-free), or direct US stocks (mind the 22% gains tax above ₩2.5M/year — see Accounts).
4. Week 3: Buying US-listed shares directly? File the W-8BEN through the broker (15% treaty withholding) and note the May capital-gains filing.
5. Week 4: Automate everything, book the annual review, and unfollow the daily-trading communities — 서학개미 enthusiasm plus a 20-year clock beats it every time.

After month one

Where to go from here