Investing

What waiting to invest costs you

Last updated 16 October 2026

A few years' delay can cost far more than the contributions you skip, because you lose the growth on them too. The figures, after Irish tax.

Money invested earlier has longer to grow, and the growth itself grows. So putting off a regular investment costs you more than the payments you skip. You also lose everything those payments would have earned by the end.

Waiting one, five or ten years

Someone puts €300 a month into an exchange-traded fund (ETF) until the end of 2060. It grows 5% a year before charges of 0.5%, with exit tax taken every 8 years and on the final sale. Starting now, they would end with €222,804.41 after tax.

Start after	End with	Cost of waiting	Monthly amount needed to catch up
1 year	€212,661.55	€10,142.86	€314.31
5 years	€174,959.36	€47,845.05	€382.04
10 years	€133,854.79	€88,949.62	€499.36

Waiting five years skips €18,000 of payments but costs €47,845.05 by the end. To make up for it, the monthly amount has to rise from €300 to €382.04 for the rest of the time.

Tax doesn't change the lesson

Exit tax is 38% in 2026 and 35% from 2027, once Finance (No. 2) Bill 2026 is enacted. It takes a share of the growth whenever you start, so a later start still leaves you with less. In a pension the effect is larger: there is no tax while the money grows, and you get income tax relief on the way in.

A lump sum now, or spread over a year

The same logic applies to money you already have. Investing €12,000 today, against €1,000 a month over the next twelve months, both held for ten years at a steady 5%:

	After tax in ten years
All at once	€16,532.19
Spread over the first year	€16,255.56

With steady growth, investing at once always wins because the money is invested for longer. Spreading it out only comes out ahead if prices fall during those months, which nobody can know in advance. What spreading does offer is less regret if the market drops soon after you start.

Delay costs least when the money isn't ready to invest. Clearing expensive debt and building an emergency fund first is not the kind of waiting that costs you.

To see what waiting costs with your own amounts, time frame and type of account, use the cost of delay calculator.

Work it out

Sources

General information, not tax advice. HeyPenny is not a tax agent.