A Random Walk Down Wall Street
"The harsh truth is that the most important driver in the growth of your assets is how much you save, and saving requires discipline. Without a regular savings program, it doesn´t matter if you make 5 percent, 10 %, or even + 15 % on your investment funds. The single most important thing you can do to achieve financial security is to begin a regular savings program and to start it as early as possible. [The only] reliable route to a comfortable retirement is to build up a nest egg slowly and steadily. Yet few people follow this basic rule [...]
It is critically important to start saving now. Every year you put off investing makes your ultimate retirement goals more difficult to achieve. Trust in time rather than in timing. As a sign in the window of a bank put it, little by little you can safely stock up a strong reserve here, but not until you start."
Source: Burton G. Malkiel,
A Random Walk Down Wall Street: The Time-Tested Strategy for Successful Investing