by: Matthew Frankel, Selena Maranjian, Dan Caplinger, Eric Volkman, and Jason Hall

When it comes to saving and investing, nobody’s perfect — especially 20-somethings. It’s only natural to have some misconceptions and make some mistakes along the way, and to be honest, sometimes mistakes are the best way to learn

Many of our writers experienced some financial speed bumps early in their adult lives, and we want you to learn from their mistakes so you don’t make them yourself. With that in mind, we asked five of our writers what they wish they would have known about money in their 20s. Here is what they had to say.

Selena Maranjian: I got my financial wake-up call in my 30s, and was very happy I did. I had been stockpiling my extra dollars in a bank checking account, not thinking of any better place to put them, when I woke up to the great importance of saving and investing for my future.

What got me was the math, the tables, and the charts. For example, check out the chart below to see how powerful time is when you’re investing. See how a single $5,000 investment will grow over different time periods. (Let’s assume it grows at the stock market’s historical average annual rate of close to 10%.)

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