One of the best gifts that we can bestow upon our young people is the importance of saving early.  Consider the following illustration:

Mandy manages to save from the age of 25 until 35, for ELEVEN years, then chooses to never save another dime.
Tommy saves from the age of 35 until 60, for TWENTY-SIX years, all the way until the time he retires.

Assuming a hypothetical 8% rate of return, Mandy will have over $183,000 MORE to spend in retirement than Tommy, even though Tommy has cumulatively saved over $75,000 MORE.

The point of this example is to encourage you to save NOW, not scare you into thinking that it is too late to make a difference. 

"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." 

- Burton Gordon Malkiel, The Random Walk Guide to Investing:
Ten Rules for Financial Success