Two savers who each set aside the same amount every month can end up with very different results if one starts ten years earlier than the other, even if the later starter eventually contributes more money in total. The gap comes from compounding: interest earned in early years goes on to earn its own interest for decades afterward, while money contributed later has less time to repeat that process. Financial advisers sometimes call this the cost of waiting, a cost that shows up nowhere on a statement because it is measured not in money lost but in growth that never had the chance to happen.
As used in the passage, the phrase cost of waiting most nearly means
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Correct answer to question 79 (Paragraph Comprehension): the growth forgone by starting to save later
Method
The passage defines it in place: a cost measured not in money lost but in growth that never had the chance to happen, which is the growth forgone by starting later, not a fee or interest charge.
Updated: November 2026
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