> The 20k you didn't put in your 401k this year cost you $94,869.82 in 30 years assuming a 6% return annually which is lower than what many calculators assume.

This would be true if I never put 20k in. But if I would have invested 20k this time last year in a fund like FLCEX @ $24.05/share, I would now have $15.5k. After 30 years that is 89k (the calculator I used says 20k would be $115k not 95k like yours said).

Now lets say I put the 20k in right now. Again, after 30 years I would have 115k which > 89k. But I waited a year, so that 89k would now be 94k. So I will "make" more by waiting for this past year versus if I would have invested at the same time.