Miss This Deadline and You Could Lose $65,407

April 15. You know what deadline that is, right? It's the tax deadline, of course -- the date by which you need to have filed your taxes each year. (It's occasionally a day or more later than that, if there's an interfering weekend or holiday, but this year it's April 15.)

That's also the deadline for contributing to an IRA -- for 2023. That's right -- For 2023, the IRA contribution deadline is not December 31, 2023, but April 15, 2024. So if you haven't contributed to an IRA for 2023, you can still do so -- and you should do so, if possible.

Image source: Getty Images.

Why the IRA deadline matters

Procrastination is a common trait, and it's easy for any of us to shrug and say something like "Eh, I'll contribute next year." But that can have big and bad results. Here's why.

For 2023, the IRA contribution limit is $6,500. (Those aged 50 or older can contribute $7,500. And just so you know, for 2024, the limit rises to $7,000 -- and $8,000 for those 50 and older.) So let's assume that you skip your 2023 contribution, which we'll assume would be $6,500. That means that your IRA account will miss out on a $6,500 chunk of change that could have been invested for you, growing year after year.

Now let's see what might have happened to that $6,500 investment, if it grew at, say, 8% on average, annually. (The stock market has averaged roughly 10% annual growth over many decades -- though over your particular investing period, you'll likely average more or less than that. So we'll use 8% as a somewhat conservative rate.)

Data source: author.

See? Much will depend on your current age and when you will retire, but even if you're 55 now and have only a decade before retirement, you'd be giving up having an extra $14,033 in your retirement coffers by skipping your 2023 contribution.

If you're, say, 35, with 30 years until you punch the clock for the last time, you are giving up having an extra $65,407! Contributing to a retirement account may be the last thing on a 25-year-old's mind, but if they miss their 2023 contribution, they may be leaving $141,209 on the table. Ouch!

Your loss in context

Each of us needs to be planning for our retirement, and saving and investing for it, too. Don't count too much on Social Security. It's important and will be vital to your financial security in retirement, but it probably won't deliver as much income as you'd like. The recent average annual retirement benefit was $1,909 as of January, amounting to almost $23,000 for the year.

That's why missing a seemingly small $6,500 IRA contribution can really hurt you in the future. That's even more true if you're 50 or older and could be contributing $7,500 -- and $8,000 next year. Keep in mind, too, that if you're contributing to a Roth IRA, if you follow the rules, you'll be building a nest egg that you can tap in retirement tax-free!

Investing for retirement within an IRA or in a regular, taxable account at a good brokerage can be fairly easy, too, if you opt for one or more simple, low-fee broad-market index funds.

Here's a last important point: If you are reading this on April 16 or later, you're not totally out of luck. You can still save and invest $7,500 or any other sum, in your regular brokerage account. You'll miss out on any tax breaks that tax-advantaged retirement accounts offer, but you'll still get to build up your nest egg.

So don't put off contributing to your IRA for 2023 -- and while you're at it, maybe you can make your 2024 contribution now, too -- that will give those dollars even more time in which to grow for you. Remember to fund your 401(k) account at work, too, if you have one available to you. (There are even retirement plans for the self-employed.)

Whatever actions you take today, you're likely to be thanking yourself for tomorrow.