Who wants to be a Millionaire?

Good morning!  This past week, I ran across an article from one of the many financial “guru’s” in our nation that sparked my interest.  Not sure whether or not I believed his lofty claims I ran the numbers myself, and to my astonishment he was correct. 

His claim was that if a 16-year-old teenager saved just $2,000.00 per year, for 6 years (so until they turn 21), into a Roth IRA account (assuming a 9.4 percent average gain annually), they’d have $1 million dollars when they turn 65.  That means that after 21 if they don’t save another dime but they let their money sit, they’ll have $1 million dollars when they retire!  I was amazed!  I had always heard, “Start saving when you’re young” but I never saw numbers projected like that!  I’ve copied the chart that Clark Howard had on his site, along with a link to the article, for you to read below. 

So I got to thinking…what would it take for Steve and I to start putting aside some money for our son to use years from now, when we’re long gone?  Could we help set him up with millionaire status?  What about our own retirement portfolio?  I went online, to our investment site and ran some numbers, trying to estimate what it was that we would need to set ourselves up for retirement years from now.  Just because we’re no longer 16 does not mean that it’s too late for us!  It may mean we need to set aside a bit more per year, but it’s certainly not out of reach for us, or for you!

The bottom line is that the earlier you can start saving, the better.  I know that it may seem impossible, to come up with an extra $2,000 per year (or more, depending upon how old you are now), but the dividends in the end are certainly worth it!

Age	Amt set aside per year	Years to save	Amount at 65
15	$2,000	7	$1,020,430
15	$2,000	50	$2,327,934
25	$2,259	40	$1,000,000
35	$6,079	30	$1,000,000
45	$17,459	20	$1,000,000
55	$62,745	10	$1,000,000

Here’s the link:

http://www.clarkhoward.com/news/clark-howard/personal-finance-credit/who-wants-be-millionaire/nFcQ/

Okay, so here’s my challenge for you today.  Yes, certainly please go look at your own retirement portfolio and consider where you will be by the time you want to retire.  That’s number one.  But second, why don’t you take some time to share this wisdom with your kids, or with some teenagers or college students in your life?  I bet they’ll get excited to hear that they could have a million dollars one day!