The $25 A Week Master Plan

 My kids overheard a conversation I was having regarding saving for early retirement and were intrigued, not about retiring, but about saving what for them is an insane amount of money. Since their earning potential was limited to washing the neighbor’s car, or mowing a lawn, I tried to show them how easy it would be to start small.

$25 a week seemed easy enough.  I used the morning coffee their uncle buys every morning as an example. I also mentioned the lunch they each buy at school every day.I mentioned that the coffee should be brewed at home and that they could pack a lunch and save all that cash. Easy math, $5 a day is $25 a week. They said that they saw my point but that my math was flawed as the ingredients had to be purchased. At least they saw my logic.

$25 a week is roughly $1,200 a year. That doesn’t seem like a lot and since a savings account is not the best option I found an IRA calculator and plugged in the numbers. $25 a week contributed from 18 to 65 adds up to more than $420,000. 

The light bulb was bright.I had a captive audience. They wanted to know more. They heard all about 401Ks and IRAs. Sure there are many other tools out there, but a did not want to overwhelm them. The way things are right now who knows what the age of retirement will be for them. Hopefully they didn’t ask just to amuse me.