Listen up kids.  To me, that means anyone under age 30.  Parents too.  I'm gonna tell you how you can become a millionaire.  It takes time, but it can be done.  Let's say you're 25 years old and you'd like to retire at 55.  Let's further assume you invest all the funds in the stock market, and earn the historical 10% per year.

Starting with zero you need to save $6,079 per year and invest it all into the market.  Scary thought, but bonds or cash won't do it.  If you give yourself a bit more time, you can save less.  With a 40 year timeframe, you only need to save $2,259 per year, or about six bucks per day.  That's about the cost of a pack of cigarettes or a Venti iced nonfat caramel macchiato whipped Frappuccino at your local Starbucks.  Actually I made up that drink name.  Start even sooner, say at age 15 and give yourself 50 years to invest.  The yearly amount drops to $859 or a little over two dollars a day.

Now I don't know what $1 million will buy in 30, 40 or 50 years, but I'm guessing it's going to be better to have an extra $1 million in retirement than not.  However, there are two issues that prevent many people from taking the first step.  One is plain old ignorance, not realizing the math of compounding your money over decades.  The other is to methodically invest your money for 30 or 40 years and not spend it today or tomorrow.  It takes discipline and spending restraint, and we humans aren't wired to handle this stuff easily.

Why bring this up?  I read lots of articles about the lack of retirement planning by various generations.  Let's start with mine, the Baby Boomers.  Ten thousand boomers are retiring each day and many will survive on Social Security and perhaps a small pension.  Too late for them to do anything significant.  Gen X, born between 1965 and 1980, has some time, but needs to be well on the road to saving.  

No, this advice is aimed primarily at the very young, Generation Y, or Millennials, born between 1981 and 2000.  Or the next crop, which apparently is being called Generation Z or Boomlets, born 2001 or later.  This group still has the benefit of time to save and grow some serious bucks.

So do a Millennial or Boomlet a favor and make him or her read this.  It might be a waste of 5 minutes or it could change a life.  Get them to recognize early that the roadblock to financial success runs straight through human behavior, and make them commit to saving, now.  

The sooner you start the sooner you can finish and the more you'll have to see you through the golden years.  Parents, educate your kids about money and they'll thank you.  And you can spend their otherwise inheritance on yourself knowing they'll be ok.  I'd call that a win-win.  The Millennials might not.