Start from the begining.

Let me start with cliches'. A dollar a day. That is all it costs to give a child a head start in this world. The day a child is born if $1.00 is saved and that is repeated for the next eighteen years the final sum will be $6570.00 Pretty simple huh? That is without any interest. I know it is so fundamental as to be annoying but so few people do it. I wonder why. Is it because it just never occurs to them? We all want our children to be succesful but I see very few kids getting a boost when they really need it.

    I am going to paint a very average picture. A man makes $60,000.00 a year. Pretty typical. His bills run from $3000.00 to $4000.00 a month. Again, pretty normal. This man never hesitates to stop at Dunkin Donuts for a coffee at $2.00 a shot. Grab a scratch ticket for $10.00 or have Sub Way for $8.00. These are daily expenses that are not recorded or remembered. The cash flows mindlessly out of his pocket and into a till. If you add these numbers you get $20.00. Let's be conservative and say this guy only spends $8.00 per day on disposable comforts. If he sacrifices just one of those dollars he could save $6570 for his kid to give to him when he leaves high school. If he doubles it the kid gets $13140.00. The more ambitious you are the more you save. Imagine, $13140..00 and you never even know it's gone.

  I know that no one gave me a handful of cash when I turned eighteen. I had about $50.00 and a 1974 Dodge Fury. If I had been handed that windfall in 1985 it would have knocked me over. My first instinct would have been to go have a party. But if the cash was handed over with conditions of responsibility I know I would have been open to listening. People loved me. I know. But no no one showed me the money. There is a difference. Whether you're eighteen or eighty two, when money is in the equation people listen. Not one of my friends or anyone I ever knew got anything of tangible value from their family when they reached legal adulthood. We were reared and fed and given birthday parties and Christmas mornings. This is not a lament or a complaint. No regrets or accusations. I don't know why our families did not prepare us. I know some people do. Wealthy people do. This is something everyone can do. You don't need wealth. Just a little common sense and the ability to make a small sacrifice. It is so small in fact I can't even call it a sacrifice except that when you get to the end and have a pile of cash you give it a away. that is the sacrifice.