An excerpt from Sam X Renick's guest column for TheDollarStretcher.com: "Minimum Wage Millionaire"

Whoever came up with the saying "money does not grow on trees" should be fired. I assume they either didn't read or agree with Benjamin Franklin who said "money is of a prolific generating nature."

Wouldn't it be wiser to use the "money and trees" saying to motivate kids and young adults to become disciplined savers and investors?

It's a perfect metaphor to help explain the compounding principle. Just ask kids to picture... READ MORE

BEST PRACTICES

How are you talking to and teaching kids about inflation, compound interest and the rule of 72? What are some of your best practices?

QUOTES

Money is of a prolific generating nature. Money can beget money, and its offspring can beget more. -

Benjamin Franklin, Founding Father, United States

"Inflation is one form of taxation that can be imposed without legislation." -Milton Friedman, Economist

“Because we bump into reinforcing loops so often, it is handy to know this shortcut: The time it takes for an exponentially growing stock to double in size, the “doubling time,” equals approximately 70 divided by the growth rate (expressed as a percentage)." -

Donella H. Meadows, 

Thinking in Systems: A Primer

DEFINTIONS

Compound Interest

Compound interest in money making money. It is interest earning interest. Compound interest is interest calculated on the initial principal and also on the accumulated interest of previous periods of a deposit or loan.

Inflation

Inflation is a rise in prices of good and services or the cost of living over a designated time period. One way to measure inflation is by using the Consumer Price Index.

Rule of 72

The 

rule of 72

 is a formula to closely and quickly estimate the number of years that will be required to double your money at a specific annual rate of return. Divide 72 by the annual rate of return of return to estimate the number of years required to double your investment. 72 divided by 5% equals 14.4. 14.4 is the approximate number of years it will take to double your money earning a 5% annual rate of return.