Here’s something to get your wheels turning. Let’s say you’re celebrating your eighteenth birthday and you commit yourself to putting just a dollar a day into some sort of investment for the future. Your uncle advises you to use an HSBC savings account to start and a Vanguard 500 mutual fund (assuming historical growth) once you reach the $3,000 minimum entry fee.

On your 30th birthday, you would have $8,210.77 invested. On an average day, your money will earn $2.74 on its own.

On your 40th birthday, you would have $34,919.52 invested. On an average day, your money will earn $12.65 on its own.

On your 50th birthday, you would have $125,235.60 invested. On an average day, your money will earn $41.79 on its own.

On your 60th birthday, you would have $430,828.33 invested. On an average day, your money will earn $143.77 on its own.

On your 65th birthday, you would have $794,815.60 invested. On an average day, your money will earn $265.23 on its own.

If you retire when you are 65 years old and start living off the interest, you’ll bring in $96,808.95 a year.

This is a stellar example of the power of compounding your income and a powerful way to get a young person interested in investing. Here’s what you do: when someone is about to celebrate their eighteenth birthday, print off a sheet of paper that includes the above six lines on it, a line above them saying “If you saved just a dollar a day, starting right now…” and a message congratulating them on their birthday. Include a dollar (or more, if you want) in the envelope.

I’m doing this very thing for my niece’s upcoming sixteenth birthday with only a slight number change. That last one, at age 65? The amount will be $1,015,177.57.