Being a kid can be tough sometimes—you’re not tall enough for some rides, your bedroom won’t clean itself, and you never have enough candy money! But there’s one big advantage to being young: you have more time to get rich.

There’s a trend called FIRE, which stands for Financial Independence Retire Early. Retirement means you don’t have to work at your job anymore and you can live on the money you’ve already saved. This idea might seem far off when you’re more focused on video games than retirement, but wait until you hear how much money you could make if you start saving early!

Here’s how it works: money grows over time if you save and invest it. The younger you are when you start saving, the more time your money has to grow. That’s the magic of compound interest—it’s like earning interest on your interest!

Let’s look at a fun example. Imagine you’re 22 years old and just got your first job earning $50,000 a year. You decide to be money-smart and save $1,000 a month. If you keep that money in a shoe box, you’d have $330,000 by the time you turn 50. But if you invest that money in a mutual fund, you could have over $1 million by the time you’re 50!

Now, if you keep saving and wait until you’re 60 to retire, you could have over $2 million. And if you hold out until you’re 70, you could have over $4 million! That’s the power of letting your money grow over time. A general money rule is that money you invest doubles every 10 years. So the sooner you save, the more time your money has to double, and triple, and quadruple!

A lot of people who follow the FIRE trend make sacrifices in their 20s and 30s to save more, invest, and retire early. The earlier you start saving, the bigger your money can grow! Start now by saving as much of the money you earn as possible (at least 20%). This will kickstart your investments, and get you in the habit of saving for when you have a job in the future.

How much money do you want to have by the time you’re 50? The sky’s the limit if you start saving early!