Turn $451 a month into a Million Bucks

With a shaky economy and news 24/7 about difficult times, the plummeting housing market, loss of jobs, there's an equal number of financial tips and suggestions to not only help you keep head above water, but even plans suggesting you CAN be a millionaire by retirement. If you're in your 20's and 30's it's definitely possible. Not necessarily easy but possible.

As Blog Sisters, we enjoy reading these "tips" during our research to see if we have it on our list, or already have followed it as part of our financial discipline. The trick in all this is similar to attempting to lose weight or body fat--creating a plan, making gradual changes and solidifying those changes into permanent habits. Yes, it's all about discipline and PRIORITIES.

In the U.S., at least, we lived in a highly commercialized world--the pressure to keep up with the Jones', getting the latest technology (wii's and flatscreen TVs, iphones, etc), spending more on credit than we have in the bank and swimming in mounting debt--this is American culture. It's also preventing many Americans from planning for retirement.

We know many people of all ages with different approaches and spending habits. You have the traditional, straightforward Accountant "a penny saved is a penny earned", the clever financier who knows how to make that penny multiply through investments (both high and low risks), the young person who thinks he's immortal and buys the shiny new Mustang, with pimped out rims, and spends more on his car and club/bar hopping than on his school books. "Retirement" is as realistic to a 25 year-old as living on planet Mars.

Nevertheless, we would like to encourage any of you (alias can be used to protect identities) to share your success or failures as learning lessons for the rest of us. As an amateur dabbler in the stock market, Christine would love to learn more helpful tips to expand on her basic Motley Fool approach. So far she's done well but ready to take it the next level.

Alicia has been very successful and luckily sold stocks before the market turned, hence it's now part of her income.

PLEASE SHARE YOUR STORY by leaving a comment here (at the bottom of this post). Or you can send us an email directly to blog.sisters@yahoo.com.

So here's one tip we found that makes sense. If you can follow these tips, the trick is to automatically set that money aside before spending it on a new car (when the one you have runs well or new flatscreen TV). First things first, PAY OFF CREDIT CARD DEBT.

Then here's a good starting point to plan for your retirement. Turn $451 a month into a Million Bucks from Kiplinger.com.