Hey dad, can you tell me what I'm getting for my 12th birthday? I'm giving you 2.3 million dollars. Really? Well, not yet. Right now, I'm giving you a Roth IRA, and as long as you mow the lawn in the summer and shovel the driveway in the winter, I will put $6,000 a year into that account for you until you're 18. You can do that for him because it's classified as earned income. That will be $63,000 for you by the time you're 18. Without your ever needing to invest another dollar, it will be $2.3 million for you by the time you're 65. Thanks dad! Hey, sure beats paying a quarter of a million dollars for an arts and science degree.