Understanding saving, investments and retirement can sometimes be a challenge to young people when their immediate needs and wants easily outweigh long-term financial planning. Riza Laudin, an economics teacher at Herricks High School in Long Island, New York, helps students make personal connections to the benefits of saving early through a lesson on the time value of money. In this lesson, Ana begins saving at age 22 for twelve years, while Shawn saves from ages 34 to 65. Students are challenged to predict who was the better saver. Understanding and applying the principles of compound interest, students learn a new strategy for saving and begin to contemplate their own financial futures.