Thrift Board Wants the Young

Dana Bilyeu, whom President Obama has nominated to join the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board, told a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs subcommittee on Thursday that the board needed to work harder to convince young military service members to begin saving early. From a Federal Times article:

Those that are in the beginning of their careers -- 18, 19, 20-year-olds -- often are those that have the hardest time deciding to participate in these programs. They are actually the group that needs to start participating early.

That's a tall order. And it might not be an issue of "deciding to participate," but rather having the means to. Young workers start out their careers making low wages, and just about everything goes to living expenses leaving very little for savings. Even factoids like this one couldn't convince me or my young working friends to begin saving so many (many) years ago:

Who has more money at retirement? Someone who begins at the age of 19 saving $2,000 a year in an Individual Retirement Account and stops at age 27, or someone who begins saving $2,000 a year at the age of 27 and continues until the age of 65? (You know the "surprise" answer, but the difference is somewhat of a shock.)

But there's still the problem: Who has $2,000 a year at age 19 to sock away? Maybe the investment board can figure how to get around that one.