Adam Shepard believes that anyone can go from rags to . . . maybe not riches, but at least a decent life. He believes because he lived it and he ended up with a car, a furnished apartment and $5000.00 dollars in the bank just nine months after checking himself into the homeless shelter.

His book is called Scratch Beginnings: Me, $25, and the Search for the American Dream.

Economics 101: Josh Sowin reminds us what it takes to retire rich. Start young and invest monthly. Easy, breezy—unless you’re already fifty years old and you didn’t exactly do it right when you were young.