The first hurdle to investing for beginners: "But we have no savings for investment! We are hardly scraping by now; how are we supposed to save?" That's a familiar complaint, particularly in these times.

All the wanting in the world cannot add to your retirement plan if you have no money. That's just commonsense and for many people that is the unfortunate situation.

So let's not start right away by showing you how to invest successfully; there's no point if you believe you have no money. Let's start with where the money comes from and then, if we can overcome this hurdle, we'll talk in future articles about how to make that money grow carefully, cautiously, and with just one hour of your time each year – that's right, one hour each year.

While we're at it, we'll find ways to get rid of investment worries, deal with bear markets and defeat our worst enemies: panic, greed and impatience. What I talk about is not for everyone - no one answer ever is - but it probably is for you if you simply want to save with some faith those savings will grow sufficiently for that dreamed-of retirement.

There is one thing you can be sure of, and can prove to yourself before even investing a single penny: it works and it works well.

Now let's get back to where the money comes from in the first place. If you have an income of $30,000 or better – even with bills, bank loans, food, baby formula and housing to be paid for – I might be able to help you.

The story begins when a nervous woman came into my office on her lunch break. She was in serious debt and was afraid her husband would leave her.

During our conversation she revealed she drank as many as five or six takeout coffees each working day. I don't remember the cost each month but it was chunk of change. You do the calculation over 20 working days!

I proposed she should use a Thermos®, a can of her favorite coffee, and prepare her daily supply before leaving for work. The few hundred dollars she would save each month could begin to pay off her high-interest credit cards. Meanwhile, she would not suffer caffeine withdrawal.

I handed her a little black book but you will have to wait until the next article in this series to learn why. It's pure magic for people who think they have no money!

People in financial difficulty are not the only ones who sometimes need help with their savings plan. A professor and his piano-teacher wife came to see me. After telling me when they wanted to retire and how much they needed, I did some calculations of a type I now show people just like you how to do. When the couple came back, I told them: "You need to save $600 a month." The immediate response was: "Oh, we can't do that!" I nodded, putting on my sympathetic face. "Then you need to change your goals." "But we can't do that!" his wife gasped.

We sat in silence for a while, while they considered their options. "Well...if we start to save can we change the amount later?" I assured them they could and then added: "It's amazing, but by the end of three months you will realize you don't miss the money." I'd seen it often enough.

About four months later, the woman came back. My silent thought as I went to greet her was: "Oops, I guess $600 was too much." Instead, she gave me with a wide smile and said almost breathlessly: "That $600? You were right; we could even save more." With the greatest pleasure I told her she didn't need to; go out and spend the extra!

Some years later, they retired with about $960,000 that would grow to well over $1 million. They had also bought a new car for cash and took a cruise to Alaska. From small beginnings, entire lives can be changed.

Most of us fail to realize how simple and uncomplicated it can be to save. There's a sure-fire trick to it that I'll tell you about next time when I reveal how to easily find money you didn't know was possible for your own savings program.