Roughly four million young adults are starting their senior year in high school. What's in store for them when they graduate and how can they start planning for retirement?

Robert 'Bob' Powell, and Girls With Impact founder and CEO Jennifer Openshaw break down the student debt crisis, women in business, career advice for the next generation, and more in this week's episode of Decoding Retirement.

How to graduate college debt-free (00:25)

Four million high school students will graduate high school in 2025. 61 percent of those high school graduates will attend college. And at present, about 51 percent of them will graduate college with debt, on average $29,400 in debt, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Openshaw provides her tips for how college students can graduate without debt. "One of the things that we've found with our business academy at Girls With Impact is the colleges don't see young women or students with this kind of business training. And so they are awarding these young women with full rides to college as a result," Openshaw explains. "And so what we hear from our young women is that by leveraging this business training where they bring a business idea to life, they learned the fundamentals of business. They learned tools and concepts that come straight out of Harvard business schools."

Federal student loans: How to afford college and pay off debt (08:40)

Openshaw explained the role of parents, and especially grandparents, in helping students pay off loans. "One thing that parents can do is really bring their kids into the conversation about what portion the parents are going to pick up if they can," Openshaw says. "But the other really interesting other piece can be the grandparents ... Grandparents die. And only then do those assets pass on ... but what a difference they can make by passing some of that on now and seeing the joy of the grandchild benefiting from it."

Career advice for the next generation (17:25)

Openshaw also provided her tips for millennials and Gen Z, including how to start building your nest egg for retirement. "Literally it can set you back by hundreds of thousands of dollars if you don't get a good start on your earnings, Openshaw says. "I do think a couple things that young people can do is set up informational meetings with people in different roles, focusing on those industries that are most of interest to them."

Ask Bob: FAFSA (12:10)

In our special segment, Ask Bob, Bob answers the most common retirement and investing questions from our listeners.

Question:

A reader asked about the FAFSA. What is it, and when do I need to fill it out?