Saturday, July 13, 2013

Compounding

Compounding

"Compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world. He who understands it, earns it ... he who doesn't ... pays it.' ~Albert Einstein

Compounding is typically taught in finance courses. For example, 100 years ago, your great-grandparents wanted to invest $100 and they could choose to invest either in stocks at 10% returns or in bonds at 5% returns. As their grandchild about to receive the inheritance which would you prefer? Turns out the difference is about two orders of magnitude i.e. 13 ('000) vs 1300 ('000). If you're thinking about saving up for your great-grandparents, this could be relevant.

As Einstein says, compounding is a really, really powerful idea.

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