Unless you’ve been living under a rock, it’s clear that inflation is running rampant. In fact, it’s at a 40 year high. Spoiler alert, it’s not Putin’s fault.
They call inflation the stealth tax. It’s not written in our tax code, but it affects each and every single one of us. Some more than others. So if you want to combat inflation, there’s one secret. It’s called compound interest. Albert Einstein, once called compound interest the eighth wonder of the world. He who understands it, earns it. He who doesn’t, pays it.
We have a perfect example on illustrating the magic that is compound interest and we’re going to lay that out with a magic penny. This penny doesn’t exist, but if it did, it would double every single day for 31 days.
So we start off with a penny. Day two, it’s two pennies. At the end of seven days, it’s worth $0.64. At the end of 14 days, we have $81.92. After 21 days, we have a whopping $10,485.76. And as we continue to grow, day 28, we have $1,342,177.28. Just three days later, we’re looking at a whopping $10,737,418.
Now that, my friends, is the power of compound interest.
What’s the problem? Why aren’t we all multimillionaires? Is the problem market fluctuation? Is the problem taxes? Is the problem fees? Or is the problem a combination of all of these and something else?
Absolutely something else. The biggest culprit to compound interest is draining the tank. You see, when it comes to compound interest, there are two factors to consider time and money. Time is something we can never get back. So each and every time we drain that tank down to zero, we stop the compounding of interest. We’re no longer earning money on our money. We start back at the zero line and we have to make up all that time that we lost originally.
So let’s carry on with this magic penny example. What would happen if we drained the tank after 22 days? Hey, we may have enough money in there to buy a car. And are we going to go to the bank and finance to buy that car? Heck, now we have the cash. We’re going to lose money to interest paying the bank back? No, we’re going to drain our tank. Pay cash. Cash is king. But let’s take a look at what happens when we do that.
On day 22, we have $20,971.52, enough to buy a brand new car. Now, instead of having $10.7 million, we got to start over and go back to day one. But we only have nine days left for compounding.
You had the potential to earn, hypothetically $10.7 million, but because you made that one decision on day 22, your tank is only worth $2.56. That is why we never drain the tank. And that is the power of compound interest.
So this is where we talk about the seen and the unseen. We see the interest that we’re going to pay on a car loan, and that is not acceptable. Because let’s face it, debt is bad. We spare ourselves of the embarrassment and the pain of paying interest on a car loan, and we drain down our tank and we utilize our savings.
But what we don’t see and what we’ll never see is the interest we could have earned had that money been compounding. You know that we always say you’ll never see the interest that you don’t earn. And this example really underscores how much you don’t see, and more importantly, the value of continuous compounding of interest.
If you want to combat the effects of inflation and that eroding effect on your money. We do have control over is our own personal economic system and what our money is doing for us. And part of being in control of your cash flow is earning continuous compounding on your money, especially when it comes to combating inflation and making sure your money is as efficient as possible, which is something we talk about all the time. Small minor adjustments on how you’re using your money can have tremendous impact on the bottom line.
If you’d like to get started with your compound interest curve so you’re able to use your money and never drain that tank, check out our website at tier1capital.com to schedule your free strategy session today.
And remember, it’s not how much money you make. It’s how much money you keep that really matters.
