FEBRUARY 27 • TRUE LEADERSHIP
Everything Compounds 
The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.
2 Corinthians 9:6
Time gives you options — lack of time does not. Interesting formula and fact: lets say you’re 22 years old, just graduated from college, or entered the job market. Now let’s say you invest $2,000 per year or your earnings into Index Mutual Funds for the next 10 years— a total of $20,000 ($2K x 10 years) — and then invest no more (zero dollars). Based on the average of the same return that the stock market had over the past 20 years (9.8%), when you retire at age 70, you will have amassed $2,806,710. All from a $20,000 total investment. Over time, interest compounds positively.
Now imagine the reverse. You buy a house worth $400,000 paying 6.524% interest over 30 years. You will pay out $512,452 — a half million dollars — in debt interest. Or a credit card debt of $10,000 debt with annual interest rate of 18% paid off in five years will cost you $5,236.06 in debt interest. Everything compounds positively or negatively.
So it goes with everything in life. Everything. Take relationships for example. You can invest in people positively… or negatively. You can add value to people or you can create debt in the relationship by being a taker instead of a giver. Everything compounds.
Biblically? Positively (investing) — Whoever has a bountiful eye will be blessed, for he shares his bread with the poor. Proverbs 22:9. Negatively (in debt) — The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is the slave of the lender. Proverbs 22:7. Whoever keeps the commandment keeps his life; he who despises his ways will die. Proverbs 19:16. Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord, and God will repay him for his deed. Proverbs 19:17 (Talk about investment return!!) One gives freely, yet grows all the richer; another withholds what he should give, and only suffers want. Proverbs 11:24.
Business? You shall not oppress a hired worker who is poor and needy, whether he is one of your brothers or one of the sojourners who are in your land within your towns… lest he cry against you to the Lord, and you be guilty of sin. Deuteronomy 24:14. Whoever is slack in his work is a brother to him who destroys. Proverbs 18:9. The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, while the soul of the diligent is richly supplied. Proverbs 13:4.
Everything compounds. If you deposit good into the bank of life, you will reap the earnings from that. If you are wise, you will prosper (not necessarily financially). If you are foolish it will only lead to ruin -— The wise of heart will receive commandments, but a babbling fool will come to ruin. Proverbs 10:8.
Don’t look at something as though it will have no baring on your life. Whatever you sow you will also reap. Watch your steps very carefully. Be intentional about your plans. Get wise counsel. Calculate your risk. Don’t treat everything as humorous. Don’t be afraid to say no. Don’t analyze things to death thereby missing opportunity. Be prudent and wise, reflect and act. Every decision will compound for good or bad. Choose good.
Quotes:
“Habits are the compound interest of self-improvement. The same way that money multiplies through interest.”
~ James Clear
“Compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world. He who understands it, earns it … he who doesn’t … pays it.”
~ Albert Einstein
“Good and evil increase at compound interest. That’s why the little decisions we make every day are of infinite importance.”
~ C. S. Lewis
Action: Be quick to listen and slow to speak. Think — get curious. Get counsel from thinkers. Reflect. Calculate risk — look into the past and then look into the future as best you can, and map out the consequences of the actions you are considering. Learn from your decisions. Fail forward. Ask good questions. Make good decisions. Everything Compounds.
Pray: Lord give me eyes to see how to invest well in people and ears to hear the debt of bad experiences and make wise choices. Teach me how to learn.
That’s it! Much love and blessings, see you tomorrow!
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