In article , Dan Caster
wrote:

I don't have any doubts. Anyone can become rich in any time period if
they work at it just a little. The Standard and Poors Index 500 has
on the average returned about 10% per year. Some years much more,
some years big losses, but an average of 10% per year compounded. The
problem is most people do not save a percentage of what they earn. It
doesn't even take any skill or luck.

This is mostly the power of compounded interest, as you say. It's often
more than just simple compounding, as it represents ownership in the
future, and thus the amplification of wealth overall.

For some here, it may be too late (too old, too much learned
helplessness). But for any of you reading this who are under the age of
30, get out your calculator and see what the power of compounded
interest is all about.

I covered a lot of these points in a long article entitled "Life
Choices." A lot of people seemed to have liked it.

Survivalism is an important meme, or idea. But some of the most
important parts of survival have to do with finding a solid career, not
getting sucked under by deadweight spouses and friends, saving and
investing, and pursuing work that is both rewarding and enriching.

These are some of the themes covered by some of the writers we often
cite here, folks like Robert Heinlein, Ayn Rand, and others. While they
don't provide recipe books for how to find friends and spouses, what
to do when a job lays you off, and similar "short term, self-help"
advice, the messages are there if one fully absorbs the messages of
achievement, self-reliance, and even "paranoia."

One of my old bosses at Intel, the famous Andy Grove, had a saying
which got a lot of attention, most negative (from the liberal press):
"Only the paranoid survive." This means being paranoid about saving for
a rainy day just as it means buying firearms, just as it means
speculating about the consequences of a comet hitting the earth.

Of course, losing a job is a lot more likely than a comet strike is,
so it makes sense to prepare for this. I did so from my first months at
Intel, building up my store of saved money, what we used to call "
'**** you!' money," for obvious reasons. The people who couldn't escape
the "company store" were the people who have never saved enough of this
" '**** you!' money." Same as with people trapped in their jobs because
they can't afford to break free, or to move from a dying town.

Saving money is even more important that buying firearms. Heresy, to
some, but absolutely true.

--Tim May