Let me teach you a little story about compound interest courtesy of my friend, the Chinese Bamboo Tree https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🌳" title="Laubbaum" aria-label="Emoji: Laubbaum">

Sit back and enjoyhttps://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🤝" title="Handschlag" aria-label="Emoji: Handschlag">

(thread)

The Chinese Bamboo tree is a special tree

It’s not like any other tree in the world

It does something that other majority of other trees do nothttps://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="😱" title="Vor Angst schreiendes Gesicht" aria-label="Emoji: Vor Angst schreiendes Gesicht">

Let me explain....

In the first year after tree is planted, there is no growth above the soil

Imagine your neighbor watering a tree for ONE FULL YEAR and it never sprouting... you’d think they are crazyhttps://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="😂" title="Gesicht mit Freudentränen" aria-label="Emoji: Gesicht mit Freudentränen">

It gets better...

In year 2? No visible growth

Years 3 & 4? No visible growth eitherhttps://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🤯" title="Explodierender Kopf" aria-label="Emoji: Explodierender Kopf">

So 4 years, and the tree has YET to grow above groundhttps://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🤷🏼‍♂️" title="Achselzuckender Mann (mittelheller Hautton)" aria-label="Emoji: Achselzuckender Mann (mittelheller Hautton)">

But something CRAZY happens in year 5https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="👀" title="Augen" aria-label="Emoji: Augen">

...

In just 6 weeks, the Chinese Bamboo Tree https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🌳" title="Laubbaum" aria-label="Emoji: Laubbaum"> grows 80 feet tallhttps://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🤯" title="Explodierender Kopf" aria-label="Emoji: Explodierender Kopf">

For 5 years did the tree really do nothing just to sprout up at year 5?https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🤔" title="Denkendes Gesicht" aria-label="Emoji: Denkendes Gesicht">

NO

During those beginning years, the tree https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🌳" title="Laubbaum" aria-label="Emoji: Laubbaum"> was building a strong foundation to HOLD itself for what was to come in the futurehttps://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔥" title="Feuer" aria-label="Emoji: Feuer">

THAT is the Chinese Bamboo Tree https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="😱" title="Vor Angst schreiendes Gesicht" aria-label="Emoji: Vor Angst schreiendes Gesicht">

So what does this have to do with investing?

Well the Chinese Bamboo Tree https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🌳" title="Laubbaum" aria-label="Emoji: Laubbaum"> is like compound interest https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="😱" title="Vor Angst schreiendes Gesicht" aria-label="Emoji: Vor Angst schreiendes Gesicht">

Compound interest is one of the most powerful things in the world

And not many people understand or USE it to their advantagehttps://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="😤" title="Triumphierendes Gesicht" aria-label="Emoji: Triumphierendes Gesicht">

When you start investing, your first years will be slow!

Just like you thought your neighbor was crazy for watering a tree that hasn’t sprouted for 4 years...

When you start investing, people will call you crazy because “what’s $1 in dividends going to do?https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🤷🏼‍♂️" title="Achselzuckender Mann (mittelheller Hautton)" aria-label="Emoji: Achselzuckender Mann (mittelheller Hautton)">”

But you can’t listen to your friends or neighbors...

Just like the person with the Bamboo tree https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🌳" title="Laubbaum" aria-label="Emoji: Laubbaum">,

Keep watering your investments by contributing each month https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="💰" title="Geldsack" aria-label="Emoji: Geldsack">

Keep reinvesting those dividends https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="💧" title="Tröpfchen" aria-label="Emoji: Tröpfchen">

Keep having faith that your finances will be better tomorrow than today https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🙏" title="Folded hands" aria-label="Emoji: Folded hands">

They don’t realize that you are building a solid foundation for your financial futurehttps://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🚧" title="Baustellenschild" aria-label="Emoji: Baustellenschild">

AND with due time, just like the Chinese Bamboo Tree https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🌳" title="Laubbaum" aria-label="Emoji: Laubbaum">, after many years, compound interest will be so powerful, that it will shoot up 80 feet in just 6 weekshttps://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔥" title="Feuer" aria-label="Emoji: Feuer">

So when your friends call you crazy for investing, just remember the Chinese Bamboo Tree https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🌳" title="Laubbaum" aria-label="Emoji: Laubbaum">

Patience will get you to where you want to be!

I hope this thread helped a ton with your mindset on long term investing!

Thanks for reading https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🙏" title="Folded hands" aria-label="Emoji: Folded hands">

@DecadeInvestor