Yesterday, I explained the math of compounding interest. Yes, it was a cursory explanation, but it demonstrates the need to consider investing from a TIME IN versus TIMING perspective.
As you get older, you look forward to retirement and reflect on the impact of your career. And while I have young-ish children that will keep me working for a while, the pandemic and its effects (personal/professional/financial) have me thinking about these things and more.
I know that now, I look very different at how I invest my resources than I did three decades ago. Not just my money, but my time and energy. It's easy in hindsight to see where I invested and how I got it wrong and right. But, generally speaking, the law of compounding interest has held true.
Start early, start small, stay long.
This is as true for money as it is for people.
Most of us know the immediate impact we have on our students. Unlike other curricula, we see evidence of it almost daily for multiple years. We experience it in rehearsals, on the stage, and in their lives. Even after graduation, the occasional Facebook post, drop-by, chance encounter in groceries stores, and the like are opportunities for parents and students to share gratitude and thoughts on the impact you had on them.
But what about after that?
Over the past week, I have been thinking about how that impact has grown, diminished, or changed with passage of time. What would former students say about their experiences with me now, and how would it differ when compared to what they said to me on graduation night.
Think about it, the students who were seniors during my first year of teaching would now be 50 years old. They are now community leaders, business owners, spouses, and possibly grandparents. They will have experienced success and loss, some joy and sorrow as they will have half-century of life behind them and possibly another half in front of them.
Perhaps they are seeing the benefits of music through their very own children and reliving their experiences through the younger version of themselves. What would they say about the impact of music and my teaching now? And, how would it be different from what they told me on three-plus decades ago? What would the 50-year-old know about how music shaped them and prepared them for life that the eighteen-year-old didn't?
Compounding interest compels us to start early, start small, and stay long.
Sure, I may have convinced a student to audition for a leadership role or not to quit band, but would I see the impact of that thirty-three years later? Could I know that leadership training inspired them to push harder, resulting in better grades? And that better grades would propel them to a better college, where they would train for a successful future and meet their spouse? Would I be able to know that they would push their children in music and the impact that it would have on their children and their family?
Today, three decades later, that small investment I made in my 401K as a first-year teacher is worth 10X what I originally invested. Could the same thing be said of some small investment I made in a child thirty-two years ago? Have my investment in mutual funds out-performed my investment in students? I will likely never know. But, I wonder.
And that better grades would propel them to a better college, where they would train for a successful future and meet their spouse? Would I be able to know that they would push their children in music and the impact that it would have on their children and their family?
Conversely, what would I see if I witnessed the potential impact had I not convinced them to stay in music (I'm thinking Scrooge and Christmas past)? In short, how can I know the totality of the effects, good or bad, throughout their life?
I have seen this effect with my children. How one small act of kindness at band camp calmed a frightened thirteen-year-old and helped him make it through a couple of rough days. And how that small act got him through the week, and led to a successful season and wanting to sign up for band again.
The interest shown early, over something small, over a long period of time, compounds into something infinitely more valuable and can be life-changing.
Einstein knew WHAT he was talking about when he said, "compounding interest is the eighth wonder of the world." I just don't think he knew WHO he was talking about.
Today, start with someone new, do something small, and dream of the impact over the long haul because we know that your interest will only compound over time.
And it doesn't take a genius to figure that out!
-Scott