Four days ago, I found a penny on the floor of my place. I picked it up (because it was in the middle of the floor) and put it into my little change jar. The next day I found two pennies. The doubling of the amount reminded me of an example that Darren Hardy mentioned in his book “The Compound Effect”.
He spoke of the unexpected impact of compounding on small things like a penny and how much it would yield in a relatively short period of time if it just doubled daily. So I figured why not!? Lets see how many days I can go compounding this penny. And then today, I found a penny as I was in the metro station. I had kicked it and by some scrooge-like powers, knew the clinking as the sound of a penny. I picked it up proud and thought “ you ill help me make todays quota. But an even more interesting thought soon creeped in.
Am I the only one that think it’s crazy that I live in a country where money is literally on the streets. Here, in the nation’s capitol of Washington, DC, a place that has it’s fair share of homeless and people living below the poverty line, money gets stepped over and ignored. This caused me to poll my friends (who have all at one point or another stated that they do not feel secure financially) on if they would pick up a penny on the street. Would you believe that only one person gave me a definitive “Yes!”!? Keep in mind, this is at a time when the US dollar is strong around he world.
So I am now even more interested to see how far I can compound this penny. I wish I can say that I would do it all with coins found on the street, but I haven’t gotten to that point as yet. So how many days do you think I can keep doubling this penny amount. the first day was $.01, 2nd $.02, 3rd $.04 and today $.08 for a grand total of $.15!!!! Not quite rich, but let’s see how far this can go.
Ok, now guess a number of days…..
NO reading forward.. Write the days down and comment with your guess (no changing it)
Ok. Now keep this I'm mind… a penny… compounded… in just 30 days… will yield….
Drum roll please… brrrrdddbrddbrrrdddd….
$10,737,418!!!!!
Yes! almost 11 million…
So if anyone guessed that I can continue doing this for more than 30 days. Let’s hope that you are right! lol
And if you see a penny, pick it up… Even if it’s just to give it to me!