The only way to master time

The promise of patience

There’s no way around it. If you don’t learn patience, you will never master time. And time is a very valuable, powerful, necessary component in any strategist’s arsenal.

Perhaps the best way to see the power of patience is through investing. Warren Buffett provides an excellent example.

As a writer with the Irish Times pointed out a few years back when Mr. Buffett turned 90 years old,

“One of the most important lessons is also one of the simplest – the magical power of compound interest.

Morgan Housel of the Collaborative Fund once noted that more than 99 per cent of Buffett's fortune was accumulated after his 50th birthday, even though his percentage returns were actually much better in the first half of his career.

Buffett began investing at the age of 10; if he had waited until he was 30, noted Housel, his fortune would be 97.6 per cent less than it is today.”

The best time to build your candle is before you’re in the dark. It takes time to stock-pile the assets you’ll need when the “time comes,” whatever that particular conflict or combat might be.

I am not wealthy. But I am thinking right now about how to approach long-term savings for my children. We’ve already set aside money for them to attend college (should they so choose). But then we’d also now like to build a bundle for the longer run. So we’ve started retirement savings programs for both kids (ages 9 and 12), controlled by us until they reach adulthood. And then we’ll pledge to put money into those accounts until we’re no more. Starting earlier than usual should use time as our ally - through the magic of compound interest - to really build that piggy bank for the kids when they’ll need it (around 2075).

Are there parts of your life where you can use time as a tool to build with?