Motley Fool Money · Friday, September 4, 2026
Scott Phillips points out that the steady, predictable growth shown on an investment spreadsheet often doesn't reflect the volatile reality of market fluctuations. He notes that compounding, while powerful, doesn't occur in a straight line, and the latter years of investing can involve rapid gains coupled with significant year-on-year drops.
“But but everything that we said is definitely true, but the the mistake that people make is they assume that they assume that reality looks the same as it does on the spreadsheet.”
“You know, you put in your $2,000 and you grow by 10% for whatever. We've all done it, right? And you oh, that's a lot of money. And that's the point they're making. Compounding is a thing. It's it's really important. But it doesn't go like that.”
“So like, if I was to say to you right now, Scott, um, I've visited the future. I've come back. It turns out that you're okay at this investing game and, uh, you will continue to compound your growth at such a rate that in the year 2036, you'll be five times richer than you are today. What do you think about that? You go, That is the best news ever. You've brought back incredible news from the future.”