Compound interest is so simple it gets ignored, and so powerful it makes most other financial decisions look small.
Everyone has seen the chart. A flat line for the first twenty years, then a sudden upward curve like a hockey stick. The implication is that compounding is some magic that arrives late. It isn't. The math has been working the entire time — slowly, then steeply — because that's just how exponents look.
— Educational, not financial advice.