“If you had invested just one penny — forget a dollar — one penny! — at just two percent interest — forget five per cent or ten percent — two percent! — [slight pause, as it sank in] — the day Christ was born — [longer pause, for laughter] — how much do you think you would have today?
“Anybody?“Anybody? [no one ever ventured a guess]
“If you had guessed one point two five TRILLION [pause for effect] — DOLLARS! not pennies!!! — [longer pause to allow audience minds to be blown, my own arms suspended, as if holding an invisible watermelon in front of my face . . . then slowly drop left hand] — you would be LOW [right index finger jabs triumphantly on the word “low”] by a factor of a thousand times. [Satisfied silence. I have made my point.]
“Lesson number one: slow but steady does indeed win the race. "
(From an old talk by the financial writer Andrew Tobias)
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