GROW YOUR FUTURE

Most young people have no real sense of how long a working career actually is. When I speak to high school students, I tell them something that always gets a reaction:

Space travel is one of the clearest examples of what long‑term investing really looks like. The rockets, habitats, and orbital systems being built today may not generate meaningful profits for another 10–20 years.

One of the most effective long‑term investing habits is also one of the simplest: Dollar‑Cost Averaging (DCA). It means investing a fixed amount of money on a regular schedule — for example, $100 every payday, 26 times per year — regardless of what the market is doing.

Your “Rate of Return” (ROR) is the percentage amount your investments have gained, or lost, over a period of time. “Rate of Return” is the fuel that powers compounding gains. For consistency, investors like to compare performance for each year. And yes, your ROR might be negative in some years.