Compound memory interest

Time is our friend

Has it ever occurred to you that memories are a form of currency?

As you (hopefully) learned in personal finance 101 — time is your friend. Thanks to compounding.

Einstein is often (wrongly) quoted for this famous line, “Compound interest is the most powerful force in the universe.”*

*As a brief aside — whenever you want to impress your friends by quoting some wise words, simply attribute them to either: Einstein, Shakespeare, or Abraham Lincoln. Nobody will dare to question you even if you have no clue what you’re talking about.

Plenty of us have a good grasp of the benefits that compounding can have on our wallets. But what about our memories? Let’s find out.

Consider this — perhaps the passage of time could compound our memory interest much like our bank accounts.

Regardless of who actually said compound interest is the most powerful force in the univserse, it’s one of those deep truths you can feel in your bones once you wrap your head around it. But it’s non-intuitive.

Much like planting a tree, the best time to start investing in memories was twenty years ago. The second best time is today.

Take a moment to bring to mind your favorite childhood memory. Don’t worry, I’ll wait.

Got it?

Now what if I told you that memory had been wildly distorted by your mind? Would you care?

No.

Because it makes you feel good, and that’s all that matters.

But here’s the part you may not have realized — that memory has had years, possibly decades, to percolate through your mind. So even though it was a single experience, it has grown in value over time. That’s compound memory interest.

So what’s the significance?

You and I should front load memories in our early years. Because then we can harness the most powerful force in the universe.

Let’s say you work like the diligent little rat society wants you to be so you can take that dream trip to Mongolia after you retire at the age of 65. You’ll be lucky to get 15-20 years of compound memory interest.

But if you reject societal norms and take that same trip when you’re 20, the memory could have 50-60 years of compounding.

When it’s all said and done, you’ll have a much smaller lump sum if you start investing your pesos at age 65 than you will if you start at age 20. It’s the same with your memories.

I was lucky to find this out at age 25.

I decided to take a mini rat race sabbatical and booked a flight to Central America with my amigo.

The trip was supposed to last for a measely 10 days.

But on day 9, I had zero desire to return to the race of rats.

So I canceled my return flight and spent another 51 days flaneuring on my own through Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica.

I only had a handful of pesos in my bank account. I was money poor, but I became memory rich. I withdrew money from my bank account, but deposited memories into my mind account.

Fast forward to today and those memories have already had six years to grow in value. Compound memory interest at work, baby.

I could have easily convinced myself to return home on the 10th day, or worse, not gone at all. Thinking I’d have plenty of opportunities to go at a later time when I was richer and could travel more extravagantly.

But boy was I wrong.

A global pandemic shut down the world a few years later, I got engaged, moved across the country, started a new job, and got a dog. In other words, life happened.

So there’s a high likelihood that was my only real opportunity to form those memories. What memories are you putting off with the hope you’ll get to have them in some distant future that may never come?

Thanks to that “irrational” decision, my mind gets to enjoy the memories from that trip every time I scroll through the photos or read my journal.

And now I get to sit back and watch my memories compound for the remainder of my life. Because of one simple choice.

So whenever you face the scenario of should I form a lasting memory or put it off because there’s always tomorrow, consider compound memory interest.

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