Author: Tim Challies

Aileen and I recently opened an RESP for our grandson and made an initial little deposit. An RESP (Registered Education Savings Plan) is a kind of savings account that allows money to accumulate without taxes, provided it is someday used for education. Finn isn’t yet even a year old, so this may seem a little premature, yet there is actually no better time than now because of the principle of compound interest. In this way, a dollar set aside when he is an infant will have a much greater effect than a dollar set aside when he is a teenager. Though compounding is a simple principle of basic economics, I have noticed that many people don’t know about it. Simply, compound interest means that interest accumulates not only on the principal (the original amount deposited into an account), but also on the interest it earns over time. In the first year, you earn interest on the $1,000 you initially deposited, but in the second year, you earn interest on the $1,000 plus whatever interest accumulated through that first year. In the third year, you earn interest on the $1,000 plus whatever interest you accumulated through the first two years. And so it goes. Compounding allows money to grow even without adding new principal. Earning interest on interest is a simple and honest way to turn a buck into a couple of bucks. While compound interest is a financial principle, it resonates in other fields as well, including the field of faith. One of the reasons…See AlsoA La Carte (June 17)A La Carte (August 9)No, It Actually Is More Blessed To Give Than to Receive

We may find it easy enough to love a building or an institution or a particular form of worship. But people? That can be a much greater challenge…See AlsoA La Carte (April 15)A Pastoral PrayerA La Carte (August 19)