Would you rather have a million dollars or a penny doubled every day for thirty days? Our first response might be to grab the million dollars, but let’s take a closer look at the penny option…
Day 1: $.01
Day 2: $.02
Day 3: $.04
Day 4: $.08
Day 5: $.16
Day 6: $.32
Day 7: $.64
Day 8: $1.28
Day 9: $2.56
Day 10: $5.12
Day 11: $10.24
Day 12: $20.48
Day 13: $40.96
Day 14: $81.92
Day 15: $163.84
Day 16: $327.68
Day 17: $655.36
Day 18: $1,310.72
Day 19: $2,621.44
Day 20: $5,242.88
Day 21: $10,485.76
Day 22: $20,971.52
Day 23: $41,943.04
Day 24: $83,386.08
Day 25: $167,772.16
Day 26: $335,544.32
Day 27: $671,088.64
Day 28: $1,342,177.28
Day 29: $2,684,354.56
Day 30: $5,368,709.12
There’s a big difference between a million dollars and 5.3 million dollars, wouldn’t you say? The point is this: Life is a cumulative experience. What we learn today becomes the foundation for what we learn tomorrow. If you are in a state of constant growth, however small that growth may be, sooner or later your totals will begin to amount to something very, very significant.
Your efforts toward personal growth and development will pay dividends all your life. As you accumulate greater knowledge and experience your life will seem more enjoyable and your relationships more meaningful. Remember, it is never too late to start investing in yourself. To live a life that feels like it is worth million dollars, all you need to do is make a penny’s worth of investment in yourself each and every day.
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{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
In perspective, this is so true.. tunes my thoughts in to thinking much larger about the wee bitty things we normally don’t take notice of.
I think I have one of the million doller pennys…
What I find frustrating is that not one site (with similar calculation) shows this calculation in mathematical nominclature AND/OR shows how to calculate this on a calculator. Grrrr….
The point of the article is correct, but choosing the penny option would leave you with a lot more than $5.3M on the 30th day. You would get to keep the money from the preceding 29 days as well, which adds up to another $5.3M. So, the comparison is $1m v. $10.6M.
@Dan: no you wouldn’t. It says “a penny doubled every day”, you get one penny and it doubles every day, they don’t give you everyday the equal of what you already have (that would be $10,737,418.23).
and how did you manage to duplicate all that money??? I would put a penny in if I knew how to do this.