What's the Plan for the Plan

 The microwave vs. the slow cooker

The commitment to a long -term plan is the first step in choosing investments for your excess money. Where you place the dollar bills also has a very strong affect on long-term wealth. Dollars placed in the "microwave" promise quick and immediate results. Dollars placed in the "slow cooker" use the power of time.

The ratio of how many dollars are placed in each can impact your personal wealth.

What is the Slow Cooker?

The Slow Cooker is 10.56%

As of December 2025, 10.56% is the average total returns of the S&P 500 since 1957.

(with dividends re-invested)

source: https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/042415/what-average-annual-return-sp-500.asp

The slow cooker is made up investments that go up and go down. You can loose money in the slow cooker, especially in short periods of time. Keep your long-term perspective.

Some example of slow cooker investments compared to private placements are:

Listed, high quality stocks. Easy examples to understand may be Coke, Pepsi, Google (Alphabet) and Apple.

Listed, high quality bonds.

Certificates of Deposit (CD's)

The Formula - The Rule of 72

This is where you place your today's excess for your tomorrow wealth.

The Rule of 72 is a simplified way to determine how long an investment will take to double, given a fixed annual rate of return.

Lets say you set aside $150,000 of your signing bonus and your investment average 7% per year. In a little over 10 years it will double and be worth $300.000. 

Lets say though, you set aside the same $150,000 of your signing bonus and you were 22 at the time of the signing bonus. Instead of 10 years, you kept the investments until you were 52. You are going to need money at 32, 42 and 52 etc. If your investments averaged 7% over the 30 years the new amount is:

$1,141,838.

You are a millionaire from $150,000.