Investing can be intimidating. The SmartVestor program can connect you with an advisor who isn’t. Find a pro with the heart of a teacher. | Dave Ramsey

Here’s how compound interest works. Say you have $1,000 in an investment making 10 percent. One year later, you’d have $1,100 in that account, right? That’s your initial $1,000 investment plus one year of 10-percent growth, which is $100. So then you’d have $1,100 sitting in the account for another year at 10 percent, which would grow to $1,210 during the second year. It just keeps building from there. You’ll keep earning 10 percent not on the original investment, but on its current value. So ev