Albert Einstein is reputed to have said that compound interest is: “the most powerful force in the universe.” The story is probably apocryphal – as the quote traces itself to a 1983 column in The New York Times and not from the mind of one of the world’s greatest physicists.

But compound interest is truly a powerful force – maybe not as powerful as gravity or relativity but something that ordinary people can harness if they are clever.

For example, consider the case of Sipho and Thandi. At 25, Sipho puts R1 000 away into a savings fund each month. The money in his fund grows at 8% per annum. He stops contributing R1 000 per month to the fund after ten years, leaving the balance to grow at the 8% rate.

But Thandi waits until she is 35. At that age she starts contributing R1000 to a savings fund each month. She does that until the age of65 with the money in the fund also growing at a rate of 8% per annum.

By 65, Sipho will have about R2 000 000 in his fund. Thandi will have R1 500 000.

Most of the payoff arrives late in the journey, which is why late starts are so costly. The saver who delays does not just lose a few months. They lose decades of growth on growth. That is the quiet edge of compounding. It does not shout in the first years. It builds momentum and then surges.

But what does this mean practically? For people looking to start saving, the obvious move is to automate a debit order, raise the amount with every pay increase, and keep fees and taxes low where possible. Start small if needed, start today if possible, and give compounding the years it needs to work. Consistency plus time is a simple formula that turns ordinary contributions into meaningful capital.