Quote from: South Park on August 27, 2022, 06:30:57 PM

Quote from: vv181 on August 21, 2022, 03:46:05 PM

Quote from: Cryptomultiplier on August 19, 2022, 09:39:22 PM

Does it therefore mean that the outcome of an investment can be determined in advance when we delay enjoyment/gratification?

Delaying gratification is meant to save things, not to achieve any certainty in the future. We choose so because we believe that the present is worth sacrificing for the greater good in the future. It is a different causality between delaying gratification with a determined investment return. So, just because someone is working hard in the present doesn't mean any investment they make would be profitable yet ahead in the future.

Correct, and yet the ones that are working hard now, saving and investing for the future have way greater chances of achieving a favorable future for themselves and their families, and the most interesting thing about this is that this characteristic can be observed from a very early age, kids which show they can delay their gratification have been shown to do way better later in life even if their starting conditions were not optimal, so this should give hope to those which want to achieve financial success later in life.

That's the point, both compound interest and delaying gratification are interrelated, but they do could exist on their own. I think that is where OP missed the point, if we do sacrifice our present for the betterment of the future, we certainly should make a decision that strongly proved so, as an example, compounding our investment. One cannot blindly just simply delay their own gratification to get an acknowledgement of the investment outcome without doing the right thing.