" Take for example a $100,000 account earning 10% a year. The total return will be about 7% higher when the gains are reinvested rather than harvested after a 5-year period. Not that impressive. However, after 10 years, the account that reinvests its gains (let’s call this account the Compounder) will produce 30% more than one that doesn’t reinvest. Then the “pulse quickening”3 results start to get going by year 15. Now the Compounder is doing roughly 70% better. Compounding is exponential, it builds momentum as it goes; after 20 years, the advantage widens to 125%. There is nothing more powerful. Spending away your gains will diminish your total return significantly; as investors, we allow our gains to pile up upon themselves as the primary driver of our wealth creation. We do it patiently "

― , Warren Buffett's Ground Rules: Words of Wisdom from the Partnership Letters of the World's Greatest Investor