How Fast Could You Double Your Money in the Stock Market?

There once was a man with a red paper clip who wanted to buy a house. He had no money. So one day he traded his paper clip for a pen shaped like a fish. Then he traded his pen for a hand-crafted doorknob. Weeks later he traded the doorknob for a camping stove. Fourteen more trades would follow, until finally he ended up with a two-story farmhouse in Canada. It sounds like a fairy tale, but the story is true, and the man did it all within just one year.

The story is the perfect illustration of the power of compounding: What starts small becomes big, because you're earning growth on top of more growth. Compounding is important because it's critical in understanding the answer to a favorite question among investors: "How fast could you double your money in the stock market?"

Source: Fool.com