High-yieldInvesting

Social Security's trust fund is in the long, slow process of collapsing because it won't have enough funds to pay its promised benefits. Sound like a Ponzi scheme? Perhaps, but at least this "scheme" is one in which you can come out ahead -- especially if you start preparing now.

You are mere paragraphs away from mastering one of life's most important equations. This article kicks off a short series in which we'll review the major computations behind the numbers you see at AOL DailyFinance. You're about to learn Mathanese -- aka the numbers behind investing's big equations.