The balance doubles each year, so if we go backward in time by one year, the balance would be half of its current balance. Therefore, the point in time when the balance was half its current value is 1 year ago from the present.
In the context of a long-running asset account with a balance doubling each year over the last decade, the point at which the balance was half its current value occurred one year ago. The compounding nature of the doubling pattern means that each previous year's balance is half of the subsequent year's balance.
Consequently, tracing back 10 years, each year represents a halving of the balance relative to the subsequent year. Therefore, the balance was half its current value one year before the present, highlighting the exponential growth pattern that characterizes the asset's historical performance over the past decade.