Understanding why saving is so emotionally difficult in today’s consumer-driven culture, and how to overcome it.

The fantasy of investing is timing — buying low, selling high, and catching the market’s rhythm with flawless precision. In reality, even professional fund managers rarely get it right. The emotional cost of chasing the perfect entry is often higher than any market downturn.

The FTSE 100 rarely makes headlines for excitement. It doesn’t dominate social media or spark debates about AI breakthroughs. But since 2015, including reinvested dividends, the index has still delivered a modest yet steady annualised return of around 5–6% per year.

Few investors truly enjoy exponential growth while it’s happening. It feels too volatile, too uncertain, too irrational. Tesla was dismissed as a “bubble” countless times. Nvidia’s 2023 surge in AI demand looked impossible until it became reality.

The secret wasn’t timing; it was consistency. Investors who avoided the temptation to trade in and out of positions captured the power of compounding growth in businesses with durable cash flows and expanding global ecosystems.

Everyone, at some point, has wondered: “What if I had just invested that £100 instead of spending it?” It’s a simple question, but one that illustrates the single most powerful idea in personal finance — the effect of time on money.

AI is still in its infancy — just like the internet was in 1995. Those who understand the long-term potential and invest wisely today may look back in 10 years and realize that the foundations of their financial freedom were built now.

Money that has no plan disappears. Assign every pound a purpose: bills, savings, investments, and learning. When your money has a job, it starts to work for you.