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

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.

There was a time when machines waited for us to act. We pressed the buttons; they obeyed. Today the machines anticipate. They recommend, filter and—increasingly—reason.

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.

Saving is not simply about storing money; it’s about creating financial capacity — the ability to take opportunities when they arise. For many, the barrier isn’t how much they earn, but how consistently they save. Start small. If you can set aside £50 or $50 every month, do it

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.