How to Start Building Wealth in Your 20s and 30s
How 10 Years Can Earn You An Extra £550,000, With No Additional Work
I’ve spent over a decade managing money for high-net-worth clients at one of the UK’s largest wealth managers; a firm with more than £110 billion under management. I’m a Chartered Wealth Manager, and I’ve seen first-hand how wealth is actually built.
The truth? Wealth isn’t just about income. It’s more about behaviour.
Here are the 10 principles I’ve learnt that separate the wealthy from the rest:
1. Spend less than you earn.
This is the foundation of saving well. Know your outgoings - you’ll be surprised by how much you’re paying for stuff you no longer use.
2. Build a 3–6 month safety net.
This is your get out of jail free card. Do this before you do anything else, and you won’t need to panic when life throws you a curveball.
3. Pay off high-interest debt.
If you’re paying 20% on a credit card, no investment will beat clearing it.
4. Start investing early and consistently.
Wealth is built quietly over decades. Start early, even if it’s only small. The key is saving consistently for a long period of time.
5. Minimise your tax
Tax is often your biggest expense, so reducing it is one of the fastest ways to build wealth.
Whether it’s using your tax-free allowances (such as ISA), getting tax relief on your pension contributions, or knowing how to minimise your tax bill if you earn over £100,000, this will allow your investments to compound at a much faster rate.
6. Think in decades, not days.
Ignore the daily noise. Markets rise over time because of inflation and human progress, not because of which President is in office or what the headlines say this week.
7. Automate contributions - pay yourself first.
Pay yourself first, every month. Live off the rest. Set up a standing order to go into your savings account as soon as you are paid.
8. Automate investments - don’t try to out-smart the market.
Set up automated investing so the decision is made for you every month. That way, you’re never tempted to “wait for the right time” - that strategy never works!
9. Keep your investments simple.
Global equity trackers will serve you well as a DIY investor. Don’t be attracted to stock tips from your friends, or some random account on Twitter.
10. Protect what you’ve built for your family.
Insurance, wills, estate planning - boring but essential.
The Power of Time
Here’s an example showing how your pension could grow to £1million:
£555 a month pension contribution between you, your employer and tax relief.
At 7% growth, after 25 years = £450,000.
Continued for an extra 10 years (35 years in total) = £1,000,000+.
Same contribution, same effort, just more time = over double the result.
The power of compounding means your growth becomes exponential. You start to earn interest on your interest.
The earlier you start, the bigger the final result.
Warren Buffett is worth over $100 billion, but $99 billion came after his 65th birthday. That’s compounding doing the heavy lifting.
Final Thought
Wealth = simple process, repeated consistently, over decades.
Not TikTok tips. Not lottery wins. Not stock tips that will go up 10x…
Process + consistency + time = the real way to build wealth.