Starting Small, Dreaming Big
Every month, I sneak £25 out of my bank account and send it to my daughter’s ISA.
She doesn’t know, of course. She’s still a child — and blissfully unaware that one day she’ll be in her early 20s, needing money for the kind of “first big steps” you can’t exactly buy on a credit card without regret: a home deposit, a gap year with questionable Wi-Fi, maybe even a backpacking trip with more Instagram posts than actual sleep.
£25 a month sounds laughably small. It’s a takeaway, a cab ride, two coffees and a croissant if you’re in London. But here’s the thing: over 18 years at 7%, those little drips will quietly turn into £10,831 — and I’ll only have put in £5,400.
That’s compound interest for you — the eighth wonder of the world, according to Albert Einstein.
“He who understands it, earns it; he who doesn’t, pays it.”
And, like most good magic tricks, it works best when you start before you think you need to.
Why This Matters
We’ve been sold the story that building wealth means grinding harder, earning more, and juggling side-hustles until we collapse. Compound interest whispers a different story: start small, start early, and let time do the heavy lifting.
In the world of financial independence, this is the real cheat code. Not day trading. Not frantic property flipping. Just quiet, boring, consistent investing that you forget about until you suddenly realise you’ve built something substantial.
And the best part? You don’t need to be on a six-figure salary for it to work. Time is the great equaliser here — your best ally, especially if you can’t throw huge sums in all at once.
Meet Smart Sam, Disaster Duncan, and Catchup Carl
Smart Sam
Sam got his first job at 21 and decided he’d rather invest than keep upgrading his phone every year. He started putting £500/month for 40 years into a simple investment account at 7% and — without ever “timing the market” — ended up with:
💰 £1,320,062
Sam’s motto: “Set it, forget it, go have a sandwich.”
Disaster Duncan
Duncan was too busy in his 20s “investing” in pints and takeaway curries. By the time he got serious, he was 45 and panicking. He threw in £1,000/month for 20 years and ended up with:
💰 £523,965
Double the monthly amount… less than half of Sam’s total. Ouch.
Catchup Carl
Carl also started late but decided to “go big or go home”. He put in £1,200/month for 20 years at 7% and finished with:
💰 £628,758
Better than Duncan, but still miles behind Sam — and at a much higher monthly cost.
The moral? You can’t buy back time, but you can start now and let the magic begin.
The Sneaky Superpower of Time (and What It’s Taught Me)
Time is the one investment multiplier you can’t get back once it’s gone. The earlier you start, the more you get to lean on it — like a lazy student leaning on the cleverest kid in class.
That £25/month for my daughter? After 18 years, it’s likely to grow into £10,831. I’ll have put in just £5,400. The other £5,431 is pure growth. All she’ll have had to do is grow up.
Eighteen-year-old me didn’t get this. Back then, £25 a month was “apple cider money” — apparently far more important than the kind of cash that could have made my 20s a whole lot less stressful.
If I’d started at 18 instead of 22, I’d have bought myself four years of extra growth without lifting a finger. That’s the ridiculous power of compound interest: it rewards you for being a little bit boring, a little bit consistent, and a lot less impulsive.
So, I’m making sure my daughter starts ahead. Even if she never adds a penny, she’ll have a small pile of freedom money waiting for her — maybe for a first home, maybe for a year of adventures across continents. The point is, she’ll have options.
Gentle Questions for the Road
Right now, I’m steadily investing every month — nothing heroic, just enough to keep the snowball rolling. I’m focused on time, not timing.
- What’s one small amount you could set aside now — even if it feels “too small to matter”?
- What has surprised you most about how money grows over time?
- If you could send a message to your 18-year-old self about money, what would it say?