Hi friends I'm Laura Adams and you're listening to the Money Girl

Podcast. Many people think that getting rich must be a complex fancy process that's out of their

reach.

Though there are many paths to financial freedom, the reality is that building wealth can be a series of simple, small steps that you accomplish over time.

In this episode, I'm going to give you five principles of building wealth.

If you're already following them, well, you're on the right path to achieving financial success.

And if not, you'll know exactly what to do.

Principal number one, start saving early and automate it.

One of the most important factors on how much wealth you accumulate depends on when you start saving. Starting early allows your money to

compound and grow exponentially over time even if you don't have much to invest.

Never make the mistake of thinking that you'll start saving in the future.

If you wait until you have more money, get a raise, earn a bonus,

or get a tax refund, your burning precious time.

That's because waiting to invest, even small amounts today, will really cost you in the long run.

Here's an example. Let's say you invest $200 a month

starting in your mid-20s and you get an average return of 7%. If you do that for four decades, you'll have close to $525,000 when you're in your mid-60s.

But if you wait to start investing until you're in your mid-s and even invest twice as much each month or $400.

You'd only have about $485,000 to spend during retirement, assuming the same return.

In other words, waiting 10 years to get started means you had to pay more out of pocket for

decades and you came up $40,000 short.

Because it's so easy to procrastinate saving,

the best strategy is to automate it.

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