HOW TO GROW YOUR MONEY

The fastest way to get rich is to go slow, says financial columnist Morgan Housel in his new book - and that's why you need to learn to ignore what everyone else is doing and focus on what a better life means to you

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MONEY is less about numbers and more about stories, says Morgan Housel – the stories we tell ourselves about what matters, what makes us happy and how we measure success.

In his latest book, The Art of Spending Money, the financial columnist and bestselling author focuses on how to spend money wisely in a way that enriches our lives. This extract about quiet compounding explains why the fastest way to get rich is to go slow. “Nature is not in a hurry, yet everything is accomplished,” said Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu.

Giant sequoias, advanced organisms, towering mountains - nature builds the most jaw-dropping features of the universe. And it does so silently, where growth is almost never visible in the moment but staggering over long periods of time.

It's quiet compounding, and it's a wonder to see.

I love the idea of quietly compounding your money. It’s perhaps my most cherished and important financial belief, because it’s so simple. And just like in nature, it’s where you'll find the most impressive results.

Every few years there's a story of a country bumpkin who has no education and a low-wage job but manages to save and compound tens of millions of dollars.

It's the same story over and over: they just quietly saved and invested for decades. They never bragged, never flaunted, never compared themselves to others or worried whether their investments trailed their benchmark last year.

Their entire financial universe – their thoughts, their goals, their beliefs – was contained within the walls of their home, which allowed them to play their own game and be guided by nothing other than their own desires. That was their superpower.

It was actually their only financial skill, but it’s the most powerful one of all. They were masters at quiet compounding.

Regardless of the lifestyle you live or how much money you spend, it is such a powerful idea to grasp.