Why Getting Rich Slow Feels Fast: Quirky, Practical Money Moves That Changed My Life

Ever felt like time's sprinting past while your bank balance crawls? Years ago, I realized my weekends were slipping through the cracks (usually somewhere around the third episode of a Netflix binge and the second freezer pizza). That sinking feeling pushed me to hack more than just my spending habits—I started treating my time and money like scarce resources worth protecting. The result? Over five years, I 6x’d my income, quit my job, and built a comfortable investment portfolio. Here's how small shifts (and surprisingly few sacrifices) set me on the fast track of 'getting rich slow.'

The Secret Speed of Getting Rich Slow (Seriously)

Let’s get real about the get rich slow principle: it’s not just a cliché—it’s a time-tested shortcut that only feels slow in the moment. When you look back, you’ll realize how quickly everything can change. I’m 29, and honestly, I have no idea where the last decade went. Life moves at warp speed, and if you’re not intentional, years can vanish before you know it. At minimum, get rich slow. Because life goes fast.

Why Getting Rich Slow Feels Fast

Here’s the quirky truth: the get rich slow principle is actually faster than it sounds. Most people overestimate what they can do in a week and underestimate what’s possible in five years. In my case, optimizing my time and following a few smart personal finance tips helped me 6x my income, quit my job, and build a six-figure investment portfolio—all in just five years. The trick? Consistency and compounding, not overnight miracles.

Disposable Time: The New Disposable Income

Everyone talks about disposable income, but almost nobody talks about optimizing disposable time. After sleep, work, and commuting, you probably have about six hours left each day. These hours are your hidden cash reserves. For the past ten years, I'd always made it a thing to make sure I'm optimizing the disposable time that I have. Treat those hours like money—invest them wisely.

• Start a side hustle: E-commerce, Instagram theme pages, or YouTube can turn spare hours into future earnings.
• Learn new skills: Coding, design, or marketing can increase your earning potential.
• Automate savings and investments: Let your money work while you sleep.

The Impact of Time Management on Finances

Here’s what most people miss: Optimizing disposable time has a compounding effect on your finances. Each productive evening or weekend adds up, just like regular investments. Over months and years, these small efforts snowball into real wealth. Doing less doesn’t mean getting less—it means doing the right things with the time you have.

At minimum, get rich slow. Because life goes fast.

Time, Money, and Ditching the Low-Profit To-Do List

How much do you really value your time? If you set your hourly rate at £50, every hour you spend on tasks like grocery shopping or mowing the lawn is costing you £50 or more in lost opportunity. Let’s break it down:

• Grocery shopping: 1 hour = £50
• Car wash: 1.5 hours = £75
• Mowing the lawn: 45 minutes = £37.50
• House cleaning: 2 hours = £100

Ask yourself: Is mowing your lawn really worth £37.50 of your time? When you start valuing your time at your current earning rate, the impact of time management on your finances becomes clear. Outsourcing low profit activities isn’t laziness—it’s profit maximization. Personally, when I began outsourcing my food shop and car wash, I didn’t just free up hours; I redirected that time into higher-earning work and activities I actually enjoy.

If you truly value your time, whenever there is a task that can be done from somebody else at a lower cost than you currently value your time at, then you should outsource that task all day long.

HelloFresh: A Real-World Case Study

Let’s talk about the HelloFresh meal kit service. At first, I hesitated—was paying a bit more per meal really worth it? But after a few weeks, I realized I was buying hours of my life back. No more spending £50-worth of my Saturday morning fighting through a busy supermarket (and honestly, there's nothing that I hate more than going to a busy supermarket first thing on a Saturday morning).

With HelloFresh, you get fresh ingredients and easy recipes delivered to your door. Meals start from just £3.15 per serving, and new users can get up to 60% off their first order—plus, free desserts for life. That’s not just convenience; it’s a strategic financial move. By outsourcing low profit activities like meal planning and shopping, you reclaim time for higher-value work or well-earned rest.

The real mental shift is moving from “saving money to spend time” to “spending money to save time.” When you make this change, you unlock more time for high-profit activities—and life starts to feel a whole lot richer, a whole lot faster.

Saving Like You Mean It: Sneaky Habits for Financial Safety Nets

If you want to build real financial security, you have to treat saving as a non-negotiable expense. Think of it as your most important bill—one you pay before anything else. This simple shift in mindset is one of the most effective saving habits millennials (and anyone, really) can adopt. As I learned: “It’s a simple process of just paying yourself first.”

The Payday Power Move: Pay Yourself First

Here’s the sneaky habit that changed my financial life: every payday, move at least 10% of your income directly into a high-yield savings account—before you pay rent, bills, or buy anything fun. This routine makes saving automatic and removes the temptation to spend what you should be saving. The goal? Build up an emergency fund that covers at least 12 months of expenses, giving you a true financial safety net.

• Step 1: Decide your savings rate (10%+ is ideal).
• Step 2: Set up an automatic transfer to a high-yield savings account on payday.
• Step 3: Keep your emergency fund separate from your main spending account—out of sight, out of mind.

High-Yield Savings Accounts UK: My Shortlist

Not all savings accounts are created equal. With over £400 billion in the UK sitting in low-interest accounts, there’s a huge missed opportunity. Optimising your savings is key. I personally use:

• Trading 212 Cash ISA – 5.2% interest (2024 rate)
• Chase Bank Saver – 5.1% interest (2024 rate)

These high-yield savings accounts UK options help your money grow faster, making your safety net even stronger.

Borrow This Banking Trick: Net Interest Margin

Banks measure their profitability with a concept called net interest margin—the difference between what they earn on loans and what they pay on deposits. Apply this to your own finances: aim to maximise what you earn on savings and minimise what you pay on debts. Don’t let your cash sit idle in low-interest accounts while you pay high rates on loans or mortgages.

Right now, there’s over £400 billion in the UK sat in low interest rate bank accounts.

Adopting these saving and investing habits is the real secret to building a financial safety net that works for you—quietly, automatically, and powerfully.

Your Raise Isn’t for Shopping: The Hidden Superpower of Investment Inflation

Every time your paycheck grows, so should your investments—not your wardrobe. This is the heart of investment inflation vs lifestyle inflation. Most people treat a pay rise as a green light to spend more. But if you want to build real, lasting wealth, you need to flip that script.

Here’s the secret: Forget about lifestyle inflation and apply something called investment inflation. When you get a raise—whether it’s a 3% cost-of-living bump or a 20% promotion leap—match that increase directly in your investment contributions. This simple move is one of the most powerful investment strategies for long-term wealth.

How Investment Inflation Works

• Let’s say you’re investing £250/month in a Stocks & Shares ISA.
• Each year, you get a 3% pay rise.
• Instead of spending more, you increase your monthly investment by 3%—so next year, you invest £257.50/month, and so on.

This is the opposite of lifestyle inflation, which quietly erodes your wealth as your spending creeps up. Investment inflation compounds your gains, turning small annual increases into a massive portfolio over time.

Math Moment: The £111,804 Difference

Here’s why this matters: If you invest £250/month at a 7% annual return for 30 years, but increase your contribution by 3% each year, you’ll end up with £111,804 more than if you kept your contributions static. That’s the hidden superpower of investment inflation.

"You'll be a hell of a lot better off when it comes to a net worth basis."

My personal rule: I match every raise with an equal bump in my Stocks & Shares ISA. This habit is the backbone of my increase income strategies—not just earning more, but investing more, every single year. Over time, this approach quietly builds a fortune, while lifestyle inflation just builds clutter.

Wild Cards: The Law of Exchange, Avoiding the £50k Millionaire Trap, and Actually Enjoying Life

Let’s wrap up with three wild cards that have truly changed my approach to personal finance. First up is the law of exchange—a principle that’s less about spreadsheets and more about mindset. The law of exchange in personal finance says that giving and receiving are two sides of the same coin. The more you invest in yourself, your business, and others, the more likely you are to see that money come back to you. This isn’t just about charity; it’s about the velocity of money. When you spend wisely—on education, growth, or fair pay—you set off a chain reaction that often circles back as new opportunities, skills, or even unexpected income. As the saying goes,

The more money that you give, the more money that you get back.

But there’s a trap to avoid: the £50k millionaire syndrome. This is the person earning £50,000 a year but living like a multimillionaire—fancy cars, designer clothes, and constant upgrades, all for the highlight reel. It’s a classic example of lifestyle inflation traps and it can destroy your financial progress faster than a bad investment. As Dave Ramsey puts it,

Stop buying stuff that you can't afford with money you don't have to impress people that you don't even like.

Finally, don’t let frugality run wild. Yes, building financial literacy and planning for retirement is crucial—especially with the UK state pension forecasted to be unsustainable by 2040, and 40% of Brits not on track for even a basic retirement lifestyle (£14,400 per year). But if you’re so focused on saving for tomorrow that you forget to enjoy today, you risk missing the point entirely. The real win is a balanced life: investing in your future while also savoring the present. When you ground yourself in sound financial principles, you can enjoy the nicer things—guilt-free and stress-free. That’s the quirky, practical secret to getting rich slow…and feeling like it happened fast.