Pay yourself first and let compound interest work its magic

When Mark started his first marketing job, he earned $35,000. Two years later, his boss asked him to manage a high-visibility project. He jumped at the chance—and his income tripled. Rather than spending the extra, Mark decided on a different habit: he’d save 50% of every pay raise and bonus. Each paycheck reflected this new “wedge.”

At first, it was small—$200 here, $300 there—but Mark stuck to it. He automated transfers so he never saw the money in his checking account. At home, he kept living on his base salary. On weekends, he tracked the wedge in a spreadsheet. The rising line gave him a quiet thrill, like watching a slow-growing plant poke through the soil.

Five years later, Mark’s savings account had ballooned thanks to compound interest—so much so that he could afford to start his own digital agency. His disciplined wedge habit gave him both a runway and the confidence to leap. He later sold that business for a seven-figure sum, all because he mastered the wedge theory.

Financial planners call saving “paying yourself first” and describe compound interest as the eighth wonder of the world. When you save half of your increases, you are engineering money to work for you, year after year. It’s the surest path to financial independence.

You can start by setting up an automatic 50% transfer of every raise or bonus into an untouchable investment account. Keep a quick spreadsheet to track both your income bumps and the rising balance. Then make it a habit each quarter to reinvest any dividends or interest. This simple wedge creates a self-propelling wealth machine. Give it two years and see where it takes you.