Everyone dreams of being wealthy enough to do whatever they want; own lots of possessions, live in a fantastic house and travel overseas in style and luxury. But to do this, building wealth must be worked at. It’s not as hard as it might seem, though. Most people who have a job are paid a good wage in comparison to years ago. The trouble now is that we expect our quality of life to reflect that good wage, so we end up spending most of it instead of adopting a save and invest approach.

No one can build wealth if they go out and spend every cent they make. Building wealth means you must firstly make money, then you must save it - and lastly, you need to put your savings to work for you so that they will make even more money. Many people chase that get-rich-quick dream that they’ve heard about. It becomes like a tantalizing carrot held in front of a donkey’s nose. And those who chase it are donkeys - asses in fact, to spend all their money chasing the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Real wealth creation takes time and money - and patience to build. Firstly you need to put your focus on making more money. It might be possible for you to get another part-time job as well as the one you have. Or perhaps with a bit of effort in the study department, you could get another rung up the ladder and be paid more.

If this is the case, you would be well advised to continue living as you’ve done in the past and invest all that extra money, at least for a few years. Don’t make the mistake of upgrading to a more expensive home or buying a new car. These things will not bring in money; they take it away. Another trap is to repay yourself for all that hard work by spending more money on leisure activities such as expensive holidays or eating out more often. Sure, a little reward might be in order, but don’t make a habit of it.

Once you’ve started to make more money, make sure you save it into the best investment possible. That means it should be earning the highest interest possible, in the safest way possible. An e-saver account could be one of the best solutions. They offer high interest with no or low fees. If you are an impulse spender, then put it into a term deposit so you cannot spend it. Once you see the interest piling up, it will motivate you to keep on saving.

The third step in building wealth is to invest in stocks and shares, but never put all your money at risk. You might be happy to have a high risk - high return investment, but don’t do it with all your money. Keep some safely stashed away in a really safe form of investment. Soon you’ll begin to see that compounding interest is what really builds wealth.