So whats the difference between £10,000 invested at 4% or 10% over a 36 year period. We've taken 35 years because that's an average working life. It will take you from 21 to 57 from hwere in the UK at least, you can start to draw down you pension pot:

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After 36 years, starting with £10,000:

• At 4% annual growth → £41,039

• At 10% annual growth → £309,127

• Difference: £268,087

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So, equities delivering 10% instead of 4% make you roughly 7.5× richer by age 57 — a powerful illustration of compounding.

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Can You Do Better Than 10%?

Possibly. Maybe.

That 10% figure is roughly what the S&P 500 — the main US stock market index — has returned over the past 20 years. It varies depending on when you start, but it’s a good rule of thumb. And yes, there are other markets that have done even better.

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Take the Nasdaq, for example. It’s the tech-heavy US index that’s returned almost 1,200% since 2007 — just before the Global Financial Crisis. That works out at about 17% per year. Compounding 17% annually over 36 years turns that same £10k into roughly £1.7 million. That’s a life-changing difference.

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Taking It Up a Notch

In 2010, a 3× leveraged Nasdaq ETF called TQQQ was launched. There’s a great book about it (details below) that dives into how leverage works over time.

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In simple terms, TQQQ aims to deliver three times the daily move of the Nasdaq. So if the index is up 100%, TQQQ is up about 300%. Of course, it works the other way too — when the market falls, it falls harder. Since it launched, though, TQQQ is up over 19,000%. Yes, really.

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It’s not for the faint-hearted — volatility and drawdowns are wild. But for investors who can stay calm and buy when markets are deeply down — think Covid, or the more recent “Liberation Day” correction — adding a small slice of TQQQ has been a clever way to seriously boost returns on top of a normal US or global index.

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The Takeaway

You don’t need to predict the market or take huge risks. The goal is simple:

• Stay invested,

• Let compounding work, and

• Use smart strategies to give your returns a little extra juice.

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The longer you’re in the market, the more time works for you — and as you’ve seen, that can make all the difference.