Motley Fool Money · Friday, September 4, 2026
The discussion delves into the concept of the 'last double' in investing, where a significant portion of wealth accumulation occurs in the final years. Scott Phillips explains that while a prediction of tripling wealth in 5 years sounds good, the psychological impact of being half as rich the year before can be disorienting.
“So not only is it your portfolio on a day can move as much as that used to be entirely worth some decades earlier. But whatever you're going to retire with, half of that actually occurs in the last and if we get average of 9% of each, make it up.”
“But if I said, yeah, but you're still half as rich as you were in 2035.”
“That sounds really shitty. And it's just, sorry, pardon my French. But but that's kind of, I think that is something that you have to not not lean into it to a degree but also just mentally protect yourself because these doublings come part and parcel with that phenomena.”