A financial psychologist named the bias that is the biggest obstacle to getting rich

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Financial psychologist Amos Nadler, founder of Prof of Wall Street, named the bias that is the biggest obstacle to getting rich. If you've never invested, you may have what he calls “complexity aversion” – it is this cognitive bias that could be standing in your way of getting rich.

At a basic level, people who procrastinate on important financial tasks (like investing) have the same fears as those who can't bring themselves to start exercising—they don't want to make a mistake or feel like a fool.

Just as someone might say they don't know how all that fancy gym equipment works, someone who avoids the financial markets might say they're not a numbers guy and just can't figure it out.

This attitude toward money is closely related to another common cognitive bias known as risk aversion. In essence, you’re not only afraid of making a mistake, you’re also afraid of losing the money you’ve spent time and effort building up. And because the fear of losing what you have can outweigh the joy of accumulating wealth, you stay put.

But, Nadler says, by procrastinating, you’re losing a major asset: time. The longer you’re in the market, the more time your money has to grow faster than inflation. For every year you delay entering the market, you are potentially reducing your future capital.

Play around with an online compounding calculator, and you will likely find that sitting back for even a few years can have a huge impact on your long-term returns.

A 20-year-old who invests $200 a month in a retirement portfolio with an annual return of 8% will have $1.25 million saved by the time he retires. If you start at 25, that amount drops to about $830,000. If you start at 30, it drops to $547,000.