Skip to main content

Do Better With Your Time

Recently, I've been extremely busy with some work commitments. The
interesting thing for me is that this increased work activity has
really helped crystallize some of my feelings with regard to time. And
these ideas are a critical part about my view on personal finance. I'm
curious to know if others feel similarly.

Time is money. That is, Time, in some way, contains energy. Money, is
also energy. In the act of working, I am able to compound and increase
the amount of money that I have. I am exchanging my time and effort
and thought which are components of my work, for the productivity that
I produce. And this production gets me money from my employer.

However, the first dollars that I make each day, week, or month are
the most valuable. Then the ones that I make at the end are the most
valuable. (Forget about taxes for a minute.)

The reason is, the first ones help me have a place to live and food to
eat. And the last ones are the ones that I can use to really improve
my life long term by saving, investing, and planning for the future
(both short and long term).

Obviously, you want to earn those first dollars first so you can
survive. But its the dollars you make at the end which make you
"happy" in the sense that they secure not just your todays, but your
tomorrows as well.

All of this is important because I realize that lately, I have given a
tremendous amount of my time (which is energy) to my work
committments. And although I go through this from time to time, it is
easy to start to wonder why it is worth doing. And the simple answer
is this:

I don't know how long I will live, but I think it will be a long time.
And I don't know how long I'll be able to really work, but I'm sure it
will be less than I'd like.
So why not make myself as comfortable as possible, by saving more than
I need right now while I can, so that later, when I do need it, it
will be there?

I challenge everyone to do better with their time. Time should be
spent doing something of value; something that makes you really happy.
Or if not that, then it should be spent so that you have the things
you need to live. And if not that, at the very least, it should be
spent accumulating so that at some point in the future you can do more
of what makes you happy, while doing less work.

Comments

Anonymous said…
The critical point is that you'll never be young again. You should save while you can, but also live while you can - I never regretted some of the 'wasteful' spending of money I did when I was younger to travel to Europe or take a pointless class in college, etc. I am also happy that rather than spend everything I had I put a little bit aside, making my life now easier because I started saving earlier...
Anonymous said…
I totally agree. We all have a choice in deciding what is good for us. Some may want to experience happiness right away, while others may want to accumulate it for the future.
Anonymous said…
I agree. It doesn't matter if we are are not doing it right now. As long as we are preparing for our future, it would be sufficient.

Popular posts from this blog

On Buying a Lifestyle...with a Fixed-Rate Mortgage

Despite all of the back and forth about sub-prime mortgages and the housing bubble, I am feeling just fine. The reason is that when purchasing, I followed some old advice: Don't expect to flip. In general, I've been told by many people that you shouldn't buy a home unless you plan to hold on to it for 7 years or longer. If the market does well and you decide to sell, fine. But if you want to be sure not to lose money, don't buy something that you only want for a year or two. I've been in my current location for more than 3 years. I like it. And I have no intention of leaving in the short or medium term. It seems to me, that real estate, like any asset class, has its ups and downs. But as a practical point, I don't look at my home as an asset per se. Rather, I consider it to be a fixed expense that I need to survive, much like food and water. Therefore, as long as the payment is reasonable and it functions to keep me warm and sheltered and comfortable, that is a

Blogging WealthTrack: Christine Benz (Retire Early? Or not?)

 This morning I've watched an interesting video on Consuelo Mack: WealthTrack. Here, Consuelo's guest, a longtime contributor, Christine Benz, a personal finance expert from Morningstar joined Consuelo for a discussion on issues related to retirement, in particular in the current market environments. This conversation is even more interesting against the backdrop of The Great Resignation. I found Christine's advice to be particularly interesting on a couple of fronts. Her advice in dealing with talking about retirement in general, in particular for people who are in the process of thinking about retiring early gave me pause. She is considering the traditional advice of a 4 percent withdrawal rate to be dangerous and indeed, actually concerning. According to the recent research she cites, a 3% withdrawal rate is a better option. Even more than the four percent rule, I think that her comments on annuities are particularly interesting. While annuities have been given a bad nam