Time is money: How saving money can buy back your life!
Time is money! It’s an old saying that some claim was coined by Ben Franklin. I claim that I invented the saying…but nobody believes me. Anyway, whoever coined the phrase is completely correct. Most of us sell our time-our most limited valuable resource- for money.
So how much is my time really worth, you may ask? I’m just an average guy with an average job, you may say! Well, the median American full-time worker makes around $56,000/year. Based on a 40-hour week, that’d be ~$27/hour.
So, an hour of my time is worth $27? Not quite! You still have to pay taxes! Expect to keep closer to $21 (run a paycheck calculator like at Paycheckcity.com for more accuracy). Add in some life choices- alimony, child support, back taxes, garnishments- and your time is less yours.
Let’s plug in a table of expenses from another page of mine and see how much those dollars are worth compared to a month of bills. How much time would you have to sell to afford next month’s rent?
An average guy has to sell 2 workweeks of his time to afford an average apartment and another 1 workweek of his time just to buy and maintain his car.
The reason I spend so much time out of the country is because I think of money as a function of time. Let’s try the same chart using expenses for a month in Thailand or the Philippines.
In this experiment, I’ve saved $2665, meaning I’ve saved 126 hours of labor per month (assuming average wages)
Remember that your time and your future money are interchangeable, thus:
Saving money in the bank= Saving up future time
Spending money today= Spending your future time
Investing money= Putting your money on hold to buy even more time in the future
Spend your money (time) on things you value. I like videogames, for example. If I see a PlayStation 5 in the store, I’d think “this brings me value, it’s worth ____ hours of my time to pay” My mom hates games. Spending money on a PS5 would bring no value to her, and it may not bring value to you.
Let’s say I was a “car guy”. If it was my hobby, I’d have no problem paying extra for a better vehicle. The consumerist trap many of us fall into is that we buy things we don’t value and have to trade our time at jobs (we likely hate) to pay for it. Not a car person? They ask “why am I financing a new Mercedes? My 2015 Accord works well and it’s paid off”. See a pair of jeans that look exactly like the 6 pairs already in your closet that you don’t wear ask “is this really worth __ hours of my life?”
Dollars don’t matter as much as what those dollars buy. In this case, it’s your own time! Time you can’t get back!
