3576: Trading Time For Money by J.D. Roth of Get Rich Slowly on Valuing Your Time

[00:00:00] Dell PCs with Intel inside are built for the moments that matter. For the moments you plan and the ones you don't. Built for the busy days that turn into all-night study sessions. The moment you're working from a cafe and realize every outlet's taken. The times you're deep in your flow and the absolute last thing you need is an auto-update throwing off your momentum. That's why Dell builds tech that adapts to the way you actually work. Built with long-lasting batteries so you're not scrambling for the moment you don't need to be able to do it.

[00:00:30] The closest outlet. And built-in intelligence that makes updates around your schedule not in the middle of it. They don't build tech for tech's sake. They build it for you. Find technology built for the way you work at Dell.com slash Dell PCs. Built for you. This is Optimal Finance Daily. Trading Time for Money by J.D. Roth of GetRichSlowly.org.

[00:01:00] Last week, I was complaining to my Spanish tutor, who by the way thinks I always complain. Ideally, I'd be writing less, I told her. I want to have more time to learn Spanish and to focus on other passions. But I just got an offer to write a couple more articles per week and how I get paid for the work.

[00:01:18] My tutor shook her head. She told me, in Spanish, the monkey dances for money. She didn't have to explain what she meant. It was obvious. Money makes us do things we wouldn't do otherwise. It turns us into puppets. Although my tutor had a point, it's not as simple as that. Yes, we sometimes do things we don't want to do in order to earn money. But sometimes doing these things allows us to get money so that we can pursue our passions later.

[00:01:47] I write a monthly column for a magazine, I said, in Spanish, of course. The amount I earn from that column each month is exactly the same as what I pay you each month. Every month, I tell myself that I'm writing the column so that I could learn Spanish. That keeps me motivated to do it. Personal Currencies This conversation reminded me of personal currencies, which I first mentioned four years ago. At the time, I wrote, quote,

[00:02:15] Money is an abstract concept. It really represents time and labor, and those are hard to visualize. By finding something concrete to use as a measure of value instead, it's easier to visualize how much something is really worth to you. For example, my wife sometimes measures things in lattes. If she sees something in a store, she'll stop and consider. That vase is three lattes, or those shoes are ten lattes, or that book is two lattes.

[00:02:44] By looking at things in this way, she's able to figure out how much they're actually worth. Our friend Marla measures things in Saturns. She loves her car, a Saturn, naturally. And so whenever somebody mentions something expensive, she's able to compute its value to her. A fancy plasma TV might be one-fifth of a Saturn, for example. A house might be ten or twenty Saturns. Last night at dinner, I mentioned this notion to our friends Mike and Rhonda.

[00:03:13] Oh, we used to do that all the time, Rhonda said. When we were first married, we lived near a sushi place. We loved their rainbow rolls, but they were kind of expensive. Whenever we got paid, we'd convert the dollars to rainbow rolls. Obviously, these sort of personal currencies aren't sophisticated financial tools. They are, however, quick and easy for each of us to measure the relative value of the things we buy. End quote.

[00:03:40] This notion of personal currencies, and my mental equation in which writing a magazine column pays for Spanish lessons, is another way to look at life energy, which many of you will know from the classic, your money or your life. Trading time for money. In Your Money or Your Life, the central point that Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin try to convey to readers is this. Money is something we choose to trade our time for.

[00:04:08] Except that the authors don't call it time. They call it life energy. They write, quote, Our life energy is our allotment of time here on Earth. The hours of precious life available to us. When we go to our jobs, we're trading our life energy for money. This truth, while simple, is profound. Our life energy is more real in our actual experience than money. You could even say money equals our life energy.

[00:04:35] So while money has no intrinsic value, our life energy does. At least to us. It's tangible and it's finite. Life energy is all we have. It's precious because it's limited and irretrievable. And because our choices about how we use it express the meaning and purpose of our time here on Earth. Ultimately, you are the one who determines what money is worth to you. It's your life energy. You pay for money with your time.

[00:05:05] You choose how to spend it. End quote. In a very real way, time is money. For most of us to be happy, we have to find a balance between trading our time for money. And at times, trading money for time. We need both. Over the past few months, I've found that balance. I've achieved it. I've been reluctant to mess with it. Yet now I'm tempted. Or am I? Finding enough.

[00:05:33] Over the past week, as I've debated whether I should take on the additional workload to earn more money, I actually turned to my own book for advice. In Your Money, The Missing Manual, I briefly explore the concept of enough, something that's also covered in your money or your life. In my book, I write, quote, Knowing that you have enough can be better than having billions of dollars. If you're obscenely rich but aren't happy, what good is your money?

[00:06:01] If you don't know why you're earning and spending money, then you can't say when you have enough. So take time to really think about what enough means to you. If you don't have an end in sight, you're at greater risk of getting stuck in the rat race. End quote. Or, to use the words of my Spanish tutor, you're at greater risk of being a monkey that dances for money. And so I have to ask myself, Why? Why do I want to take on this extra work? It's not for the money. So what is it?

[00:06:29] Do I really think I'm going to improve my life by writing two extra columns per week? Where will I even find the time to do that? And what is it that I really want to be doing? I don't know the answers to all of these questions just yet, but I do know the answers to some. And in fact, those answers may hint at the direction my life could take in the future. For now, one thing is sure. This monkey has decided he won't be dancing for money. At least not this time.

[00:07:01] You just listened to the post titled, Trading Time for Money by J.D. Roth of GetRichSlowly.org. Dell PCs with Intel inside are built for the moments that matter. For the moments you plan and the ones you don't. Built for the busy days that turn into all night study sessions. The moment you're working from a cafe and realize every outlet's taken. The times you're deep in your flow and the absolute last thing you need is an auto update throwing off your momentum.

[00:07:30] That's why Dell builds tech that adapts to the way you actually work. Built with long-lasting batteries so you're not scrambling for the closest outlet. And built-in intelligence that makes updates around your schedule, not in the middle of it. They don't build tech for tech's sake. They build it for you. Find technology built for the way you work at dell.com slash dell PCs. Built for you.

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[00:09:19] it takes to earn the money for them was in the book Your Money or Your Life. Time is one resource you can't just restock. That's why this exercise is a real eye-opener. It hits you with the fact that the hours you spend working for that paycheck are hours you won't ever get back. It's a bit of a reality check. Being thoughtful about how you spend is basically a way to honor the time you've got on this planet. Because whether it's time, money, or your energy,

[00:09:47] how you spend these resources is like a sneak peek into your real values. And things can get awkward when you realize there's a mismatch between where you're putting your resources and what you truly care about. Take, for instance, people who say they cherish family time and their relationships, but find themselves stuck in a never-ending grind to afford a fancy lifestyle. It can be confronting to realize that there's a mismatch between what you say you value and how you're actually behaving.

[00:10:18] But a bit of soul-searching can set things right. Your Money or Your Life was my go-to for sorting out my priorities and getting my spending habits in sync with what I really care about. And that will do it for today. Have a great day and start to your weekend. Thank you for listening. And I'll be back here reading to you tomorrow, where optimal life awaits.