In today’s article, we take a step back from finance and consider something more essential.
Time Is Not Money
Time is fundamental and irreplaceable; you cannot make up for lost time. You can, however, make up for lost money. Therefore, how you use your time should be prioritized over the pursuit of money.
I spent some time driving down to Texas to see the solar eclipse in its totality. The trip itself was relatively inexpensive, but it did take some time to get down there. Time spent driving in a meditative-like trance, thinking about my life and where it has been and where it might be. Time spent camping in a Walmart tent, roughing it on fried Spam and the appreciation that warm-blooded animals like myself can heat up a sleeping bag on freezing nights. Time spent experiencing a solar eclipse in full totality and looking up at a sky entirely alien to anything you’ve ever known.
The money can be replaced; the time of your life cannot. The time when you are young and in good health, or the time when the iron is hot and your are in your prime, or the time when you are entirely in the moment and feeling life as full as it can be felt. These are the times that you should cherish.
Yours is the life that you should cherish. You only have one.
Wealth Is Something Else
For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.
— Timothy 6:10 (NASB)
I enjoy listening to the Uneducated Economist on YouTube, and he often refers to Richard Cantillon, an 18th-century Irish-French economist. Cantillon himself defines wealth as “nothing but the food, conveniences, and pleasures of life.” This shockingly simple definition of wealth contains many merits. A new boat for the man who fishes every day would be a great boon to him, but a businessman’s yacht that sits unsailed in the harbor is nothing but a sad flex.
What does wealth look like to you? It doesn’t have to be what other people think. Often, idealistic images shape our aspirations, influencing what we strive for.
If you dream of having a family one day, maybe the ideal is owning your own home with a nice big yard and picket fences. In a world where that outcome is increasingly unrealistic, why continue to cling unyielding to the ideal? The goal was to have a family. Maybe for now, that looks like renting a two-bedroom apartment in the city. It’s not perfect, but that’s reality.
You Can’t Take It with You
None of your material possessions can go with you into death. They will not help you meet death. Neither will they help you develop a solid character. If anything, they seem to feed the very worst of people’s personalities.
Even before death, imagine you were parted with all of your financial assets. If you were reduced to solely who you are under the veneer of success, would it ruin you? Could you handle facing your true self in the mirror?
In the wise words of Justin Scott:
Big houses, nice cars, all that stuff cool
But it’s materialistic things that we strive so hard for
As human beings, and it’s not fulfilling
It doesn’t take away the pain, it doesn’t take away the loss
You have to search higher, you have to go higher for that
The higher power, that higher energy
And that’s what I’m striving for
So in the event that I go and you have to bury me
You can bury me with all these things
And as soon as I see my Maker, I would give it all back
I’d give it all away because it wasn’t nowhere near as important
As being in Heaven and being at peace— Big K.R.I.T., “Bury Me in Gold”
With a Grain of Salt
The above should not be taken as an argument to do something ridiculous like shirk responsibility.
If you have children, you should think about passing something along to them. If you don’t have a plan for retirement, you should spend time thinking about how to fund yourself in old age. If you are young, you should use the power of compounding interest while it is the most potent.
Once you have an investment plan, a budget, or a nest egg, then go and do the hard work of living your best life. The money will take care of itself.