Disconnect Money from Time and Effort

Choose to Work

When I was young, we were given several aptitude tests throughout secondary school. The thought was that if the military could figure out what you were good at, they could help you choose a career that fit your skills. this was part of the culture of refinement of the body of labor that came about in the 1960s. Then there was the 'life changing question,' what would you do if you didn't have to work for money? My answer was invariably, "well, then I wouldn't work for money".

Choosing to work reframes your activities as beneficial and, if you can do it, will give you purpose. Choosing to see work as helping other people and providing value to the world, reframes the opportunity cost into something that provides value, both for you and the population you serve.

The value is easy to see if you are a teacher, doctor, or homebuilder. If you work in a field where the value you provide is abstract, it may be difficult to see. In this case, either spend some time to peel back the technological and bureaucratic layers that surround you and then clarify if and how your work provides value. Providing value for money feels a lot better than exchanging effort and time (your life, actually).

Equally Prioritize Saving and Spending

Most of us will choose to trade time and effort for money, at least initially where the tradeoffs are not so steep. Young people have an abundance of time and low skills so trading time and effort for money and skills is a good deal. However, the clever keep more of it by prioritizing saving equally with spending.

Properly saved money works for you by allowing time and strategy to create more money. Lower spending power preserves you from wasting your money. This is the easiest way to disconnect money from time and effort. Saving includes provisioning for near-term future purchases and investing for the longer term. You must save for future expenses (rainy day fund) and you must invest for those sunny days.

To illustrate, ask yourself how much a 16 year old will miss half their paycheck. They live at home and perhaps have monthly bills for a cell phone and car insurance. If the prioritize saving and spending equally, they will have less money for gas and junk food, not to mention clothes, apps, trinkets and video games. All of these can be fun but provide no lasting value beyond the first few minutes or months. Imagine they earned six thousand dollars in a year, spent three thousand, saved one thousand for a spring break trip and invested two thousand dollars. With average returns, setting aside two thousand dollars for eight years (until college graduation) and then doing nothing else will gross almost two hundred thousand dollars thirty years after the first investment at sixteen.

Would they miss the money? Perhaps, but only having five dollars instead of ten has a lot to teach you about managing money. Of course you can scoff and poke holes my calculations. You can throw your hands up in the air because you didn't know this at sixteen (I didn't either). However, the same principle holds true even if you start investing today. Prioritizing saving in our cash rich society means that the amounts saved and invested can be much higher.

Create Something of Lasting Value

I won't rehash a list of twenty ways to make money online because you can find that content in many other places. It is my wish to inspire you to write that play, create that art, and share that knowledge. Value is intrinsic. Create first and market later. You decide on the method and medium but creation is the highest of all human acts. Anyone can destroy but only the Leisurely and Luxurious can create.

Sometimes it can be helpful to examine reality to see what consumers might need or how things can be refined. However, as the world tends more and more towards distraction and consumption, there is a large reward for all creators who bring their product to market.

Become an Owner

Similarly to creating something of lasting value, this is simply owning something of value. Perhaps it is a business or real estate. Real estate is the avenue I walked to build wealth. Strategic real estate acquisition can create cash flow for the owner with minimal input. This can increase your income while also leveraging time and other people's money to build an asset that will produce income with little effort or time on your part.

I have a friend who owns the company that produces the waxed cardboard cylinders that commercial ice cream retailers use to store their products in their display case. He started the business half a lifetime ago and he now pays someone else a large salary to manage it. The business manager earns a lot more than my friend. My friend owns the product rights and business and he strategically hired someone else to manage the business, including managing delivery, employees and manufacturing. It now takes very little of his own personal time or effort and he receives a monthly paycheck. His time is now free to pursue other ventures and his income is assured.

In conclusion

If you do nothing else; if you have to work, if you never moonlight or side-hustle, never create anything of lasting value, or inherit money, or own a business, prioritizing saving equally with spending will get you out of that job you hate and on to better things faster than you can imagine. With even slight reserves built up, you can take the leap into becoming a creator and owner. Of course, you will then have to define the meaning of your own life but you will have plenty of time and leisure to do so.