4 posts tagged “money”
Recently I subscribed to blog updates of Tim Ferriss, the author of The 4-Hour Workweek. I haven't yet read the book, but I do own it. I just have to find 'time' to get to it. So far his blog has been great, mostly because he doesn't update every day so it doesn't get annoying in the inbox, and also because so far he's had mostly interesting things to say.
I've always been quite intrigued by the concept of time; such as time travel, time passing, awareness of time of day and so on. I HATE wasting time. As such, I can't sleep with a ticking clock in my room because the ticking simply reminds me that time is passing and I can't sleep. That's another story. Anyways, imagine my glee, especially with my current frame of mind (explained further down), when I came across today's entry. Also, some of you may remember that I was previously a stock broker, so I certainly could relate to the concept of comparing time with investments.
To make a long story short, Tim says he received the following email from a David Kutoff (CEO of MPC, and I have no idea who he is...lol), whom he met recently at a party. I thought it was really interesting, and wanted to share. It's a bit long, but worth it.
Bear with me, this is somewhat rough at the moment — my initial quandary was whether time, like currency, could be invested to produce a compounding effect. After a bit of thought, my conclusion is that the value of ones time could experience a significant gain, and perhaps a compounding effect over time, given an investment of [that present-state] time in knowledge, skill or other capacity, and a reinvestment of future gains (just like currency).
Money and currency — accumulated excess money — represent one part of your capacity to transact in the marketplace, and can be exchanged for help from others in the form of products or services, including “things” like consumables, depreciable and appreciable assets. Similarly every action you take, whether it be transaction-related or not, requires the expenditure of some amount of time, which is roughly fixed for all of us (say 10,000 working days between the ages of 22 and 62).
Much like currency can be exchanged for appreciable assets that can grow with a compounding effect over time if the gains are re-invested, my theory is that time can be thought about in a similar way, which may lead to more effective action.
To put this in terms of your thinking from your book, lets say you work 40 hours per week simply performing tasks requested by your employer, none of which produce any additional future potential for generating income for yourself.
This is the equivalent of spending your money on consumables or living expenses. It’s single use, and gives you no real future gain, aside from whatever currency you might earn in the moment. Now, you decide to outsource 50% of your tasks to India, producing the same outcomes with 50% of your time. You just doubled the value of your time compared to before (less the additional expense for the help). Now, with that free time, you get more rigorous about working out, studying, and building your networks. You increase your energy, skill, and capacity working with others and manage to produce yet the same results that were taking 50% of your time with only 30%. If you keep reinvesting some of your time in additional gains in your capacity to act, you can theoretically have a compounding effect with the value of your time (rather than time itself). Just like investing currency, the earlier you start this process, and continue to invest in your capacity, the more time your capacity has to compound, and the greater outcomes you can produce during your lifetime.
This seems extremely relevant to me now, especially since I have returned to school part time (night classes), and am eager to return to school next year for a full time program. Every day at my current job, and the jobs I've been working the past little while, I have felt like they are NOT producing "any additional future potential for generating income for" myself. Basically I'm going nowhere, and the jobs are not benefiting me in any way with increasing experience, skills, knowledge and so on. I've been thinking about this a lot recently, enough that I've been looking for another job (also because I'm barely able to pay the bills, and that kinda freaks me out). I have always thought that having a job to pay the bills is not enough. I want a job/career that is useful, interesting, and quite frankly, I want one that allows me to be independent, and do the things I want to do. Yes, I realize that's a lot to ask. And yes, I am a college graduate already, but it's obvious I am no longer working in a related field.
If I CAN go to school next year though, I will finally be investing in my future again, something that has been missing for a long time. If I "spend the time" to get further my education I'll be gaining skills and knowledge; I'll be increasing potential for future income and happiness (hopefully). The only problem is finding the money and income to get to school in the first place. Right now that is my only hurdle; and I hate it.
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“Yesterday is a canceled check; tomorrow is a promissory note; today is the only cash you have - so spend it wisely”
~ Kay Lyons
Show us something that you are saving or budgeting for.
Submitted by foxsydee.
*sigh* that's funny, because I was JUST thinking of making a list of all the things I'd like to buy if money were not an option. So I'll tweak this question a bit. Show us something that you would buy if you actually had cash.
First, this little baby. I want one. It's powerful enough to take highway trips to my parents house (and other road trips), but cute and 'scooty' enough to be good in the city and kinda girlie. I even bought a new *pink!* backpack, and bought a book to study for my motorcycle license. 'New', they are about $6200 for this model which is still a lot (considering I could get a well-running used car for that). I'm hoping they also sell used ones so I can get one next year for cheaper, then in theory, I wouldn't need my car.
So there. And yes, I'm sure I'm saving for a wedding and a house and all that crap, but I want these first. There are many other things I'd 'save' for and put on this list, but I can't remember them all now, and most of them are silly little things, like a new computer desk. heh
sigh. sighsighsigh.
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~ Norman Vincent Peale
It seems I often have a post brewing in my head. Throughout my days I'm often thinking of the random things that are good/bad/happening in 'life' as I know it, and I find myself even thinking 'If I blogged about this, I could title it _____'. But I don't. So I end up with boring titles like 'sigh'. Because when it comes down to it, that's what I'm thinking/feeling. Just a sigh. Of boredom? Yes. Frustration? Yes. Defeat? Also yes.
I met some new people today. They were quite nice actually, and I don't usually get to say 'it was a pleasure meeting you' and mean it, but today I did. Until I got to thinking that I've discovered why I don't like meeting new people as much as I used to. I meet people who are often younger than me, but have accomplished more. I have nothing in common with them except I'm interested in the things they've done and want to do them too. I have nothing to speak of and be 'proud' of. I avoid answering questions in detail because it reminds me of the hope I USED to have. These other people (not just from today, but in general) have done things I want to do, and I don't know how they do it. And you know what, it DOES all come down to money. I would not hesitate to do everything I wanted to do if I had the money, or if someone else paid for it.
That's the other thing. I found that often people have accomplished these things with the aid of others. That's not to say I don't get help from other people. I do. But not the kind of help that will bring me back to school, or take me traveling, or get me married with a house and things like that. These things are all things I will have to make happen for myself, and I have no idea where to start. Do I think that's unfair? Sort of. Do I think that makes me feel like these things really won't happen at all because I have to rely on myself? Sort of...
If I want to do anything major in the next couple of years I will have to A) get rid of my car (which requires trying to find someone to take over the lease), B) keep the WORST HOURS I'VE EVER WORKED at my current job or C) try to find another job (again) which gets me as much money or more (doubtful), D) find another way to make more income because this photography job that I work in the mornings is shit (I'm lucky if I get $50 a month from them)... E) move to a cheaper and smaller place (that's in the works, more later).
Boy, those all sound FUN.
I'll leave it at that... My apologies for not updating often for the past month or so. I have excuses, but they mean nothing to others. Count yourselves lucky for not having as much of this complaining as you could have.
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“Many of the great achievements of the world were accomplished by tired and discouraged men who kept on working.”
I made an appointment with a Financial Advisor with my bank today. I am meeting with her on Friday afternoon to talk about consolidating my debt into 'one easy payment', etc etc. I won't attach a number to what I owe, because one number to me is a different number to you, depending on your situation. So, let's just say that I've figured it out that to pay off my debt in the next 3 years (that would mean paying it off before my 30th birthday), I would have to make payments worth about 20% of my take-home income every month. That's 20% of my income going towards debt payments alone. That's WITHOUT spending anything else of my income which would increase that debt. That's not including regular bills such as rent payments, car payments, electricity, phone and cable payments, groceries, etc. That's not even including the interest charged on my debt. That means no getting married and moving into a house, no going back to school, no travels, no new clothes on a 'regular' basis, or any splurges such as a new camera or printer, not to mention a tv or computer, or something like that. I've had to take cash advances to cover bills the last couple of months, mostly due to some stress leave I took at work in April-May, which didn't help w/ the income.
I, let alone I along with my boyfriend, owe enough in relation to income and expenses to declare bankruptcy, and/or to go on one of those 'debt management' shows on TLC, or the new 'slice' network... If only. You know one of those shows gives $5000 to people if they show a true commitment to change their lifestyle to cut their debt?
Chris thinks we're not that bad off. Apparently he has no idea how much I stress out when I buy nearly ANYTHING, or when I get the bills every month, or even when I get a pay cheque (which is significantly lower than at my previous job, even when I requested a cut in hours). Apparently he has no idea how jealous and curious (about 'how' they did it) I get when I hear about people I know returning to school, or taking a trip somewhere. Apparently he has no idea how much I stress out when I think about my job situation, and how I am not qualified to work for any job that would get me a better income (without going back to non-affordable schooling), let alone a job I would ENJOY. Apparently he has no idea how much I stress out when I think about my dependency on my car, which has payments (which I'm grounded in for another 2 and a 1/2 years) in amounts that significantly contribute to my debt situation. Apparently he has no idea how much I stress out that he is making significantly less income than he is qualified for (but that's another story. This is my debt, not his).
Why am I mentioning all this? Because I think everyone's afraid to talk about their financial situation, and I don't think that's right. Money is, like it or not, a HUGE issue in everyone's daily life. You have it, you don't. Your financial situation bothers you, or it doesn't. You can afford your lifestyle, or you can't. I'm mentioning this because I know deep down, I'm not the only one in this situation. I'm mentioning this because sometimes I feel like I am anyways, and everyone else is off doing things freely. I'm mentioning this because I need help. I need to bring down the 'vision' that I'm ok. Because I'm not. I WANT to declare bankruptcy and get rid of this debt NOW, and move to a smaller place, and get rid of my car, and start over. But I can't do all that. I'm embarrassed, and I don't want to be 'alone' in this situation anymore. I don't want to feel like I shouldn't buy ANYTHING because it's ruining my chances of being debt-free, and my chances of doing all the things I want to do. I want to be free to do the things I want to do. I don't want to sound like the 'before' case of a debt management commercial.
So, there you have it. I thought about making this 'neighbourhood' only, but that would defeat all the reasons I just mentioned.
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Today, there are three kinds of people: the have's, the have-not's, and the have-not-paid-for-what-they-have's.
~ Earl Wilson
