Joel’s Blog

San Pedro, Ambergris Caye, Belize

We learned from Robert Kiyosaki to always pay attention to cashflow. Whatever your activity, pay attention to whether or not that activity increases or decreases your cashflow. If you have an activity that decreases cashflow, a doodad, you want to make sure your income can cover it. Good sense? Tim Ferris tells us that simple cashflow isn’t enough. From him we learn that time is also a factor. The guy who makes $100,000 a year working 80 hours a week is actually not as rich as the guy who makes $40,000 a year working only 10 hours a week. But what is time worth then?

What is time worth?

My vacation in Belize affords me an interesting experiment. I am not working, but I’m also still being paid by my employer. In a sense, while I’m here, I’ll be passively earning income without doing any work. Okay, the experiment has already fallen flat because I won’t be paid enough to make back what I’ve already paid in airfare and for staying at this resort. But I still want to think about it.

A guy who works 40 hours a week and makes $70,000 a year makes about $33.65 an hour. I used to rationalize parking in a parking garage for $20 a day on weekends in NYC. It’s worth it to me to park there than to spend an hour looking for free parking on the street. Recently, the parking garage increased its rate to $33. I’m rethinking the strategy. Is it better to park in Hoboken, NJ and park for $16 and take the train in for $1? The extra trip takes 1/2 an hour longer than just driving straight into the city…sometimes. Sometimes tunnel traffic will make the trip 90 minutes–1/2 hour longer than the Hoboken route.

Then there’s the basic error in my equation. I don’t work on the weekend. I make all my money on weekdays. If I spaced my income equally across all hours of the week. I make only $8.01 an hour. You can count the hours I sleep because the IRS takes that. So, does that mean it’s worth it to me to look for free parking for 4 hours on a Saturday to avoid the parking garage? I don’t think that is right either.

Time is not money

If your employer asks you to work for 8 hours on a Saturday he may compensate you 1 1/2 times your normal wage. That is a lot more than you would normally make on a Saturday. But no matter how much your employer pays you he cannot give you back time. Every hour worked is another hour your children grow up. It is another hour closer to your death. What’s the answer? Compensation in free time? Weekend hours aren’t the same as weekday hours, though. If your employer decides to give you Monday off to compensate for Saturday, prepare for a lonely Monday. Your kids will be at school and all your friends will be working.

So, what’s the answer?

I don’t know. But I’ll tell you one thing. I just spent 2 hours writing this article while sitting on the beach watching the ocean. On a normal Wednesday morning, I’d be at the office working for my boss. And I already feel more productive than have ever felt on any other Wednesday morning.

So, what do you guys think? Leave a reply below.

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