For an audio version of this post, please click on the speaker icon (top left).
Before you think that Suze Orman has somehow hijacked my blog, let me explain.
The average lifespan of a man in the United States currently is hovering around 76.1 years.
That works out to 27,776.5 days + 19 extra days for Leap Years for a grand total of 27,795.5 days or 40,025,520 minutes.
Given the, potentially unrealistic, goal of sleeping 7 hours a day you can subtract 11,674,110 minutes, leaving a time awake balance of 28,351,410 minutes.
Given that I just turned 50 years old, my expected time balance is 13,754,160 (and with 4,011,630 of that lost to sleep I have an estimated 9,742,530 minutes of awake/usable time).
Each day we live we are forced to withdraw from our time bank 1,440 minutes.
If you had a net worth of $15 million and you had to spend $1,440 a day (or $525,600/year) how would you feel?
Some might say this is acceptable as the nest egg is sustainable with a “safe” withdrawal rate of 3.5%.
However, unlike the above net worth example, we do not earn interest on our time nest egg so all results from the Trinity study get thrown out the window.
There is indeed no such thing as a safe withdrawal rate when it comes to minutes remaining.
A common saying is “Time is money.”
For me time is far more valuable than money.
Time is a finite, depleting resource for each of us.
It falls squarely on the scarcity side of the Abundance-Scarcity Mindset continuum.
Even worse, we don’t have tools at our disposal to keep track of the remaining balance like we do in the financial realm.
Consider this scenario:
- You are given a checkbook and can write as many checks as you want.
- The only stipulation is that you do not know how much you started with or what funds remain.
- When the funds are completely depleted that’s it, game over.
How careful are you with these checks knowing the rules of the game?
Yet each of us already is smack dab in the middle of such a scenario.
We are each given a checking book of life the moment we are born and start cashing checks every minute until that last final check clears.
You find yourself constantly stuck in gridlock for your daily commute?
How does writing a check for 60-90 each time sound?
And what if you are female?
Congratulations.
You get to add an extra 5 years to your time balance (and an extra leap day to boot) which adds another 2,629,440 minutes to your coffer.
The only thing we know for certain is that time is not promised and that you indeed cannot stop father time.
“Time keeps on slippin’, slippin’, slippin’ into the future.” -Steve Miller Band
It is up to us to therefore choose what activities are worthy of using up our precious, non replenishable commodity of time.
I do hope you found this blog post worthy of the 5 min time check you just cashed to view it.
Note:
If you are in search of financial help, please consider enlisting the service of any of the sponsors of this blog who I feel are part of the “good guys and gals of finance.”
Even a steadfast DIY’er can sometimes gain benefit from the occasional professional input.
-Xrayvsn
NOTE: The website XRAYVSN contains affiliate links and thus receives compensation whenever a purchase through these links is made (at no further cost to you). As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Although these proceeds help keep this site going they do not have any bearing on the reviews of any products I endorse which are from my own honest experiences. Thank you- XRAYVSN
“So you run and you run to catch up with the sun but it’s sinking
Racing around to come up behind you again.
The sun is the same in a relative way but you’re older,
Shorter of breath and one day closer to death.” – Pink Floyd
Depressing but true
Very appropriate quote. Unfortunately time is indeed a diminishing resource for each of us. Key is to make each moment count.
This is exactly why, regardless of anything else, I always make sure I spend time with my 5 year old each day. It’s also why I traded some of that snooze time this morning to go for a nice 2 mile run in the cool morning air. I feel better for it, and I am sure it will help me get past. The related questions I ask myself are do I take that slightly better job 2 hours commute away or do I stay where I am at and enjoy that extra time. That time is time for me and… Read more »
Wow a 2 hour commute would be brutal and there would have to be a major benefit to doing something that far away (much better work life and higher pay) to compensate for time on road (plus wear and tear on vehicle, etc).
I am probably at the limit of my commute of 40 min to work but it is good time to listen to music and decompress when coming home too.
This is common in the NYC area. My father did it via mass transit, about 3 hours a day on average for about 30 years. I did 4h a day for 2 years and about 3 for 1 more. He took the buss, and me it was mostly the light rail here. He read on the bus, and I napped or wrote code on my laptop. I would do the same, but it was a grind. My wife’s current commute is by car and is about what yours is. Podcasts and audio books keep her company while she travels. I… Read more »
I guess if you are a passenger in the long commute you can certainly be productive but yeah that still is a brutal time commitment and makes a long day longer.
Well I can’t speak highly enough about Teslas and the tech is improving to the point where level 4 and possible level 5 autonomous driving is around the bend which would make life so much better (especially if it comes before my 13 yo daughter gets her license in a few years 🙂 ).
Time is money. Actually, it’s better than money… it’s our most valuable resource. Yes, we should all spend our time wisely, intentionally, and on activities that bring value to our life. That’s for sure. But there’s another side of the equation. We can also do things that are likely to extend our time here on earth. Call me weird, but I am sorta like Tom Bilyeu… somewhat obsessed with longevity and living a long, well-lived life. I also read a lot of Dan Buettner’s work on Blue Zones and try to emulate that diet and overall lifestyle. I know that… Read more »
Great points. Eating healthy and having an active lifestyle can certainly add to your time bank. Out of all the bloggers I think you have the healthiest diet so I expect your blog to continue for decades 🙂 Appreciate your comment DMF.
Well said, XRay- your points are well taken. We’ve considered the finite resource that is time when deciding on the hours for our business. Ultimately, that was one of the top 3 reasons I quit my job. Can’t get it back, never getting younger, so soak it in.
What do you do to make the most of your time? Work hours, family time, etc…? Great post
Thanks Mike. Yeah sometimes I feel guilty and know I wasted time being a couch potato (or taking a dad nap) but those have value too. It’s the stuff you don’t enjoy and doesn’t bring wellness to your being that you should first put on the cutting floor
Amen
More life behind us than ahead of us can be perversely empowering – it lowers the tolerance for accepting BS.
Happy belated birthday, my friend!
Thanks CD.
It is easier coasting down a mountain isn’t it? That may be the glass half full take of making it over the half way point.
Ok, this is my first visit to your blog and when I first read that headline I thought yikes who is this guy? I like your analogy of writing checks for your time with an unknown balance though it is a kind of terrifying visual to those of us frugal minded. Everyone talks about the virtues of getting financially independent but there is so much less talk about the tragedy of continuing to pile up funds even after FI when one’s time is flying out of that checking account.
Welcome to my blog and sorry about the title, lol. My father, also a physician, sadly drove home that point. He worked very hard at his job and sacrificed a lot of time with his family thinking he would enjoy life when he retired but unfortunately that time never came as he died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 50 (I was around 15). I wrote about it here:
https://xrayvsn.com/2018/06/26/my-inspiration-for-fire/
Thanks for this post, Xrayvsn. It’s a good reminder to constantly reassess the way I’ve structured my life. My struggle at this point is to decide how to allocate time. How much more time should I spend working to accelerate my journey to FI, versus accepting a longer time horizon and have more time for family and blogging? I’m accepting a 2 hour commute now for a higher income. I use the time constructively to listen to my favorite podcasts and expand my mind. The Tesla helps. But I can be honest with myself that I’d prefer a shorter commute.… Read more »
It really is a tough balancing act especially for physicians. We are already behind the 8 ball in terms of family time (long hours in medical school and residency likely postponed getting married/starting a family for some or reduced time with those already with one). Then we graduate with the majority of us with a ton of debt. Our early years are the ones to try and make as much bank before we start getting burned out, continued reimbursement cuts, etc. I don’t think there is a right answer but it has to be individually tailored. My work is about… Read more »
Getting more money is doable getting more time is impossible. The one thing that I’m so scared about my life is getting cancer, specifically brain cancer. So many of my dentists say “yeah, get an X-ray, it doesn’t have that much radiation”, but I disagree that it’s that simple.
Radiation is cumulative and the more I live the more chances I have to get brain cancer which adds on every time I get a dental x-ray.
I hope my biggest fear in life doesn’t come true and that I have more minutes in my life than I’m thinking.
I’m not going to lie but cancer has been a lot on my mind lately too. I turned 50 last week and that’s the age my dad (an internist) passed away from pancreatic cancer.
We all don’t know when our time comes. Makes it important to enjoy the time you have and not put for another day