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Valuing time over money is associated with greater happiness

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Re: Valuing time over money is associated with greater happiness

#91

People might work really hard while they're young so that they can retire early and be happy and secure later. Those people would look like they value money more than their time, and probably aren't going to be very happy right now, but in 30 years they're going to be much happier than people still working full-time.

or dead

Re: Valuing time over money is associated with greater happiness

#92

I've shunned founding startups or working at startups for the last ~3 years, and instead worked 15-20 hr/wk usually remotely. Time is your greatest asset, personally and professionally. It's how you stay abreast of the great opportunities of our time. You need that freedom to explore things that pique your interest or move you. Founding a startup means becoming mostly blind to the other great opportunities, which is…

Weird stance. Startups are not really about money. They are about greater risk. For a startup founder it is not unusual to spend a lot of time, and still make zero money. And it is also possible to spend only couple of years, and make so much money that you can leisurely work for couple of days a month, and go surfing for the rest of the month. And do that same thing for the rest of your life. As an employee you will…

>So it is not about whether you value your time or money. It is about your risk appetite. It is not that uncommon to do this kind of "lifestyle business" thingie where the primary goal is freedom and time, not necessarily money.

Why the condescending tone for those businesses?

The main motivation behind startup is making loads of money. Similar to casino players, hoping to the big payoff. There's more risk of course, but that's not the motivation -- else startup founders would be as likely to be daredevils like Evel Knievel.

Startups don't care much about the actual business aspects (actually making money from what they do) as much as getting VCs to pour money in and then exit.

OTOH, the motivation between lifestyle business is not just freedom and time, but also the product. A custom motorcycle shop or some company making a software tool like BBEdit, for example, with extremely passionate people putting tons of hours into what they do, are "lifestyle businesses". Where in a "startup proper" a founder can be just as happy to sell their to some giant company that while close their main product (acquihires and tech acquisitions).

Re: Valuing time over money is associated with greater happiness

#93
post #80

I searched for the phrase "diminishing marginal returns" but could not find it in the article which seems like a bit of an omission. This is a fundamental economic concept - the more of something you have, the less value you derive from each incremental unit. So, based on personal preferences, once you reach a certain level of income you will start to substitute away from labor (income) towards leisure/free time (non…

That's why I refuse to do a single minute of overtime even if it is paid. I've told employers to fire me if they feel like I should be staying longer and none of them have yet. If I ever need to make up time or do extra work, it's usually because of mismanagement and crappy deadlines as 8 hours of solid work a day is a lot , nothing should be "late". Free time is absolutely the most valuable currency. If you can prac…

What is the definition of an "instigative hobby"?

Re: Valuing time over money is associated with greater happiness

#94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

small unrepresentative sample size. a problem many studies have issues with.

Actually, compared to most studies I'm used to, this is a commendably high sample size. 2a and 3a have N=~250. 2b is 518, and 3b is over 2000. When was the last time you saw a psychological study with sample sizes this big?

Aside from just size though the major problem is the gender disparity of ~80% women in most of the studies. I didn't see mention of ethnicity but I imagine it's overwhelmingly white.

Re: Valuing time over money is associated with greater happiness

#95

People might work really hard while they're young so that they can retire early and be happy and secure later. Those people would look like they value money more than their time, and probably aren't going to be very happy right now, but in 30 years they're going to be much happier than people still working full-time.

Depends on what people your talking about. People working wage jobs might retire early if they work really hard and save the extra. Salaried workers really don't make that much more for working themselves to death. Bonuses might be higher, promotions might be a little quicker. Or they might not. Certainly working 80 hours will not result in twice the pay for most salaried employees, not even close. Working more efficiently (and politically) is a better route for most if not all salaried employees.

Re: Valuing time over money is associated with greater happiness

#96

I searched for the phrase "diminishing marginal returns" but could not find it in the article which seems like a bit of an omission. This is a fundamental economic concept - the more of something you have, the less value you derive from each incremental unit. So, based on personal preferences, once you reach a certain level of income you will start to substitute away from labor (income) towards leisure/free time (non…

Yep.

Check out 4:06 from this scene from "The Aviator": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Z1pPyarKhA

Lady: "We don't care about money here, Mr. Hughes"

Howard Hughes: "That's because you have it"

Re: Valuing time over money is associated with greater happiness

#97
post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

True, but I think a major point is that it can be much more difficult for people to live happily and peacefully when they have less money. It's easy for us to say money is nothing vs time, but less easy for the single mom working at wal-mart 60hrs a week to feed the kids.

If the mom loves her kids, she will be happy as well.

It's not happiness. It's being trapped between two emotions - the joy of having and caring for kids, and the despair caused by constant drudgery without perspective. Some people manage to focus so hard on the former that they forget about the latter, at least for a moment. But others can't.

Re: Valuing time over money is associated with greater happiness

#98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually, compared to most studies I'm used to, this is a commendably high sample size. 2a and 3a have N=~250. 2b is 518, and 3b is over 2000. When was the last time you saw a psychological study with sample sizes this big?

Aside from just size though the major problem is the gender disparity of ~80% women in most of the studies. I didn't see mention of ethnicity but I imagine it's overwhelmingly white.

Yeah. This is a big problem, because your average psychology student is a very particular kind of person - young, middle class woman that is bad at maths and simply wants to get a degree from something.

Before I get called out as -ist, let me explain. Psychology is one of the few "default" subjects - i.e. something you pick when you don't know what do you want to major in. It's also a stereotypical feminine subject, hence huge gender gap. The other popular "default" choice is economics, which tend to draw those proficient at maths.

The point being, psychology students are a very particular subset of the population, and thus it's difficult to generalize results from them to everyone.

Re: Valuing time over money is associated with greater happiness

#99
post #62

You can't "value time over money" per se. That's like saying "value dollars over pounds". There's just a (not-necessarily-linear) marginal exchange rate between the two.

I think there's an implied "marginal" before both time and money in that statement.

You have a steady income of time, you can choose to spend some of that on money, but past a certain point of wealth, the money ceases to be the most valuable use of your incoming time.

Re: Valuing time over money is associated with greater happiness

#100

People might work really hard while they're young so that they can retire early and be happy and secure later. Those people would look like they value money more than their time, and probably aren't going to be very happy right now, but in 30 years they're going to be much happier than people still working full-time.

they'll have reinforced the habit of denying themselves happiness for 30 years.
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