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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

#111
post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>"diminishing marginal returns" I came to a different conclusion. The wealth of time (total man-hours or aggregated lifespans) is more evenly distributed across a population than is the wealth of money. Therefore, to the extent that happiness is influenced by comparing how well-off you are vs others, a person picked at random will be pretty damn close to the same standing as whoever is the Time-Richest Person in the…

A wealthy person is much more likely to be time-rich than a poor person, though.

That's a funny shaped curve. Sam Walton (Walmart) was time poor. His kids are time rich. Similar for kardashians.

Re: Valuing time over money is associated with greater happiness

#112
post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>"diminishing marginal returns" I came to a different conclusion. The wealth of time (total man-hours or aggregated lifespans) is more evenly distributed across a population than is the wealth of money. Therefore, to the extent that happiness is influenced by comparing how well-off you are vs others, a person picked at random will be pretty damn close to the same standing as whoever is the Time-Richest Person in the…

The Money-Richest Persons in the World don't have to trade nearly as much of their time to complete maintenance tasks that few people enjoy doing.

But many of them work all the time to ammas their money

Re: Valuing time over money is associated with greater happiness

#113
It's easy for us developers to say that because we make good money and I enjoy it. I try to use it for good but I always value time over money. I didn't think that way when I was in college and barely making rent. So yes, when you have money, time is important. When you don't have it, then it becomes your number one focus.

Re: Valuing time over money is associated with greater happiness

#114
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…

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Re: Valuing time over money is associated with greater happiness

#115
post #2

I wonder if this is behind the greater happiness of people with incomes over 75K per year. They actually have enough money to pay for goods and services that save them time.

$75k is approximately where money starts to have substantially diminishing marginal value. (Then add overhead when you consider that most people forget to plan for retirement and emergencies)

Re: Valuing time over money is associated with greater happiness

#116

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 you'll find that all the time you put into your work has left you with little hobbies and few relationships outside of your work. You'll also have been honing only the skills necessary to succeed in the workplace, not be happy in your life. What happens is you retire and then you find you're not really good at anything else, and your body is old and creaky and you just don't have the energy to learn things as much…

Being old and creaky sucks even more when you still have to work for your hardscrabble life.

Re: Valuing time over money is associated with greater happiness

#117
post #7

Money is nothing if you have it. Money is everything if you don't have it.

People say that and it seems true to some extent, but financially, people rarely fall into the categories of "limitless wealth" and "not a penny to my name." It's almost like a false dichotomy is being implied by this statement, claiming that if you don't prioritize money, you will be left penniless and ruined. That simply isn't true. There are a wide range of conditions between wealth and poverty and studies like th…

The statement plots two points. You can interpolate.

Re: Valuing time over money is associated with greater happiness

#118
post #110
post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is extremely flawed logic. You picked an arbitrary example to make your point, but your point requires excluding other possible uses of the Nth dollar to make any sense. "Oh, with 15k I could buy a compact car that I wouldn't like much, but with 30k I could buy an entry level sports car that I would enjoy a lot. So the second 15k has greater utility than the first 15k." Does this make sense? Of course not. The f…

The dollar that pays of my payday loan, or gets me a security security deposit at an apartment, has huge marginal value. Growing from subsistence to investment has near infinite. Marginal utility.

You could just as well say that the cent that buys you a soda has a bigger marginal utility than the previous one. Sure, maybe in the context of that one transaction, but not in any general way.

Re: Valuing time over money is associated with greater happiness

#119
post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A wealthy person is much more likely to be time-rich than a poor person, though.

That's a funny shaped curve. Sam Walton (Walmart) was time poor. His kids are time rich. Similar for kardashians.

Well, when you're running a company or are an executive, obviously you will be time-poor and money-rich. But in general, having more assets means you'll have more free time. And arguably, the time a company owner spends may be be being spent exactly how they want to spend it, in which case they aren't time-poor at all.

Re: Valuing time over money is associated with greater happiness

#120
I think its a bit sad that its only when we start getting older and have had time for introspection and reflection that we realise that the only thing we have of value is time.

We are dying from the time we are born and our bodies are changing everyday. They will not be the same, its when you get sick and realise just how valuable even feeling normal and healthy is that your appreciate the sense of normalcy. If it affects your mobility, sense of well being, physical state, your quality of life and quality of of your time drops never mind your wealth. A lot of people don't have that luxury of recuperating or feeling normal. I think its not money but our health that can make us really unhappy.

We have on average a 'journey' of 60 years in this beautiful planet to make the most of the time we have, to make it meaningful and I think what ultimately makes it meaningful is filling it with experiences, learning and people.

What you have done with the time and not necessarily money could be a good indicator of overall well being. Though money can more easily enable access to new experiences every experience is different and has merit irrespective of wealth. Learning new things, new sports, new skills are more valuable than anything else as that time has been used and you will not get it back, but you have something to show for it that anyone else can only get not with money, but spending the time to do it. For instance losing weight or learning a new skill. 10 months down the line you have achieved that and are much happier for it and no amount of wealth can buy this for you or anyone else.

I am generalizing and they are exceptions but when you think about it our deepest and happiest moments are social, about other people; our family, friends and interactions with other people. This has the potential to make us very happy and fulfilled or very unhappy irrespective of wealth and it's experiences with loved ones; parents, siblings. family, kids, relationships that make up our happiest moments.

Everything we associate with happiness in terms of money it seems is often only meaningful or valuable in a social context, and it is always related to it in some way. With the exception of some personal goals that give a sense of achievement in itself, a large proportion of achieving our goals in isolation is meaningless, its only when its widely acknowledged that it becomes meaningful and valuable.

This is not to say money is unimportant as it can be a source of stress and limit our ability to have experiences, It's an economic system that drives our progress and is intimately connected with all aspects of our life. But a wealthy individual has experiences as does a not so wealthy individual. I don't think you can objectively say the wealthy person is happier, I think its the person who has had diverse experiences with his or her time and a fulling social context that perhaps is 'happier' as these are unique experiences that give happiness.

We have to except the desperately poor from this as access to basics like healthcare, food, sanitation, education can completely change one's perspective of life and make the time we have meaningless which is why social security and basic income is essential to dignify human existence.

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