Rajesh Setty’s post on Time and Money got me thinking about situations when I squander time to save money.
- I do it when i fix things at home, while I have the option of hiring outside help, which is cheap in India and does better work that me. I do not enjoy the fixing job either, certainly not after the first ten minutes.
- Not hiring another programmer and continuing to code, while I know I have to focus on other larger things. I love to code… but i know my ego also plays a role here.
- When i spend more time looking for bargains, than the amount of money I save at the end of the whole “evaluating offers” exercise.
Some of my thoughts on time and money relation.
- Money is more finite than time. I used to count money and enter into the “assets” column of my balance sheet. I did not do it with time.
- Money can be converted into other forms at my will. Converting time into money or other forms is not dependent on me alone. [ though i can sharpen the saw when i am not cutting the wood]
- Bcos I have been taught only half the equation. “Money saved = money earned” … and now Rajesh has added the time variable to this equation ummmm. But I have learnt “time is money” also. Now this becomes an issue of conversion rate… how much time is equal to how much money. My mentor always tells me “There are good savings and there are bad savings”. Probably the answer lies somewhere in these words.
- Cash flow and Time flow. How much of my cash can i spend to buy other people’s time. As a result of which I have more cash and time than I had at the beginning. Balance is important. Otherwise I might have to choose between bankruptcy and (divorce|stroke|burnout|all of these).
Will keep on adding to these two lists. Cos I have to Distinguish Myself.
Thanks Rajesh for the triggers.
Haven’t you heard of “Manage your time as you manage your money” . Money gone can come back but time gone back can never come back. Another interesting definition of Time- Total investment of money and energy- all encompassing covering all three. Time is precious as the intangible assets not present in the balance sheet.
Why get into analysing. If you are a programmer, you have an edge if you learn shares trading the way it is done in the United states. Then, you can rake in the moolah if successful.
By the way, I am from Delhi too. Nice bumping into you.