Time or Money? II

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Image result for stock picture hourglass money


Some time back last year, I briefly penned a post Time or Money? at a point when I was gloomiest about work.

Today incidentally, I caught something interesting in the book 4-hour Workweek:

 "People don’t want to be millionaires—they want to experience what they believe only millions can buy. Ski chalets, butlers, and exotic travel often enter the picture. Perhaps rubbing cocoa butter on your belly in a hammock while you listen to waves rhythmically lapping against the deck of your thatchedroof bungalow? Sounds nice. 

 $1,000,000 in the bank isn’t the fantasy. The fantasy is the lifestyle of complete freedom it supposedly allows. The question is then, How can one achieve the millionaire lifestyle of complete freedom without first having $1,000,000?"

This set me thinking.


Our gratification does not really come from having money? Money is an inanimate object that holds the value we tag it to.


What does this mean?

Money is just a medium of exchange to enable us to get our living essentials, fulfill certain life objectives, experiences and perhaps to even create values for others (or ourselves). If we fail to assign money smartly on these purposes, what is the point of counting how many zeros there are behind our accounts' balance? It proves meaningless.


My thoughts drifted again...

So how to achieve what we want to achieve in life with limited money? That led me to yet another question - what resources beside money do we have?

 Resource, hmm a powerful word indeed.

No, not advocating for anybody to quit work and become freeloader or something. Neither am I saying that money holds no importance. It's all about our mentality towards the way we view money, time and our wants.

I am not going to delve into more details here but feel free to share your comments below.


Really curious to find out more from this interesting book and maybe on blog readers' perspectives. Perhaps the rest of the book has got nothing to my thoughts above since I am only at chapter 1. There's not going to be any model answer here but stay tuned (or read the book to decipher it yourself).

***

Comments

  1. SS10/03/2016, 05:34

    Hello Twenty-two°C,

    I believe life should have a balance of these three resources: health, wealth and time. With any of these lacking, it is tough to achieve true gratification in life.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Rainbow10/03/2016, 12:14

      Hi SS,

      You right, that's the 3 most important resources. When one falls short or gets excessive, we must rebalance.

      Health is the most valuable, but also the hardest to compensate for. Sometimes it depends on luck, sometimes lifestyle.

      Wealth and time, for most of us, they have an inversely proportionate relationship. Should I say that success is achieved if one managed to get wealth and time share a proportionate relationship? :)

      Delete
  2. Createwealth888810/03/2016, 08:25

    Hmm .. the fastest for the lucky ones or eyes wide-open ones

    What is the secret to getting rich?


    1. Born Rich

    2. Marry Rich

    3. Start your business

    4. Climb Corporate Ladder

    5. Climb Investment Ladder


    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Rainbow10/03/2016, 12:02

      Hi Uncle8888,

      Thank you for the very familiar reminder (and you told me to go for career coaching course remember? hehe). :)

      This book explored a different perspective of 'being rich' - how to be rich in life, not rich in money per say. It's a part that many of us neglected in pursuit of 2,3,4,5.

      Delete
    2. Createwealth888810/03/2016, 12:09

      Taking an example of fishing; both are also enjoying life!

      Little or no money: Dig their own worms at the beach and use them as baits. The value of fish caught definitely worth more the baits.

      Some money: Purchase prawns from market to use as baits. Sometime, the value of fish caught worth less than the baits.

      Got money. Good. No money also can. :-)

      Delete
  3. Anonymous10/03/2016, 12:04

    Hi Twenty-two°C,

    I guess as long as we focus on doing the things that make us happy in our lives and we have enough money to support that, we should do fine!

    Cheers,
    TFS

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Rainbow13/03/2016, 15:58

      Hi TFS, thanks for visiting.
      Hmm.. 'we have enough money to support that' - how would you define enough? What if the things that make us happy require more money than we think? :)

      Delete
  4. Singapore Man of Leisure10/03/2016, 12:27

    Rainbow lady,

    I have not read the book but I can hazard some guesses ;)

    1) Relationships.

    Let's say I have been to infinity pools on top of the world, private yachts, staycations, and travelled and stayed overseas for FREE.

    Not freeloading nor gold digging mind you.

    People like me; I like them. I share what I have; they shared what they have :)


    2) Creativity or ingenuity

    You might have watched the YouTube video or read the article where one enterprising guy bartered his paper clip with people he met and ended with a house?


    I better stop.

    The short version: It's about holistic living; not living in silos. (I said it)

    Make a wild guess why I chose "Singapore Man of Leisure" and not some $ related monilker like most other financial bloggers?

    Shhh....

    ReplyDelete
  5. la papillion11/03/2016, 15:30

    Hi 22°C,

    Perhaps money is just a representation of value that we bring to others. If we add value to one person, we can this amt of money. If we add value to many many people, we can get a lot more money. Conversely, for other societies where money is not exchanged, the 'richest' person is the one with the most influence and power and even this comes back to the same thing - how much can we add value to others.

    We can always add value to others, it's just limited by how much we are willing to do so. Hence to earn more in whatever professions we're doing, learn to help others first. Add value to their lives and we should see a corresponding increase in my money, which is just a reflection of that.

    Disclaimer: just a theory, lol

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Rainbow13/03/2016, 16:03

      Hi LP,
      *two thumbs up* Good theory!
      I roughly glanced through the book before going into more in depth reading. The gist seems to be about how to add values to others and create value for yourself at the same time. Many think that we have to compromise time to create value, this talks about how to use time wisely to maximise value.

      Delete

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