Time vs Money

How do you value time versus money?

Time vs Money
Why are we so willing to trade in our time for money when time is limited but money is not?

Let’s first understand a crucial difference between them: As a personal commodity, money is extremely elastic, in that you can theoretically accumulate an infinite amount of it.

Time, by contrast, is intrinsically inelastic: You cannot accumulate more of it and you’ve never had any less of it. You and I, we get the same amount of minutes & hours in every day of our life.

So, shouldn’t an hour be much more valuable than a dollar ?

Yet we consistently behave as if the opposite were true.

For example: Would you accept a new job with a 20 percent higher salary if it meant a 25 percent longer workweek or a 50 percent longer commute? If so, you are valuing your monetary affluence over your time affluence.

Another illogical way in which we value these two commodities: An abundance of money is considered a status symbol, while an abundance of time is considered shameful.

I observe here in Singapore there’s a premium on busyness — on having a deficit of time.

Why are we so willing to trade in our time for money when time is limited but money is not?

Thoughts?

See also:

Taking Care of my own Busyness and You’ve got a Minute … ?

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