Money buys a lot of things. At its most basic–food, shelter, daily living items, etc. In the luxury areas–a really nice car, large home in a great neighborhood, travel, and more. The most important thing money can buy though is time and freedom.
Time and freedom is the first domino to fall. With it, you can spend more time with family, focus on your health, and be on your own schedule. Time and freedom is the supercharger that propels everything.
Burned Out
Let’s start with some examples using hypothetical situations, but all too real for many people. Imagine the owner of a business putting in 70-hour workweeks. Melissa is at the office by 7:00 AM, home by 9:00 in the evening.
She’s making great money. Last year her business grew by 20 percent and had a net profit of three million dollars. She took a $500,000 salary and that was on top of the $425,000 salary from the previous year.
Financially, Melissa is killing it. She’s smashing company records and earning more than she ever imagined. She’s investing wisely and owns a house in a great neighborhood.
She has more money than she knows what to do with. The problem is she only has dinner with her family once a week and has missed almost all of her daughter’s softball games as well as the majority of her sons basketball games.
Her husband is often already asleep by the time she gets home and her kids have been asleep for an hour or two on most nights when she gets home.
Melissa is starting to burn out and wonders when all of her hard work will finally pay off. Will it come during retirement, next year, 20 years from now? Will the kids be grown by then? Will her health still be good?
The Opposite: Rejuvenated and Energized
Conversely, here’s a very different scenario. Janice also owns her own business but she is doing things very differently than in the example above.
She had about two to three real challenging years getting the business off the ground but she made a decision early to start hiring for certain tasks as well as cut out some of the unnecessary costs.
Fast forward ten years and the business is thriving. Customer satisfaction is at an all time high and every year the business is growing at a steady rate. More importantly, Janice has cut down her work hours and normally spends 30-35 hours per week on it.
She leaves most days by 4:00 at the latest which gives her time to attend all of her kids’ events.
She feels like she’s getting the best of both worlds: the challenge of running a successful business along with the joys of parenthood and work/life balance. Granted, there are some weeks that are long and challenging, but for the most part she’s able to keep a consistent and manageable schedule.
Side by Side Comparison
In this side by side comparison of two financially successful business owners, there are a lot of similarities.
- Both are very financially successful
- Business is booming for both
- Both were built from the ground up
- The future looks great for both businesses
However, there are some really big differences that significantly affect the quality of life for both Melissa and Janice.
- Janice is done most days by 4:00 while Melissa is done by late evening.
- Melissa barely ever gets to see her kids games while Janice goes to all of them and even helps out coaching a couple days a week.
- Janice has great relationships with her husband and children and spends a lot of time with them. Melissa wants to spend more time with her family but just doesn’t feel like she can get away.
- Melissa is burning out while Janice feels like she can sustain this lifestyle for an extended period.
Time and Freedom
In the above examples, both people are running successful businesses. The similarities stop there though. Janice’s quality of life is significantly better because she has time and freedom. She controls her schedule and doesn’t feel the need to work until the wee hours of the evening, while Melissa is really struggling with that.
Melissa is on track to burn out while Janice is in a really good spot. This has little to do with money. Both women are highly successful in business and have plenty of money. Probably enough to create generational wealth for their children and grandchildren.
It’s really about quality of life. Janice has the stimulation of running a business and making a nice profit, plus the ability to spend time with family and explore a bunch of activities. Melissa has just the business and she’s drowning in it.
Related: Why Are You Working So Hard?
Conclusion
Money without time and freedom isn’t as valuable. A billionaire who has no time to spend with his family and friends isn’t rich. While someone with a net worth in the tens of thousands is wealthy if they do work with a purpose and spend time with family and friends and do the things they want to do.
People lose sight of the purpose of money. It’s supposed to be a tool to provide security, comfort, choices, etc. It’s not to accumulate endless amounts at the expense of our health and relationships.
What is your definition of wealth?
