3 Ways to Buy Back Time and Live Happier

We’ve completely lost anything that resembles work-life balance. Here’s how to start buying back more time without waiting 40 years

Building a great life is about threading the needle between time and money.

The difficulty is that you’re forced to trade your time to make money. Then, once you have enough money, you begin trading it back for more time. Life is a constant balance of trading these two precious resources back in forth.

In an ideal world, we would have balance, the feeling that we have enough money to spend our time in ways that make us happy.

We do not live in an ideal world; the scales have been heavily tipped toward money over time.

Most people are terrified of running out of money and will gladly trade in 8–10 hours a day for 40 years to ensure they don’t run out — and even then, only a minority of people feel confident they’ll have enough money once they stop working.

In this post, I’ll review research highlighting the benefits of valuing your time and talk about three ways to immediately begin buying more time — and happiness.

People who prioritize time over money are happy

In a 2016 paper, researchers conducted six studies with a combined total of 4,690 participants to test whether people who prioritize time over money are happier than those who prioritize money over time.

They defined people who prioritize time over money as people who tend to make decisions that save time even if they cost more money. They also found that these people reported greater happiness than those who prioritized money — These results held even when controlling for demographic variables like income and employment status.

People who prioritize time showed lower levels of materialism and material striving, which are both associated with lower well-being.

The obvious implication is that to live happier, we should find ways to start using money to buy back more of our time. The authors of this research paper did not provide much advice on how to do that — but luckily, this is a subject I have written about a lot

3 ways to buy back time and live happier

#1 — Don’t chase the highest salary possible

The highest-paid people are not happier than you are.

A 2018 paper studied 1.7 million people across 164 countries to determine the income that maximized happiness.

The results surprised me.

The people who needed to make the most money to maximize happiness were college-educated people living in rich countries — who compare their lives to their other college-educated friends who tend to make a lot of money. But even this group only needed to make $115,000 to maximize happiness.

People who make absurd amounts of money tend to have careers that dominate their entire lives.

Think of an Emergency Room doctor who makes more than $115,000 but often has to work 12-hour overnight shifts in a high-pressure environment. Or the great salesperson who gets promoted to manager — because that’s what you are “supposed” to do — makes more money but spends their days doing work they are ill-suited for.

Making the big bucks comes at a price — having no time to enjoy time with family or doing what they enjoy.

Read this article for a detailed breakdown of what income maximizes happiness.

#2 — Spend your money on small but frequent indulgences

One of the clearest signs someone is a personal finance hack is when they start shaming you for spending money on things you enjoy — but they deem a waste of money.

The act of meeting a friend for a $6 latte at a nice coffee shop has become the ultimate embodiment of this type of money shaming.

But guess what?

There is a lot of research that suggests that one of the easiest ways to become happier is to treat yourself to small indulgences on a regular basis — especially if it’s an excuse to spend time with friends.

For $6, I get an excuse to get out of the house and hang out with one of my best friends in comfortable chairs while sipping on delicious coffee; I call that a fantastic deal.

#3 — Pay people to do unpleasant tasks for you

In my research on money and happiness, this is the best definition of happiness I’ve found:

Happiness means maximizing the amount of time you feel good and minimizing the amount of time you feel bad.

Spending $6 on a regular basis to meet a friend for coffee helps maximize the amount of time you feel good.

You can also use money to minimize the amount of time you feel bad.

I love my home, but I hate being a homeowner. I am not handy, and beyond cutting the grass, I have no desire to maintain my enormous backyard. I’m also a dad and a husband, have a 9–5 job, and run a business.

My free time is precious to me.

Do you think I’d be happier spending my Sundays pulling weeds, cutting grass, trimming the hedges, or going to the beach with my family?

Yes, paying people to do these tasks for me costs money, but if it can fit within your budget, paying people to do tasks that make you miserable is an underrated way to improve how you feel on a day-to-day basis.

For more on this concept and an explanation of why I left the “FIRE movement” behind, read this article.

I want to hear from you

What have been the best strategies that have helped you achieve a greater balance between time and money?

Do you prioritize finding ways to spend a little less time working and a little more time doing what you enjoy?

Let’s talk about it in the comments.

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This article is for informational purposes only. It should not be considered Financial or Legal Advice. Not all information will be accurate. Consult a financial professional before making any major financial decisions.