You Shouldn’t Link Your Time to Your Money if You Want to be Wealthy

Only you can sit back and decide what you want the trajectory of your life to be. What do you value most? How hard are you willing to work for it? For me and for most people, the thing I value most is my time. The one true resource you can never get back. This is why we should use it wisely every single day. Do you want to work a typical 9–5 for 40 years and spend your free time doing other things you enjoy? That is a perfectly acceptable answer. Do you want to grind it out now so you can relax later? That is another perfectly acceptable answer. It is up to you, but I think when deciding on a career path you must ask yourself the most important question: How do I want to spend my time? The reason why I say you shouldn’t link your time to your money is that if you do that you will always be working. If you create scalable tangible value that you own, you can sell it one day or put someone in the position of running it for you.

The Only Security, is the security you create for yourself

What i want to tell you is this: So-Called “Security” is a thing of the past. People were taught to get a job and work there forever and be loyal and hope to retire with a nice pension. Those days are long gone. I never understood that even as a kid, because even then that world was lost in the past and I could see it. Now you must face the reality of the situation so you can deal with it and come out on top. I’m not trying to burst anyones bubble but I am dealing in reality now. Look at the world we live in, we can’t predict what will come in 20 years anymore than we could have predicted how the internet would shape the last 20 years. There are no guarantees in life. Your company could shut down, you could get laid off, your boss can decide to fire you, your position can be phased out entirely, any number of things can happen that are totally out of your control. People call it the “safe route” when in reality, having one stream of income totally determined by another human being is the least safe thing you could ever possibly have. They say going out on your own is risky, but is it really when you compare it to this alternative?

No one ever got truly wealthy by working a certain number of hours for static pay. Wealthy people own captial and invest their money. The wealthy restaurant owner gets the profits. The owner reinvests in the business as well as making their money work for them by investing in the stock market. They work ON the business not in the business. In this way they make money by A) The business operating and generating cash flow and B) Money generating more money in the market instead of just sitting in a savings account. They make the strategic decisions and let the money and company do the real work. You must create something of value that will be working for you even when you are not working. Once you have your systems in place you can either A) Sell the company for a profit or B) Keep ownership of the income generating asset and put someone in place to do the day to day tasks. Either way being an owner is the way to becoming wealthy and not selling your time for less than you are worth.

“Here’s how I think of my money: as soldiers. I send them out to war every day. I want them to take prisoners and come home, so there’s more of them.”

— Kevin O’Leary

Bet on yourself

Bet on yourself. If you don’t no one else will. Create a business that you own and take profits. You can’t be fired, you create your own time and financial freedom, and you can pivot when necessary. Name any owner of a big company you want, Musk, Bezos, anyone. Their money is not connected to their time. Their money is connected to ownwership of the value they provide. You must learn to create value and not worry about working X amount of hours for X amount of pay. The wealth comes through ownership. You had all the skin in the game, all the risk. You were the one who put in the effort and time in the beginning so you get to reap the rewards once it pays off. Put your life into your owns hands instead of someone else’s.

“We have a plateau of so called security if that’s what a persons looking for, but we have to decide how high above this plateau we want to aim.”

— Earl Nightingale

In Conclusion

Everyone has dreams. Maybe you want to travel across the world, or maybe you want to live on the beach or a boat all day every day and soak up the sun. The thing is these things take money. Money isn’t everything of course and it is certainly not the most important, but we do need money to do the things we want to do. Do you want to be ordinary, or do you want to live an extraordinary life? Do you want your dreams to be just dreams, or do you want to create a path to achieving them? We all have the same 24 hours. In reality our time is worth an infinite amount if we know how to use it and we have a plan. Don’t sell yourself for less than you are worth. Bet on yourself and put your fate in your own hands.