4 ms·

regarding: 'trading time and money'. My simple rule has always been, if I can hire someone to do something by the hour less than what I get paid by the hour th

regarding: 'trading time and money'. My simple rule has always been, if I can hire someone to do something by the hour less than what I get paid by the hour then I should do that. This is 'trading money for time'. To offset the money spent, I should then reverse and 'trade time for money' either by increased work or training and education for an increased pay rate.

DoofusOfDeath 6y ago
In my own experience, I've found that reasoning that way has some real downsides: - Just because my hourly rate is $X, it doesn't follow that I can always work an additional hour to make an additional $X. - After working 40+ hours/week doing paid work, working an additional hour at my day job to avoid doing something else does not make for a happy life. In fact, it makes life quite dull, and made me a very narrow person.
- klipt 6y ago
  Also your after tax hourly income is substantially lower than your pre tax income (which is what most people think of).
  - Kim_Bruning 6y ago
    But: if you have a company you can actually hire people pre-tax surprisingly often.
    - klipt 6y ago
      Not for personal chores surely? Only business related ones.
      - Kim_Bruning 6y ago
        Surely! But that's still quite a lot.
- nicbou 6y ago
  It also makes you dependent on other people. Finding the right people and matching schedules has a cost. I can repair my motorcycle any day I choose. Delivering my motorcycle to a mechanic during office hours has a cost. Finding a good mechanic has a cost. I also find that eating at restaurants is more time-consuming than cooking at home. I have to go there, order and wait, then head back home after.
- ryandrake 6y ago
  Your time is only worth money if you’d otherwise be working. You can’t just say, well, I make $100/hr so I will outsource any task I can that costs less! I make a salary, not hourly, so it really doesn’t make sense for me to hire someone to do a task I can do myself. Just tossing $$$ away.
- leetcrew 6y ago
  > Just because my hourly rate is $X, it doesn't follow that I can always work an additional hour to make an additional $X. this is a good point for salaried employees. in any case, your pre-tax hourly rate is sort of a meaningless figure for comparison. if you want to do this kind of comparison at all, you should probably think in terms of disposable income. for example, if you make $30/hr post-tax and half of your budget is fixed costs, a $30 discretionary purchase is two hours worth of work.
deleted 6y ago
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DoofusOfDeath 6y ago

In my own experience, I've found that reasoning that way has some real downsides: - Just because my hourly rate is $X, it doesn't follow that I can always work an additional hour to make an additional $X. - After working 40+ hours/week doing paid work, working an additional hour at my day job to avoid doing something else does not make for a happy life. In fact, it makes life quite dull, and made me a very narrow person.

klipt 6y ago
Also your after tax hourly income is substantially lower than your pre tax income (which is what most people think of).
- Kim_Bruning 6y ago
  But: if you have a company you can actually hire people pre-tax surprisingly often.
  - klipt 6y ago
    Not for personal chores surely? Only business related ones.
    - Kim_Bruning 6y ago
      Surely! But that's still quite a lot.
nicbou 6y ago
It also makes you dependent on other people. Finding the right people and matching schedules has a cost. I can repair my motorcycle any day I choose. Delivering my motorcycle to a mechanic during office hours has a cost. Finding a good mechanic has a cost. I also find that eating at restaurants is more time-consuming than cooking at home. I have to go there, order and wait, then head back home after.
ryandrake 6y ago
Your time is only worth money if you’d otherwise be working. You can’t just say, well, I make $100/hr so I will outsource any task I can that costs less! I make a salary, not hourly, so it really doesn’t make sense for me to hire someone to do a task I can do myself. Just tossing $$$ away.
leetcrew 6y ago
> Just because my hourly rate is $X, it doesn't follow that I can always work an additional hour to make an additional $X. this is a good point for salaried employees. in any case, your pre-tax hourly rate is sort of a meaningless figure for comparison. if you want to do this kind of comparison at all, you should probably think in terms of disposable income. for example, if you make $30/hr post-tax and half of your budget is fixed costs, a $30 discretionary purchase is two hours worth of work.

deleted 6y ago

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