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I'm not sure that I agree. > An investment is when a resource is expended in order to gain profitable returns, as interest, income, or appreciation in value. B

I'm not sure that I agree. > An investment is when a resource is expended in order to gain profitable returns, as interest, income, or appreciation in value. Being able to spend your free time over the next year playing video games is not a profit. I'm paid for my time, and my unpaid time is incredibly valuable. Anything that increases the value of my paid time has an obvious investment gain, by the author's metric, but so does that for my unpaid time. If a purchase that I make increases the value of that unpaid time, then doesn't that constitute some form of return? Certainly, I cannot _sell_ that value, but it has served as a multiplier of value that isn't normally fungible: my happiness. > So their ROI is their happiness. So now anytime you spend money on absolutely anything it’s an investment. Which renders the word “investment” completely indistinguishable from the word “purchase”. Er, no, not at all. There are _definitely_ purchases that I must make that do not appreciably increase my happiness. Some service other needs that do not directly increase or decrease my happiness, while other purchases are necessary but misery-making.

jrochkind1 5y ago
Who taught us to consider our "free" or unpaid time in terms of monetary value, and why? I don't need to assign dollars and cents to my recreation or rest.
- MattGaiser 5y ago
  It is helpful for realizing how much it costs to buy back your time. I could go grocery shopping, or I could use Instacart for about $8 or so (as long as you use a store with in-store pricing). I could drive for 7 hours and spend 80 on gas or spend 200 on a plane ticket and for the most part use the time as I please.
  - derekp7 5y ago
    How many hours of driving is the break-even for flying? 7 hours would be cutting it close, considering transportation to/from the airport, security, and waiting for boarding and post arrival. Personally my cutoff is driving long enough that it requires an overnight motel stay on the road.
    - MattGaiser 5y ago
      Personally, anything over 3 hours I tend to fly if possible, even if it is theoretically longer overall. Airport has food, washrooms, Wi-Fi, lets me walk around, and lets me work on things. Between 3 hours in a car or 3 hours in an airport and 1 on the plane, I much prefer the airport. I have never really understood the hatred people have for airports.
- roymurdock 5y ago
  It’s economics 101 - labor vs leisure time is a fundamental division of time, which is influenced by wages and is an input into a firm or economy’s production function. Even if you don’t assign your leisure time a monetary value, someone else (an economist) will.
- InvertedRhodium 5y ago
  I work as a contractor with milestone bonuses - my free (or unpaid) time is quite literally potential income that I'm forfeiting in order to have that lesire or recreation. Being able to quantify it in some manner gives me better perspective on whether or not the enjoyment I derive from those leisure activites are "worth it". It helps that a lot of my leisure activities are things like woodworking landscaping, carpentry, etc - so I always have the option of working instead and paying someone else to bring about the end result I'm seeking.

jrochkind1 5y ago

Who taught us to consider our "free" or unpaid time in terms of monetary value, and why? I don't need to assign dollars and cents to my recreation or rest.

MattGaiser 5y ago
It is helpful for realizing how much it costs to buy back your time. I could go grocery shopping, or I could use Instacart for about $8 or so (as long as you use a store with in-store pricing). I could drive for 7 hours and spend 80 on gas or spend 200 on a plane ticket and for the most part use the time as I please.
- derekp7 5y ago
  How many hours of driving is the break-even for flying? 7 hours would be cutting it close, considering transportation to/from the airport, security, and waiting for boarding and post arrival. Personally my cutoff is driving long enough that it requires an overnight motel stay on the road.
  - MattGaiser 5y ago
    Personally, anything over 3 hours I tend to fly if possible, even if it is theoretically longer overall. Airport has food, washrooms, Wi-Fi, lets me walk around, and lets me work on things. Between 3 hours in a car or 3 hours in an airport and 1 on the plane, I much prefer the airport. I have never really understood the hatred people have for airports.
roymurdock 5y ago
It’s economics 101 - labor vs leisure time is a fundamental division of time, which is influenced by wages and is an input into a firm or economy’s production function. Even if you don’t assign your leisure time a monetary value, someone else (an economist) will.
InvertedRhodium 5y ago
I work as a contractor with milestone bonuses - my free (or unpaid) time is quite literally potential income that I'm forfeiting in order to have that lesire or recreation. Being able to quantify it in some manner gives me better perspective on whether or not the enjoyment I derive from those leisure activites are "worth it". It helps that a lot of my leisure activities are things like woodworking landscaping, carpentry, etc - so I always have the option of working instead and paying someone else to bring about the end result I'm seeking.