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Thinking of opportunity costs in general is usually a downer in any context. It's a "could have" and wherever there is a "could have", a "should have" is not to
by dalek_cannes 13y ago
Thinking of opportunity costs in general is usually a downer in any context. It's a "could have" and wherever there is a "could have", a "should have" is not too far behind. Regret is never a good thing.
Also, a lot of people recognize that time is money, but rarely do they think that money is time. They never use their money to buy back time. Instead they use it to make more money. And now they have to spend more time protecting, managing and investing that money because if they don't, they'll feel bad about the opportunity cost of their money sitting in the bank and being eroded by inflation.
And enough people know how to earn money, but most people don't know how to spend it. When I say spend, I don't mean waste or reinvest. Consider: if you give someone X dollars, he will start by eating better food; give him 2X and he'll dress better; 3X and he'll buy a better car; 10X, a better house. This is usually where people's imagination start to fail them. 20x? Er... buy an even better car and a better house. 50x? Buy two cars and two houses. 100X? Buy a yatch. 200X? Buy a private jet.
Notice that after the lower levels of Marslow's hierarchy have been satisfied, people just don't know what to spend their money on. All they can think of is buying bigger and bigger versions of what they already have. You can't eat away a $100 million no matter how much expensive food you eat. You can't live in all the rooms of a 50-room mansion. All you can do is use your money to make more money or waste it. Not many think of spending it to buy back your time -- spend it doing something you like.
- TheSOB88 13y agoProblem is, once you're rich and your safety is guaranteed, what's there to keep you in line? Where's your incentive to act in a certain way? You could be pulled in a million different directions over a year, try a million different side projects, and succeed at none of them. It wouldn't have any effect on your longevity if you were that rich. You'd just be wasting your time floundering around. You'd probably get pretty miserable if this happened. You'd feel like your actions have no effect on your life, which they wouldn't have to. Anyways, money is scary.
- charlysisto 13y agoExcellent point. For me the main use/luxury of money is not having to think about it.
- nicklovescode 13y agoI have an article in drafts named "Money is Time" about this subject. I've heard the idea of money being used to buy time much more in some circles than others, and I would like to push the idea that it's an option.
- morgante 13y agoGreat point. I actually do deploy this technique fairly effectively, but solely as an "investment." Thus, I use money to buy time which I use to earn money. (For example, paying for my laundry to be done so that I have more time to work.) Obviously I still need to learn that increasing a random number in a bank balance doesn't actually affect my life at all.
- sameer_sundresh 13y agoIt's pretty common to buy things for friends and family, in the hopes of improving the quality of their lives and the quality and amount of time you can spend with them (this doesn't always work out as planned). It's also pretty common to not just buy tangible objects directly for yourself, but to buy the sort of community you want to live in. Endowing museums, universities and hospitals, sponsoring the artists and politicians that suit your tastes (and not just your business interests), etc.