Beating Debt News Archives

Photo by: Erwin Sanjaya

It’s been said that “time is money”.  That statement was used by our bosses as motivation to get us to go back to work and stop chit-chatting. His understanding was that the more we sit around and talk, the less we are producing for the company and the more expenses we are incurring to his business.  This makes sense; time is money.  Well, the inverse of that statement is true too; “money is time”.  This statement can be used personally towards our finances and our goal to beat debt.  Obviously, the stuff we buy is in exchange for our money.  Furthermore, money comes from our time spent at work “making widgets”.  So, when we pull out cash to buy something we are paying for it with past time spent at work.  We will never get that time back to us for our purposes every again.  So we might as well exchange that time spent for something we need or want.

 However, when we pull out the credit card or loan to pay for something we need or want, we are not paying for it with past time spent on the job.  When we carry a balance on our credit card, we are paying for it with our future time spent at work.  Consequently, we are obligating ourselves to spend more time at work in the future to pay for that balance on our credit card.  

 Who wants to spend more time at work and away from their family? 

Continuing with this line of reason, if the debt becomes so overwhelming that we have to take a 2nd job to pay for the products we needed or wanted it further demonstrates the future time obligated to work to earn money.  By carrying balances on credit cards and loans we are binding ourselves to our job and the future time we have ahead of us.  We are not free to choose where we spend our time.  If wanted to go on vacations, spend time with family, or help out non-profit organizations we do not have that luxury to choose, because we already obligated our future time to work to pay off our debts. 

We hear stories about Americans working longer and sleeping less.  We also know that American’s personal debt is rising at alarming rates.  If this “law” is true that “Money is time”, than is it no wonder that the two previous statements are related.  As we incur more debt, the more we obligate our future time, which means the more we have to work to pay back what we are consuming.

 Hopefully, this will be a serious realization for us.  Hopefully, this will make us stop and think the next time we pull out the credit card or sign our name to a loan.  

 How much more do I want to work to pay for this item I am about to purchase?

Because money is time worked or will work.