The Wealth Nobody Talks About

Last week my wife introduced me to a concept I’d never heard of, and I must admit, within days I was a little obsessed with it.

It’s called ‘time affluence’; the idea that your wealth, career and income should be geared around buying back more of your time.
 
The more I think about it, the more I realise it’s the truest description of what I’ve always meant by ‘financial independence’.
 
Building wealth isn’t free, it comes with responsibilities like managing assets, extra phone calls and emails, and, early on, the weight of debt and the anxiety that comes with it.
 
Why would anyone sign up for that without a goal worth chasing, right?
 
When I was 20, my goal was simple; I never wanted to worry about money. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to work, quite the opposite, I was full of ambition and eager to prove I could build a good career.
 
But not worrying about money meant something bigger. It meant enjoying life and all its memorable moments, working in a job I liked going to every day, and raising a family while being present for the little things that make it all worthwhile.
 
Today, I consider myself financially independent and ‘time affluent’. But the second didn’t automatically follow the first. After reaching financial independence, I had to make a conscious effort to protect my time. That meant learning to say no to opportunities, especially at work.
 
Have you ever found this to be the case? I see it constantly in business, someone says that once they’re a millionaire, they’ll have enough. Then they hit $1 million, and enough becomes $10 million. Then $100 million.
 
Before long, they’re chasing their first billion; psychologists call this the hedonic treadmill: we adapt to new wealth so quickly that our idea of ‘enough’ keeps shifting.
 
The finish line moves, and we just keep running.
 
I know this first-hand because I was on that path myself. It wasn’t until I had a family that I noticed how many successful people I’d met who had achieved extraordinary things, only to become wistful, even regretful, later in life.
 
They didn’t regret the money, they regretted how quickly life went by while they were earning it. And, they’re not alone.
Case in point Bronnie Ware, an Australian palliative care nurse, spent years with patients in their final weeks. One of the most common regrets she heard was ‘I wish I hadn’t worked so hard.’ Nobody told her they wished they’d closed one more deal.
 
The research points the same way; Harvard’s Ashley Whillans found that people who spent money to buy back time, such as paying someone to do chores they disliked, reported greater life satisfaction, whatever their income.
 
Yet most of us rarely do it, often out of guilt. We’ll spend on things without blinking, and yet feel indulgent spending on time.
 
So, my goal is still financial independence, with one important addition … financial independence and ‘time affluence’. One without the other is only half the prize.
 
I believe every Australian can achieve this if they put their mind to it. It takes hard work, a plan and some risk, but the more risk you take, the more comfortable you become with it, and that’s exactly where the danger lies.
 
The important part is knowing when you’ve taken enough and not letting the pursuit consume you so completely that you reach financial independence and to that end lose sight of what it was meant to buy you.
 
Your time.
 
If you know someone working hard towards ‘enough’ who hasn’t yet defined what enough looks like, send this to them.
 
It might be the most valuable thing you share this week.

If you would like help achieving your version of wealthy, book in for a free 15 minute strategy call and have a chat with me and the team.