A broke person isn’t a person who has $0 to their name.
No. A broke person is trapped by the temptations money can buy, even if they earn 6-figures a year. A time billionaire on the other hand isn’t some high-fiving bro that quit their job.
A time billionaire is a person who has the currency of time in abundance, instead of $100 bills. They may have a boss at their job, but they wear the pants in the relationship. They call the shots. A time billionaire has divorced their income from their time, according to productivity expert Jack Butcher.
How’s this possible? It’s a matter of financial psychology. How you program your mind to understand what money is, determines the way you’ll use it. Let’s add a few money ideas to your mind to interrupt the programming.
A 20 year old with $0 is richer than a 60 year old with $100 million. Time is the ultimate form of wealth.
— @writingtoriches
Relearn what an asset is
Many people do not understand what assets are. They think assets are investments or things that go up in value or pay dividends. Not quite.
Assets are future consumption. We buy the S&P 500 stock market index because we want to sell it in the future to live off. — Raoul Pal
This is an important concept because it forces us to consider what the future value of an asset might be. When you think of an asset as something that will buy you food and clothes in 20 years it shifts your psychology.
If the value of an asset goes up and the price of stuff you need to buy in 20 years goes up even more, then you’re falling behind. Assets force you to consider the future. When you do, you don’t buy a dumb meme crypto like Dogecoin.
Fads won’t pay your bills in 20 years. In fact, many companies will be bankrupt in 20 years because of technology. Now your psychology has shifted. You will now future-proof the assets you buy by doing proper research (or paying for it).
Traditional billionaires are trapped in a matrix
Ever wondered why an individual needs so much money? Like the 60 year old with $100 million in the bank, do they really need more money? Of course not. Money billionaires, as opposed to time billionaires, are stuck in the financial matrix and they don’t even realize it. Why?
Money is numbers and numbers never end. If it takes money to be happy, your search for happiness will never end — Bob Marley
No single number ever makes you whole. The financial mind game tells your brain, “when I earn xyz amount of money it will be enough.”
But numbers don’t end, and neither does the game of money. So if you play the game of money you’ll end up giving your life away to a useless pursuit that has no end, and worst of all, won’t make you happy.
That’s why your mind needs to understand money and its purpose. You can join the path of money billionaires or time billionaires. The purpose of money is a decision you make which sets you off on either path.
The formula time billionaires follow
Invest 75% of what you earn & retire at 30 years
Invest 50% of what you earn & retire at 40 years
Invest 30% of what you earn & retire at 50 years
Invest less than 30% probably you wont ever retire.
— Sandeep Kochhar [edited]
You have to program your mind to buy back time.
Time is bought through investing — not spending or saving. The more you invest upfront the quicker you become a time billionaire. The tough part about this formula is more than 47% of Americans have zero investments. That’s what keeps them stuck in the rat race.
Once you shift from consumption to investment the magical power of compounding starts to work in your favor. Money begins to work for you rather than the typical fistfight most people endure.
Stocks and crypto don’t give you the maximum psychological benefit
Making your own coffee to save $5 isn’t going to make you [a time billionaire]. Instead of cutting basic things from your life, focus on starting a side-hustle instead. — Shreya Pattar
Stocks and crypto are popular investments. I like them too. There’s one thing they don’t give you, though: skills and experience. You’ll get a slight mindset upgrade when you ride out recessions, endure bull and bear markets, and survive the inevitable 50% crypto dips.
But stocks and crypto can make you extremely lazy if you make a tonne of money from them. Why work when you don’t need money thanks to your investments? Now you see the problem.
The best financial psychology comes from making money out of your side hustle. In the process you learn skills, hire people, build an audience online, get used to sending invoices, cop a lot of rejection, and make new friends. As opposed to stocks and crypto where you sit in your bedroom in your undies and click mouse buttons.
When you can buy back your time and work on a side hustle you love, it’s the psychological formula for financial success. It doesn’t even feel like work, so you already feel your schedule is free to do what you want and that you’re a time billionaire.
Takeaway
Mental models don’t just apply to self-improvement. When you change the way you think about how money works, it bleeds into every area of your life. It allows you to make smarter decisions.
Transform from spend and save, to invest and side hustle. That’s how you upgrade your financial psychology and become a time billionaire.
This article is for informational purposes only, it should not be considered financial, tax or legal advice. Consult a financial professional before making any major financial decisions.
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