Where do you fall into the money vs time dilemma?

[QuarterMillionMan]

Fortunate are the people who have both money & time. But most people either have one or the other. I'm in the camp of having more money than time since I work full time. But I look forward to retirement when I should have both (God-willing).

[kork13]

I think your assessment is good -- we definitely have more money than time.

We're have a family of 3 young kids (6, 4, 1 y/o). I'm a senior leader within my military unit. DW is halfway through a Physical Therapy doctoral program (DPT). For us, time is at a premium. So when anything comes up that needs help or attention, I am often heard to say that "I'll happily throw money at the problem."

Along those lines, we've hired a variety of folks to help us in order to reduce the demands on our time. We have a house keeper that comes every other week to do some of the deep cleaning that we struggle to make time for. Likewise, we have a guy that comes to mow our lawn. Now as I'm about to drive out (today) for an extended temporary assignment in NC, we've hired a part-time nanny to help my wife with dinner & our kids in the evenings after they're back from school.

These are just a few of the bigger items, but there's a litany of other ways in which I default to "throwing money at the problem." I do so often and with only minimal hesitation. In my view, we're on solid financial footing, so we can use that strength to support our family's needs where we're weaker/less secure.

Similar to your outlook, I very much look forward to retiring from the military (~6 yrs from now), at which point I plan to have much more time on my hands, to help my kids with school work, cook & care for my family, volunteer, and only *maybe* get myself some sort of low-demand job to stay busy outside the house.

[disneysteve]

I currently work part-time, 24 hours a week, and will drop to per diem in August. Right now, I have a good amount of time but still don't have the time (or energy) to do everything that needs to get done.

[ua_guy]

We both work full time but have no children, so, to some, it would appear we have all the time in the world (outside of work). But it never feels that way. We have more money than time but it doesn't stop us from doing a lot of stuff ourselves. My spouse has the "write a check" mentality, and I'm more likely to want to try doing something myself, first. We balance each other out pretty well in that regard.

I had some time off between jobs last year and I caught a rare glimpse of what life could be if we slowed down a bit. Living felt more intentional and fulfilling, versus trying to jam everything else around work chaos.

[disneysteve]

I had some time off between jobs last year and I caught a rare glimpse of what life could be if we slowed down a bit. Living felt more intentional and fulfilling, versus trying to jam everything else around work chaos.

I had the same experience last year when I took a leave of absence after my cousin died. Even though I spent a lot of time cleaning out his house, that was really the only thing that had to get done. The rest of my time I was free to do whatever I wanted to. It's nice to not have a job sucking up your time.

[QuarterMillionMan]

I like the way that you put it disneysteve "it's nice to not have a job sucking up your time." And I look forward to the day that I won't have to deal with the overbearing boss and loser coworkers. When they do parties after work I politely decline because 40 hours a week is all I can bear (lol).

[disneysteve]

I like the way that you put it disneysteve "it's nice to not have a job sucking up your time." And I look forward to the day that I won't have to deal with the overbearing boss and loser coworkers. When they do parties after work I politely decline because 40 hours a week is all I can bear (lol).

I've had a cartoon hanging on our refrigerator for years. A guy is standing in front of his boss' desk and saying, "I like working here sir but it really takes a big chunk out of my day".

[rennigade]

We have significantly less time now than ever due to a 1.5 year old, but we still find time to stay on top of important things. We have a kitchen renovation coming up and I plan on taking a few days off work to demo the kitchen, run new electrical, plumbing, drywall, etc etc. That sort of work doesn't take a whole lot of finesse. We are however hiring a professional to install our cabinets and install flooring through downstairs. Our cabinets weren't cheap and it needs to be done right. Flooring isn't impossible to install but what would take me a week to do will take them 2 days.

IM still in the camp of doing things yourself but I will say the line is getting blurrier now that I'm getting older and the little one does take a lot of energy out of me. The problem is I'm so cheap, aka frugal. It disgusts me what contractors charge.

[corn18]

You know what the retired guy is going to say, right? This is awesome! My favorite day of the week is all of them. I was thinking today how much I used to not enjoy Sunday evenings thinking about the week of work ahead. Now it's just like Saturday. Our least favorite days are the weekends now because there are a billion other people out and about doing things they can't during the week. So we are home bodies on weekends and much more active during the week. Camping is a lot easier, too because there are no spots open on the weekends but most campgrounds are wide open during the week. The local bike trail is packed on nice weekends. Not so much during the week. It is just a joy. Time has become almost irrelevant.

I will say that if you spent a lot of time away from home while you were working and then all of a sudden you and your spouse are spending 24/7/365 together, you might oughta make sure you can handle that. Quite an adjustment for us. I would travel every week for work. Usually gone Mon afternoon through Thurs night. Then I was home all the time. We had to figure out our space and routines. Now I wouldn't trade it for anything. I really like hanging out with my wife all the time.

[disneysteve]

You know what the retired guy is going to say, right? This is awesome! My favorite day of the week is all of them. I was thinking today how much I used to not enjoy Sunday evenings thinking about the week of work ahead. Now it's just like Saturday. Our least favorite days are the weekends now because there are a billion other people out and about doing things they can't during the week.

So many people don't realize this. I work every other weekend. Lots of people assume that's a bad thing but I explain that it means I'm off on weekdays which is much preferred. As you've discovered, it's a lot easier to do things during the week - shopping, dining out, travel stuff, museums, movies, shows, whatever. They're all less crowded during the week. I couldn't care less if I work on Saturday and Sunday but I'm off on Tuesday and Wednesday.

[bjl584]

I definitely have more money than time right now.
As my portfolio grows (not including recent market sell-offs) I am catching a glimpse of life with time.
Doing "nothing" to collect dividends and market gains looks appealing

[QuarterMillionMan]

In my younger adult years I had neither money nor time working full time as a plumber and attending night school to earn my degree in addition to attending weekend plumbing school for 5 years as an apprentice. Those years sucked big time. So for anyone in that camp I feel sorry for you but it'll be worth it when you get your degree and or a better career.

[QuarterMillionMan]

Or worse might be someone on welfare with all the time in the world but low on funds to better enjoy life but that should give rise to motivate oneself to strive for a better life.

[mumof2]

Or worse might be someone on welfare with all the time in the world but low on funds to better enjoy life but that should give rise to motivate oneself to strive for a better life.

this is pretty much me but it is due to a chronic illness and not being able to work, same with my hubby....it sucks but most of our time is taken up by specialists so we are time poor and money poor

[Fishindude77]

We are lucky to have both. Retired early and can pretty much do about anything we want to do.
The reality however is that we made no drastic changes, other than we take a lot more short trips and vacations.