Time Versus Money
Today’s post is a simple man’s (or woman’s) basic economic lesson toward our path to financial freedom.
An off schedule post
This is an off-schedule post. That means something different or interesting is going on that warrants paying attention to. So, my friends, read on to find out more!
As opposed to many college economics classes…
… I think I can make this short story interesting and informative at the same time. So please, don’t delete just yet!
You may know that I attended Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University at night while serving in the Air Force. As part of the requirements for my bachelor’s degree, I was required to take two economics classes. As I recollect, they were ECON 210 Microeconomics and ECON 211 Macroeconomics. Because I was in an aviation-focused program, we studied not only basic economic theory but also its applications to commercial aviation. Believe it or not, I actually enjoyed economics and still rely on the knowledge I learned in those classes today. If you took college economics, you probably used the same book that I did: Economics by Paul A. Samuelson. It seems to be the standard in college economics education, and it’s been around forever. It was first published in 1948. I used the 11th edition in 1984. Mr. Samuelson has passed away, and William Nordhaus took over the book. As best I can tell, the 19th edition from 2009 is the most current version of this book and sells for $282 on Amazon (Note 1). Yikes!
The point of today’s post
While all of that is interesting history, the point of today’s post is to discuss a few simple economic decisions that each of us faces every day and how those decisions ultimately affect our financial future. We always want to make sound financial decisions so we can…What? Achieve our dreams and live our best lives! After a few stories, I’ll list a few common economic terms that you probably need to know, or relearn, that will help keep economics and sound financial decisions at the front of your mind. Or possibly you could forward this post to someone who may find it enjoyable and educational!
The lead in
Even though I don’t go to work every day (I REALLY DO NOT LIKE the word 'retired'), I still work occasionally, volunteer, write a lot, manage our finances, and perform other tasks that keep things running smoothly around the house. If you thought managing finances is important during your working career, it’s even more critical during the “not going to work every day” phase of life. You can’t simply make a bad investment, suffer an economic downturn, and then recover. No, pretty much once you enter the “I don’t go to work every day” chapter in life, you need to be a bit more careful and not screw up.
Besides those chores, during the “I don’t go to work every day” chapter of life, we get to do fun things like cooking, traveling, visiting, and spending time with family and friends, and for me, reading, studying, and writing. As I read and study extensively, I encounter numerous topics I would like to write about. And I do write about them, and the post you are reading now is an example of that. This keeps my mind sharp, and I’m always learning (or relearning) new things that are interesting and helpful to me. Here’s an example. I just purchased a new Bible. I had to. The leather cover was coming loose, and the binding was breaking due to years of daily use. Since my old Bible was the 1975 version of the New American Standard, it is no longer available. So, the new Bible has a more recent NAS translation. Reading my new Bible, in a newer translation, has caused me to see and learn things I either previously learned, had forgotten, or viewed in a new light. A real aha moment for me and a relearning opportunity!
Anyway, the July 19 issue of The Wall Street Journal featured an article entitled "The Economics of DIY" by Roland Fryer (Note 2). Mr. Fryer is a WSJ contributor and an economics professor at Harvard, among other things. It was that article that inspired me to write this post, and the general theme is DIY (do-it-yourself) versus paying someone else to do it. Mr. Fryer left a few things out of his article I want to talk about and you will see how I tie that into the conversation.
Here are the stories
So let’s talk a bit about DIY and other economic decisions we make daily that can, and do, impact our financial lives and our ability to achieve our dreams.
Do you use DoorDash, Instacart, or any of those services that bring prepared food to your home or do your grocery shopping for you? Why or why not? I’m guessing that if you do, you made a decision that it was worth more to you to pay someone to perform these services than to do them yourself. Perhaps you conducted a detailed analysis of the opportunity cost and decided you preferred to continue working rather than prepare your food at home, go out to eat, or do your own shopping? No? Well, then, maybe you made a snap decision that you were too tired and decided to let someone else do the work.
Did you stop for coffee on the way to work this morning at one of those Seattle coffee houses and later go out for lunch? You will recall that I told an interesting story in my course and posts, called the “coffee and avocado toast story,” about a young man who stopped for Seattle coffee and had avocado toast for lunch, rather than bringing coffee from home and making his lunch every day. Another example of opportunity cost? Perhaps. However, over the course of more than 40 years, that resulted in a lost investment return of approximately $1.8 million. That would be spending money today versus saving and investing over 40 years. That’s a big number.
Do you mow your own lawn? Why or why not? When I accepted my first professional job at 28 years old, I considered paying someone to mow my lawn. Many of my neighbors did. Let’s see what that decision cost or did not cost me. Let’s assume that I paid someone $50.00 a week to mow my lawn. Most lawn services I know require annual contracts, and they rake leaves in the winter to keep their crews busy and reserve your spot, so you are paying them 52 weeks a year. $50.00 x 52 weeks x 39 years = $101,400 saved. However… Assuming I worked during that time, could I have made up for it by getting promoted or receiving more bonuses? How about losing time with my family? Did I consider the diminishing marginal return? How about inflation’s impact on the cost over 39 years to pay someone to mow my lawn? Simple and compound interest on the money I saved? What was that physical exercise worth to my health? Skin cancer risks of being in the sun? Potential damage to my hearing and lungs due to noise (the noise does not matter, I worked on aircraft for a living and was around fighter aircraft in the Air Force for 8 years. My hearing is already gone…) and particulate matter in the air? Click on the link in Note 3, run this calculator, and see what you come up with. Assume you invest the savings of mowing your own lawn into an S&P Index fund that returns an average of 10% a year. If you get $1.25 million, you will quickly determine that mowing your own lawn can not only save you but also make you a lot of money over a lifetime! Now it’s your call to determine if it’s worth it or not.
About 5 years ago, I took my car to the dealer for a 40,000-mile oil change and checkup. Because I’m a mechanic type and I know stuff, I knew the brakes were about due, and they probably would flag that on their inspection/scheduled oil change/upsell exercise (yes, I know I’m being a smart aleck). Sure enough, I soon received an email with pictures of my worn front brakes, worn rotors, and a water pump that had some kind of something oozing from it. They would be happy to fix those things for me for $2500. Wait! What? What was wrong with the water pump? Well, nothing really, but you know, do you see that stuff oozing from around the shaft? Yeah, probably should just change it to be safe. Only $1300. Why do I need rotors? They should last 80,000 miles or more! Well, you see Mr. Giustozzi, by 80,000 miles they will be worn beyond limits, so it’s better to change them now. Just to be safe. Because we need the money, and we probably have attorneys advising us that we need to inform you of this (OK, that’s all a joke. Easy…). Only $1200! So what did I do? Because I’m a mechanic type who knows stuff, I had them take it off the lift. I paid them for the oil change. I paid $65 for new front brake pads and pressed on. It’s now five years later and the car has 89,000 miles on it. I changed the front rotors with the next brake pad change at 80,000 miles (myself), and the water pump is still humming along. What’s the lesson?
OK, so a disclaimer here, ‘cause I know I just said I’m a mechanic type who knows stuff and you are wondering…A couple of years after Diane and I got married, we had four kids living at home that were driving (the oldest was on his own at this point) and, let me see, what’s that math?: 1+1+1+1+1+1= 6 cars that need to have oil changed and maintained. I used the opportunity to teach the kids how to do their own oil changes and maintenance. I did not do it for them, I just declared an upcoming Saturday as “Car Maintenance Day” and everyone pitched in to work on their cars while I directed them. Yes, even the two girls. It was actually quite fun, and everyone learned a lot. I decided at that point to reward myself so I did not have to crawl under the car by outsourcing the oil changes from that point on.
Buy or rent your home? This one has become tricky in the past few years as home prices have increased along with interest rates. Concerning high interest rates, I’ll just say that I bought my first home in 1980 at 14% interest, my second at 8.25% and my third at 6.125%. Was that smart or not? I think so; it turned out well for me, and our home is now part of our total net worth that we can use if needed or pass along to our kids in our trust.
But wait. Then there are the soap and other stories…
Back in the day, we used to use bar soap for our hands. I never had heard of Dawn Powerwash for dishes or foaming hand soap. Ziplock bags? That’s what wax paper was for. Glad trash bags? Nope, used paper grocery bags or plastic grocery bags to line the trash can. Laundry detergent has evolved from powder to liquid to pods, all the while getting more expensive. With each of these items, at some point, I decided that I was making enough money that the convenience was worth the money and we evolved. We’ve all done it, and that’s one of the blessings of living in America is that the opportunity to work hard and get ahead affords us choices like this. We just recognize it and decide to spend more on the convenience of it all.
Need versus wants
As we discuss economics concerning our own financial freedom, we can’t have a complete discussion without considering the concept of need versus want. You may decide to consider what this means to you, as the concept has been diluted over the years. Some items that were once wants are now needs. For example, I recall when the first cell phones were introduced. Actually, the first one I saw was a car phone. Nice to have at that point in time. Today, cell phones are an essential part of our lives. As is the internet. Cable? Netflix and other subscription services? I have my opinion, what’s yours? What other subscriptions do you have? Needs or wants? When someone is trying to clean up their financial life, reviewing spending and needs versus wants is just about the first thing to do.
Time versus money. Today’s lesson
In all of these cases, we have all made a decision, either consciously or unconsciously, to trade our money for time or our time for money. It may have been to pay someone to work on the car, mow the grass, or save a few minutes and effort washing the dishes. You see, time and money are both valuable resources to be spent wisely. The big difference is that money, which is infinite, can be replaced, but time is finite and once gone, cannot be replaced. And that’s today’s lesson in economics.
Etcetera
As you know, I often recommend book, websites, blogs, etc. that will help you on your journey and reinforce the points I’m trying to make.. One of the ones I follow and recommend is Financial Samurai. How interesting then, that just last Friday, October 17, 2025 he would author a blog on the same topic as this post. I authored this one a few weeks ago and just posting it today. For a little different take on what I’m saying today, click on the link in Note 5 and see his analysis of Time versus Money. While you are at it, sign up to receive his weekly blog. It’s a great read!
Let’s review a few terms and wrap it up.
Economic terms for the common man and woman (Note 4)
Need-Something essential for our life, or to gain or maintain a certain lifestyle. A fundamental concept to understand. For example, food is essential for life. Education may be essential to improve our lives or part of our individual goals plan. Be sure you understand this concept.
Want-A want is a desire that is not necessary to support life or pursue our individual lifetime goal plan.
Need Versus Want Ratio-I coined this term. I’m pretty proud of myself, actually. It is the ratio of total spending or total tangible and/or intangible items or services you have of one versus the other. Importantly, while you are young or early in your career, you should have a much higher percentage of needs versus wants. When you retire or otherwise become financially independent, your wants, assuming you are financially secure (a key point), will likely be of a higher percentage of your needs/wants ratio.
Opportunity Cost-The potential gain or loss that is incurred when one choice is made over the other. A very important term to know. If we think about it, we make these decisions daily and likely don’t even know the impact of them until years later, if ever.
That’s all for this week!
Time Versus Money
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What’s in it for Me
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Call to Action
Assess your situation, your station in life. Are you satisfied with where you are and where you are going? If not, admit it and take action!
Recommended Resources
Buy and read the book, Factfulness by Hans Rosling. It’s full of facts that will make you better. It will also improve your outlook on life! Click on the link in note 3 to order your copy today!
Up Next
Back to regular posting schedule.
Notes
Please note that as an Amazon Affiliate, I may earn a small commission on the sale of any of these recommended resources.
Economics, 19th edition by Paul A. Samuelson and William D. Nordhaus. Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Economics-Paul-Samuelson/dp/0073511293#
The Economics of DIY, by Roland Fryer, The Wall Street Journal, July 18, 2025: http://wsj.com
Moneychimp savings calculator: http://www.moneychimp.com/features/cheapskate_calculator.htm
These definitions are likely not directly from an authoritative source, such as a dictionary, but are more cobbled together in the language of “The world according to Dave.” I’ll beg your indulgence.
Spending money to save time is the best use of funds, Financial Samurai: https://www.financialsamurai.com/spending-money-on-saving-time-is-the-best-use-of-funds/