Oddbean

You can either spend time (gone forever), or invest it. Clients often tell me they want to make more money, but they don't really have clear financial goals, or an understanding of what it takes to achieve them. Here's a fun, eye-opening way to gauge how _you're_ currently spending your time **and** quite literally, money. **Reality Check:** If your income goal is $1,000,000 a year and you plan to work 8 hours a day, Monday through Friday, with 2 weeks off per year, you would need to earn approximately $4,000 per day, or about $500 per hour. **Calculation:** - A year has 52 weeks. If you take 2 weeks off, you will work 50 weeks. - Working 5 days a week for 50 weeks equals 250 working days per year (50 weeks × 5 days per week = 250 days). - To earn $1,000,000 in 250 days, you need to make $1,000,000 ÷ 250 = $4,000 per day. - If you work 8 hours a day, your hourly rate should be $4,000 ÷ 8 = $500 per hour. If your income goal is $200,000, you would need to earn approximately $800 per day, or about $100 per hour. Even just $75,000 a year, that still breaks down to $303 a day. Do you now better understand the value of an hour as it applies to attaining your financial goals? How many hours did you spend watching TV or scrolling the web? Social media? How about that unscheduled phone call? How much did that cost you? Do you currently have the habits of someone who makes the kind of money you want to make? If not, when would _now_ be a good time to re-evaluate how you are currently spending your time and energy? Hope you found this exercise useful.