The 2021 Berkshire Hathaway shareholder meeting is streaming live on this weekend, and I am reminded of a lesser known quote from Warren Buffett about what is truly valuable. I believe he has said this elsewhere, but I found it repeated in a () at the University of Nebraska:
There is nobody I would rather be than a young person graduating from the University of Nebraska today. […] I would say this to the current year’s class: ‘I would love to trade places with any of them.’ They feel they’re going out into an uncertain world and all of that, but there’s never been a better time.
During a , investor Graham Duncan discussed the concept of a “time billionaire” and how it is hard to understand the magnitude difference between a billion and a million.
Graham Duncan: I was listening to a guy introduced a speaker a while ago. And he was saying people don’t really understand the difference between billionaires and millionaires. He said a million seconds is like 11 days. A billion seconds is 31 years.
This means a 20-year old is technically a time multi-billionaire. If you’re in your 40s or even early 50s, the odds are likely that you still have a billion seconds left as well. Have you considered how valuable that is? One of the richest people in the world would gladly trade places with you. I’m betting that nearly anyone with a billion dollars would trade it for a billion more seconds.
This and both expand upon this idea of appreciating the value of time, including how young people should use this time to their advantage. Take it from someone with three kids 8 and under, it is truly precious to be able to devote 100 focused hours week to, well… anything. I love my life now, but I miss that feeling that I could just throw myself at something nonstop until I figured it out (or failed). . If you fail, so what?
If you fail, you have nothing, which is the same position you’re in right now.
You have no mortgage to pay, no family to support, and nothing to lose.
This makes you powerful. Your upside is many times greater than your downside.
The concept of “time affluence” takes this into a much smaller scale. This is discussed in a with a quick definition :
Time affluence is the feeling that one has sufficient time to pursue activities that are personally meaningful, to reflect, to engage in leisure. Time poverty is the feeling that one is constantly stressed, rushed, overworked, and behind.
Either way, time is a valuable resource, and just like with money, you have to spend it wisely and consciously. Don’t waste it without intention. Look at how many hours we spend on consuming media, via .
Bottom line. We can look up to certain wealthy people for knowledge and wisdom, but there are other important resources beyond money. Yes, it’s a cliché, but it is still so easily forgotten in this busy, competitive, stressful world. Many of us are extraordinarily wealthy in time, wealthy in love and relationships, and/or wealthy with a healthy mind and body. Someone out there would pay billions of dollars for what you have. I must remind myself to appreciate my wealth in all forms, and use it intentionally. We mostly worry about .
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