Do you have a sibling? A younger brother or an elder sister? Do you fight? Are there times when you wish they would disappear into thin air? And are there times of tons of love just pouring on them?
Sibling love is a love of eternal hatred and affection. You have your differences, but you know you are dependent on one another. You cannot stand them at times, and you cannot imagine a life without them either.
Same is the relationship between time and money. Both of them have major differences between them, but their co-dependency prevails. While the two have entirely different traits, their relationship is still very interesting and important. The decision of choosing one over the other is the most difficult one in your life.
The Underlying Differences of Time & Money
- Meaning
Time is a part of existence that is measured in hours, minutes and seconds.
Money is a measure of exchange to buy services or goods.
- Replenishment
Time once gone, never comes back. It is non-renewable and you can never bring back even one second of the lapsed time.
Money once gone can be earned back again. You work hard to earn money, and you can work again to earn some more. You earn to spend, and the cycle goes on.
- Worth
Each day has 24 hours. Each hour has 60 minutes. Each minute is made up of 60 seconds. It does not change. Thus, time has a fixed value today and will remain the same tomorrow.
The value of each currency changes every day. The value of money today will not be the same next year.
- Reproduction
Time is the same for everyone. Rich and poor both have same number of hours in a day. Neither can you purchase or create time.
A poor person will not have as much money as the rich. It is divided unevenly among each individual. Money multiplies. A man can generate more money with the money he has today.
- Flow
Time is always flowing. You cannot stop even a millisecond of time. It has flown continuously since a million years now, and will continue to do so in the future.
The flow of money is in the hands of the owner. You can spend if you wish, or you can save it with you. It remains in one place if you do not spend or earn it.
- Limit
There were, are and will be only 24 hours in a day. This fact cannot be changed by anyone. Time is limited for everyone and no person has the power to increase or decrease it.
Money has no limits. People have been known to become millionaires overnight. There is no limit to the amount of money you can earn or spend.
The Interconnection of Time & Money
Even after such major differences, both of them share a deep relationship. There has been a constant debate over the years about what is more important. Is money more important than time, or does time hold a greater value than money?
One can be renewed, and one cannot be.
While one is limited, the other is not.
Is it possible to earn money without time? Can you save time if you have more money? Would you earn more money if you had more time?
One obvious fact is that you earn money only by spending time in doing it. You have a job, you spend the whole day there and you get your pay. You have something to sell, you utilise your time in finding a buyer and earn your profit through the sale. Time IS spent every time you do something to get money in your pocket.
Now we have established that if we have more time, we can earn more money. But isn’t the opposite also true? If we have more money, can’t we save more time?
Consider this. You can either mow your lawn yourself, or you can pay a hired worker to do it for you. You can either bake a cake yourself, or you can pay to get it from a bakery. In both these scenarios, you can save an ample amount of your time if you have the money to delegate it to someone else.
This shows that excess of one can lead to the excess of the other. While more money can give you spare time, more time can give you an opportunity to earn more. And the endless loop goes on in our lives.
One should be smart about spending his time and money both. You should be wise enough to realise what needs an investment of time and which task is worthy of your money. Both hold their own unmatchable values in the society, and should not be played with. Loss of either entity can mean a great loss to you.