Friend,
A small confession you may relate to: I could make a lot more money if I wanted to.
Once I hit 5 figures in a given month, I tend to lose any desire to take on more client work. Instead, I’m much more interested in devoting more time to my “important, but not urgent” writing projects. Stuff like my own books, my digital publishing business in the music space, poems, stories, this blog, etc.
When I say “important but not urgent” I mean that these projects of mine don’t necessarily have a hard deadline. I don’t have a client breathing down my neck waiting for them. But they’re important to me and my long-term goals. And they may even generate higher, more passive income over the long term than the client work I take on in the short term.
(I got this distinction between important and urgent tasks from Michael Masterson’s book The Pledge, by the way).
So earning a higher income in the short term, for me, often takes a back seat to my long term goals, and even my lifestyle preferences. But there are other reasons I don’t necessarily prioritize a high income any more, and I thought I’d share them with you. I’m curious if you feel the same way, or if this is just another instance of me being an odd duck.
Anyway, here are a few more reasons why a high income, for me, has turned out to be less valuable than you might think:
I Can Always Make More Money. I Can’t Make More Time.
The few things I do spend big bucks on are often related to buying back my time. I’ve written about what that is and how to do it here.
Here’s one thing I didn’t mention in that piece, though, that I want to share with you now, lucky reader: the simplest way to buy back your time is by choosing to work less.
This moment that you’re spending reading this, is the youngest you will ever be, ever again. Think about that. If you want more money, you can always go door-to-door offering to powerwash people’s driveways. Or go work at Jimmy John’s.
Getting more time is not so simple.
However, the few ways to buy back your time that do exist don’t even require very much money. So having a high income is not necessarily of more value in that arena. On the contrary, most ultra high income types develop work-aholism or other habits that eat into their time even more than is necessary.
I Already Have (Almost) Everything I Want
Most people fall neatly into being “inner scorecard” or “outer scorecard” people. For these outer scorecard types, a lot of their self-worth depends on how they are perceived by others. So they often like to signal their wealth and accomplishments with fancy clothes, houses, luxury cars, etc.
Nothing wrong with that. I’ve done it myself, buying a nice watch or guitar. However, what I notice is that I immediately become bored with the item or adjust to it. After a while, the material item itself doesn’t produce much of a positive feeling in me. In fact, when I have too much stuff (especially clothes) it can even make me cranky or annoyed. I’m weird, I know.
My satisfaction, instead, comes mostly from experiences. Writing, reading, walking, playing music, etc. That’s because I have an inner scorecard. I care about the things that are important to me, rather than how I am perceived by others.
And the things that are important to me cost little, or even nothing at all, as you’ll see next…
Most of the Things I Love are Free or Cheap
Coffee and espresso. Pipe tobacco. Walks and baths. Books. Music. These are a few of my favorite things.
Sure, I like nice guitars. I drive a decent car. I travel to see family twice a year or so. I’ll go out to eat somewhere nice once or twice a month.
However, the vast majority of the things I love doing are either free or dirt cheap. If my favorite hobby was trophy fishing off of a yacht, then maybe I’d need a higher income to support such an activity. But as of right now, my favorite things don’t tap into my income very much.
I Already Live Like a Millionaire or Billionaire
Given the last two points, my life simply wouldn’t change much if I was a millionaire or billionaire. The ascent of man, made possible by innovation and technology, means that you and I already live a far richer life than the wealthiest kings of relatively recent times.
Most of the luxuries that wealth used to enable are now commonplace:
- Hot showers and baths
- Quality food, especially protein
- Comfortable housing
As technology continues to progress, I imagine the advantages that come with extraordinary wealth will continue to shrink. Even today, the main advantages of the “super rich” are things like frequent and expensive dinners out to eat, travel, and luxury homes or automobiles. You may be different, but I personally don’t care that much about these things. If I had more money, I’d rather use it to buy back my time. And I can already do that by working less, and declining work that isn’t a great fit for my values and goals.
Even given the few advantages of the ultra wealthy, observe how they spend their time. Most people relax in the evenings with a nice meal, a hot shower, and maybe some Netflix, music, or a good book. This seems to be true whether your net worth is 100,000 or 100,000,000. Look at your life, and it’s likely you too, already live similarly to the 1%. Don’t believe me? Read on…
Diminishing Returns
If you make $75-100K/year, you can probably afford the best of the best in most areas of life. In many of life’s commonplace activities, you probably already live like the super rich (we just illustrated this with relaxation/entertainment above, for example).
If you make $75,000-100,000 you can afford the nicest steak dinners ($30-40 at Ruth’s Chris or a local steakhouse), the nicest mattress ($1500 or so, for many years of use), and even the finest champagne (Consumer Reports’ favorite sparkling wines often range from $16-40/bottle).
This means you can buy yourself the nicest sleep, the finest food and drink, and likely the top 20% of clothes and cars as well. You already live a rich life.
What, then, is the incentive for making $300K instead of $100K? For me, the extra work required isn’t worth the diminishing returns. What can you buy with $300K that you can’t buy with $100K? All I’d really do is end up paying more taxes, and putting some more money into investments. Anything else I really want, I can afford to buy now.
Is a High Income Becoming Worthless?
Reader, consider the life of our hypothetical mutual friend Mike:
- Mike went to school for corporate finance. Now, he lives in New York City and works for a large hedge fund. 70-80 hour weeks are common. Most of his time is spent eyeing or editing spreadsheets. Most of the people he interacts with are very stressed because he is in an industry and career with lots of responsibility (handling other people’s money). His commutes are long, and his cost of living is high, as are his taxes. Mike makes 200K/year. To make things easy, let’s say he’s single with no kids.
Is Mike’s income worth this high pressure lifestyle? Only Mike can say. But for me, I would be out of this situation in a heartbeat.
Mike, in my opinion, would be better off making 60-80K/year at a lower stress career, living in a lower tax burden state (Florida, Montana, Texas, South Dakota, etc) and lowering his cost of living.
Making 80K/year living in Florida could very well net him a better lifestyle than making 200K/year in New York.
Let’s say Mike made this switch. How much, materially, could his life possibly change for the worse? Maybe his now lower income means he eats out less. Maybe he has to buy a smaller TV to watch Netflix on. But now his stress is lower. He is in better health. He can afford a nicer, larger place because he arbitraged to a lower cost-of-living area. Or perhaps his lower income forces him to live in a place similar to the one he rented for far more money in New York. Boo hoo.
Obviously, this is just a hastily constructed example. But if you’re in a situation similar to Mike’s consider if your income is worth the demands that it makes on your life. With the advent of the digital economy, it’s never been easier to find online work that fits your lifestyle, and allows you to work from anywhere. And maybe even allows you to choose to make as much as you want….