{"id":1046,"date":"2022-01-24T17:47:51","date_gmt":"2022-01-24T17:47:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ericjbusch.com\/EJB_2022\/?p=1046"},"modified":"2022-01-25T22:09:43","modified_gmt":"2022-01-25T22:09:43","slug":"investing-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ericjbusch.com\/EJB_2022\/2022\/01\/24\/investing-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Investing Time"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\tTime is the scarcest resource and unless it is managed nothing else can be managed.\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPeter Drucker<\/cite>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/blockquote>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

The importance of time management is universally accepted, advised and admonished. Thus pithy quotes on the importance of time such as that of Mr. Drucker\u2019s are ubiquitous. However I contend time is not scarce, but actually in great abundance.  Everyone has it, it is equally distributed and there is an endless supply of it (Apocalyptic notions aside). Any attempt to manage it is futile\u2014time is self-sustaining and it cannot be manipulated, accelerated, paused or reversed by any individual, institution or market (Einstein and string theory aside).<\/p>

This assertion might seem contrary to the wisdom of Mr. Drucker, but it is in fact what he meant when he penned the above statement for “Know Thy Time”, the second chapter of his 1967 book The Effective Executive<\/i><\/a>. Unfortunately his statement is most often presented outside of its original context (just as I did in the quote above). So let\u2019s alter the quote slightly to more effectively convey his point when presented in such concise terms:<\/p>

What is scarce is YOUR time and unless YOU manage it, YOU will struggle to manage everything else.<\/b><\/i><\/p>

Semantics?  Sure, but it illustrates the duality of time: it marks the end of many things for you, yet it has no end itself. It often stops your progression, yet its own progression cannot be stopped. It creates finite constraints for you while enabling infinite potential for all of us. In short, time itself is not scarce; its your investment of time that is scarce. And thus it would be of great benefit to be wise in how you use it.<\/p>

Let’s assume you’re working full-time and require another twelve hours each day for sleeping, eating and general health needs. That leaves you with roughly 2,300 discretionary hours each year to invest however you desire. Given the U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics estimates median annual earnings for an individual working full-time is $44K+<\/a>, or roughly $22 per hour, means each year you have an opportunity to invest roughly $50K worth of time. Where you invest is up to you, but unlike money time cannot be banked and saved for later. It continually expires and therefore you make investment decisions every minute of every day.  <\/p>

So how do you evaluate your opportunities? An initial meeting with an investment advisor typically begins with a series of questions designed to find out your desired return and what level of risk you are willing to accept.  Along those lines, consider the following investment scenarios:<\/p>