Power Up Wealth podcast – Episode 97 – Time: Your Most Valuable Currency
James Derrick 0:00
Money is important. It provides all kinds of opportunities. Today we are talking about an even more valuable and personal currency. I’m James Derrick, and today we will discuss your time from the perspective of a financial expert, our very own, Jordan Hadfield.
Sharla Jessop 0:27
Welcome to the SFS Power Up Wealth podcast, where we provide impactful insight and expert opinions on timeless financial principles and timely investment topics, preparing you to make smarter decisions with your money.
James Derrick 0:40
Thank you for joining me today, Jordan.
Jordan Hadfield 0:48
I’m glad to be here. Thanks for having me.
James Derrick 0:51
Jordan is a private wealth consultant at Smedley Financial Services. He is a Certified Financial Planner, and he recently wrote an article entitled “Looking From Dollars to Days”, Jordan, first of all, let’s talk about why did you choose this topic, when there’s so many other things going on in the world right now.
Jordan Hadfield 1:10
The truth of the matter is, James, if I’m going to be real honest with you, I just hit 40 years old. And I know that there’s a lot of listeners that might say, hey, that’s really young, because I get that sometimes, but I’m starting to feel my age. I don’t feel like I’m this youthful, energetic, top of the world, invincible, teenage kid anymore. You know, the 40s is has hit me. It was a hard, hard birthday for me, and it’s put me in a really unique position, because on one hand, I’m looking at my parents, who are aging, and I realize that they’re mortal, and for the first time, I’m really contemplating what that’s going to be like. Luckily, they’re both still very healthy, but, you know, they’re they’re getting up there. And at the same time, I have young children, and I’m looking at my young children, and they’re growing up so fast, and I just had this realization on both sides of the spectrum that our time is valuable and it’s limited, and our relationships are important. And in my profession, I spend so much time talking about money with people, because money is also important. It’s money that provides opportunity. It’s money that provides, you know, stability and freedom. And what is opportunity and freedom? It is the opportunity to better use our time doing the things that we love the most with the people that we love the most. That is what money provides. But again, in my profession, I focus a lot on the money aspect of it, and there’s a time and place for that in everybody’s lives, but it’s always good to remember what is the utility of money? And it isn’t more money. It should be more time doing the things that we love with the people we love, because that time is short, and that was really the motivation for the article for me.
James Derrick 3:01
I think that’s a fantastic point. You know, many years ago, I did a little graphic for the newsletter where I broke down. You know, if you made $100,000 a year, or $125,000 a year, you know what one hour of your time was worth, what one day of your time was worth? And people really were blown away by how big those numbers are, and it causes you to really think about how are you using your time, and whether it’s a good trade off or not? And you know, a lot of professionals looked at it, and they’re like, man, I shouldn’t have to mow the lawn. Look at how valuable my time is.
Jordan Hadfield 3:31
Yeah, exactly. And for a lot of people, you know, it’s difficult to hire the neighbor and pay him whatever 15 bucks to mow the lawn, because, man, that’s something I can do myself. I can take an hour and a half and go out and mow my lawn and and I can save myself 15 bucks. And yeah, you you can save yourself the 15 bucks. But what did that cost you? What could you have been doing in that hour instead? You know, let me give you another story. This was just the other day. I was down in my office, and I was working, and it was later in the evening, it was almost seven o’clock, and I was stressed. And I don’t typically get stressed, but here I am working away in my office, and my kids came in, and they just wanted my attention, and they were “interrupting me” and, you know, my mind had been on my article, and I just realized for the second, what I’m doing in the moment isn’t what’s most important. And so I left my office and I turned to my kids, I said, Hey, do you guys wanna go for a bike ride? And they said yes. And we went, and we got on our bikes, and we rode around the park, and we found this new little park in the neighborhood over that we had never seen before. And so we stopped and we started playing tag. And here I am running around with my kids. We’re all laughing, we’re all joking, we’re having a good time, and we created some memories there that was far more valuable than the moment I was spending in my office. I got to admit, I’m embarrassed to admit it makes me sad, but I don’t always realize that. There are some times where I tell my kids, hey, I’m too busy now. Or I tell, you know, my friends, Hey, I can’t right now. Or I tell my parents, I’m sorry. I’m too busy, you know? I just think it’s important to really focus on how we’re spending our time and with who, because it is limited, I just feel a need to stress that. And maybe it’s because of my own life. I’m trying to recognize that in my own life, but I as I look out, you know, I think, I think everyone can take stock of where they’re spending their time, and when you think of your time as a currency, at least in my mind, when I think of time as a currency, something that I’m spending, it changed my perspective. It was kind of a paradigm shift, and I think that’s valuable. We all have an account, and it’s got time in it, and every day we’re spending down our account. And unlike our investment accounts or our bank accounts, we don’t know the balance of our account, and yet we still continually spend it. And from that perspective, if we focus on where we’re spending it, you know, I think we can find ourselves finding more time for the things that we love with the people we love, and that’s what life’s about.
James Derrick 6:06
I think that’s really beautiful. And I love the story about playing tag with your kids. It’s it’s a this beautiful irony that your older age led you down the path to playing tag like a 10 year old.
Jordan Hadfield 6:18
Yeah, exactly. And I didn’t feel like a 10 year old. I was huffing and puffing because my kids are fast and kids are fast and it’s hard to run away from them, but we had a blast, and we raced down hills, and we were cracking jokes, and my kids didn’t want to go home, you know, when, when the sun finally set, they didn’t want to go home. And that could have easily been missed because I was worried about something work related at a time when I didn’t necessarily need to be doing that thing.
James Derrick 6:41
I think it’s wonderful. And the more that we practice making these good decisions and having a better perspective, the more fulfilling our lives are going to be. Do you think? This is a difficult question. Do you think that if we get better at understanding how to use our time as a currency, that we might get better at using actual dollar currency better?
Jordan Hadfield 7:02
That’s a great question. Absolutely! You know, I think if we’re conscious of how we’re spending x, whatever x is, you know, our time or our money, if we’re conscious on how we spend it, and we value the process of spending it wisely, it’s going to help in all areas of our lives.
James Derrick 7:21
There’s some real value to being intentional about a lot of things that you’re doing in life, because it allows you to spend the time or the money, or whatever resource we have on the things that we care most about.
Jordan Hadfield 7:33
Yes.
James Derrick 7:33
Before we wrap things up, Jordan, is there anything else you’d like to add?
Jordan Hadfield 7:37
Yeah, there is actually James. Spending our time in the right place with the right people isn’t entirely enough to accomplish this message that I’m trying to communicate. Doing it in the right mindset with the right attitude may even be more important. You know, for example, I’m down in my office working, and my kids, you know, want some of my time, and if I don’t leave the stress in my office, if I would have gone on that bike ride with my kids, and I would have carried that stress with me, or I would have been on edge, we wouldn’t have had the same experience, even though I left my work in the office and went to spend time with my kids. If I didn’t do it with the right attitude, it wouldn’t have had the same return on investment. So, A we need to be conscious about where we’re spending our time and making sure we’re spending our free time in with the people we love and in areas that bring us the most happiness, and then we have to allow that happiness to overcome us in those moments in order to make those moments valuable. And that’s the next step in this equation, and that can be difficult. Sometimes, sometimes we’re in a bad mood, sometimes we don’t get good sleep, sometimes life stresses weigh us down, and in those moments when we’re with our loved ones, doing the things that we love, if we let those other external stresses and frustrations weigh us down, those moments don’t mean as much.
James Derrick 9:02
It feels like real time wasted.
Jordan Hadfield 9:04
Yes.
James Derrick 9:05
At that point.
Jordan Hadfield 9:06
Even though we’re spending it wisely with the wrong mindset, we’re not getting the same return on investment. And so we need to be present with, you know, the right people in the right places, but we also need to do it from a place of love and happiness. And, you know, focus on being stress free. There’s a lot to be stressed about. There’s always a lot to be stressed about. And I think choosing not to be stressed for most people, in most situations, not all, is a choice, and we need to make that choice. We need to spend our time in better places, and we need to do it in a way that that really brings us and those people around us love and happiness, and that is my message in this article.
James Derrick 9:46
I really appreciate you coming in and sharing this. Jordan, I’m going to be working on it between now and the next time we see each other.
Jordan Hadfield 9:54
Me too. James, me too.
James Derrick 9:57
Thank you.
Shane Thomas 9:59
Thank you for joining the Power Up Wealth podcast. Smedley Financial is located at 102 S 200 E Ste 100 in Salt Lake City, UT 84111. Call us today at 800-748-4788. You can also find us on the web at Smedleyfinancial.com, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn. The views expressed are Smedley Financials and should not be construed directly or indirectly as an offer to buy or sell any securities or services mentioned herein. Investing is subject to risks, including loss of principal invested. Past performance is not a guarantee of future results. No strategy can assure a profit nor protect against loss. Please note that individual situations can vary. Therefore, the information should only be relied upon when coordinated with individual professional advice. Securities offered through Osaic Wealth, Inc., member FINRA/SIPC. Investment advisory services offered through Smedley Financial Services, Inc.® Osaic Wealth is separately owned, and other entities and/or marketing names, products, or services referenced here are independent of Osaic Wealth.
