Be an Intelligent Investor of Your Time

Today, I want to talk about why it is important to be an intelligent investor.

But you might think that this is not for you because you do not have any money to invest. You might be in a position where you are yet to start saving money.

That doesn’t mean you cannot be an investor.

We might not have the money to invest in something but we have the time.

Time is the best capital that we have when we are getting started.

If you have a weekend, would you waste it by watching TV? You can invest that time into your knowledge, health, and relationships.

When you invest your time in knowledge, it will give you the highest returns possible. The ROI on education can be infinite.

Elon Musk read books about space and rocket propulsion. He has a multibillion-dollar space company today. If we try to measure the ROI on the investment of the books, it is astronomical. But we do not see the investment in the books like any other investment because along with the little bit of money (books are usually cheap), we also have to invest our time and energy in the learning.

Investing time in learning takes – time.

And you can buy time with money.

If you save up enough money, you can quit your job and have free time. If you need to spend time in useless meetings, travel, and office politics, as an employee, quitting your job will be the best investment you will ever make. You are using your savings to quit the job, and you are trading money to buy time.

We all have the same capital of time in the world. If you value your time more, you will spend money in freeing up yourself from having to do tasks.

As an investor of time, you can make your decisions on where to invest your time, and based on how intelligently you invest that time, you will get good returns.

Once you invest your time in something and start making money in return, you can use that money to buy even more time. And if you have excess money and you still have free time then you can put that money in growth instruments like stocks, bonds, real estate, or bitcoins.

If taking up a new project means that I will make more money but will have less time, then I would rather safeguard my time instead of investing my time for money. Because the value of the money today is not much if I already have food to eat and a roof over my head.

For someone who doesn’t even have the basic necessities, trading their time and energy for money will be a good deal. Because basic necessities are important to survive, and life is of very high value.

As you earn more money in life and have more security, don’t try to make even more money by investing the only thing that you have in your life that God has given you as a gift – your time.

Don’t take extra jobs. Say no to responsibilities. Say no to a promotion.

Your time is valuable.

It will be the seed from which the flower of wealth will grow. Then you don’t need to buy flowers. Flowers will grow in your back yard. Meaning: You don’t need to spend your time in return for money in the short term. Because if you invest your time the right way by letting go of having to get money in the short term, you will make a lot more in the long term.

Do not work for money. Work for building assets by investing your time and money. Let the assets make you money.

For me, the business I have built is the best asset I have built. I did not need to invest money to build my business. I had to invest my time. And my time investment in this business is giving me great returns today. If I had spent my time doing a job for a higher salary 3 years back, my income wouldn’t have grown exponentially today. Salaries grow linearly.

Just like a few dollars worth of bitcoins is worth tens of thousands of dollars today, the investment of your time will give you exponential returns in the future.

Delayed gratification is the best way to build wealth. Don’t buy that car. Don’t buy that house. Don’t go into debt. Earn enough so that you can have free time and invest that time in building your business, your knowledge, your health, and your relationships.

And that’s how you become an intelligent investor. An investor of time.