What rich people figured out about time that most people haven’t

Hey zxcv, it’s Mark.

Whenever someone asks me what I wish I had more of, my answer never changes.

And I’d bet most millionaires would say the same thing.

I’d trade anything to have more time.

That’s why rich people see time a little bit differently than everyone else.

Let me explain…

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Firstly: Millionaires understand the best time to start is right now.

This is the best piece of advice I’ve heard that applies to investing…

“The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago. The second best time is right now”

But this doesn’t just apply to investing in the stock market.

Whether you’re investing in stocks, your side hustle, or even yourself, it takes time to see results.

The earlier you invest in something, the more time you have to reap the benefits from your initial investment.

The investments I made in my early 20s are still paying me at 58 but if you didn’t get started 30 years ago, don’t dwell on it… just get started NOW!

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Secondly: Millionaires understand how precious their time is.

Time is the most precious resource all of us have so whenever something upsets me I always think back to this mental model:

If you had $86,400 and someone stole $10 from you, would you throw the rest of it away?

No, of course you wouldn’t!

We have 86,400 seconds every day, so if someone upsets you or annoys you for 10 seconds, don’t let them ruin the rest.

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Thirdly: Millionaires only sell their time under certain circumstances

As a general rule you should have your money working for you, instead of selling your time.

There are only so many jobs you can fit into the week, that’s why trading time for money has its limits.

I was working a 9 to 5 job plus all the overtime, flipping cars on ‌weekday evenings, working in a shop on Saturdays and tutoring people on Sundays. I had no more time to sell!

So that’s when I started looking into ways to generate passive income through my investments like index funds, real estate and businesses.

There are exceptions, such as pop stars like Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift still sell their time at concerts, but they can justify charging huge amounts by selling one to many. Other millionaires sell extremely expensive consultation services.

So if you’re going to sell your time, make sure you can charge a lot for it and be very selective about who you work with. The majority of your income shouldn’t be tied to your hours in the day.

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zxcv, how are you making the most of the time you have this week? I’d love to know, so hit reply to this email.

All the best,

Mark Tilbury