Life's Most Bitter Truth: What Your University Won't Teach You...

TRANSCRIPT:

Hey this is MJ DeMarco and I’d like to officially announce, I’m back!

It’s been nearly TEN years since I’ve actually did an in-person video and a lot has changed besides the gray hair and wrinkles. As you might know, one of the big changes for me, is I left Phoenix Arizona now live in Alpine Utah which is a little town about 40 minute SE of Salt Lake City. Now a lot of people asked me “why?” especially since I hate snow and lived in Arizona for nearly 25 years and pretty much, loved living there.

Unfortunately the “why” I would move to a place that is subject to snow and blizzards is another video, but since we’re on the topic of SNOW, it is a good segue into this video’s topic: What am I about to say, if you accept it, will be a major paradigm shift in your life. And if you don’t accept it, well I have bad news: I don’t need you to believe me because TIME will make you a believer. TIME will teach you the lesson. And by the time that TIME teaches you the lesson, it will be too late.

So when I was at college earning a finance degree, one concept was repeatedly drilled home: Money today is better than money tomorrow. This concept, the discounted time value of money, is universally taught worldwide, no matter the university. The concept is simple: Given a choice, you always prefer X dollars NOW over X dollars LATER. One million dollars today is light-years better than one million dollars fifty years from now. If you ever played the lottery, you’ll recognize this phenomenon: the winner doesn’t get the $10M prize immediately but over 30 years. If they want all of the money now, they’ll only receive about half.

When time is involved, future money is discounted by an arbitrary interest rate. For example, one million dollars received fifty years from now and discounted at a mere five percent interest is worth only $87,000 in today’s money. Folks, that doesn’t even buy you a top of the line Ford F150. If there was any evidence proving that TIME is a horrific partner for wealth, look no further than the prior statement.

So here’s the big paradigm shift: When it comes to time itself, a more valuable resource than money since you can’t make more if, and you’ll never be as young as you are today, TIME enjoys no such discounting. No school teaches what I call The Discounted Time Principle which I discuss in my latest book,The Great Rat Race Escape . The Discounted Time Principle states that future “elderly” time is not as valuable as today’s youthful time. Think of it this way. If a genie granted you a ten years of total of financial freedom, would you want it at thirty years old? Or at seventy? Isn’t freedom better while you’re young and vibrant and not in life’s twilight when health and energy might be precarious?”

So let’s get back to me moving to place that gets a lot of snow. I’m about 45 minutes away from one the best skiing capitals in the world Park City Utah. So when people heard that I was moving to the area, the first question they asked was, “Oh, do you ski?” And the answer is, unfortunately NO. And here’s the thing … if I wanted to learn how to ski at my age, I’m not sure I could. I’ve had multiple orthopedic surgeries, from shoulders to elbows, I have no cartilage in my ankles, and have bad knees from playing years of pickup basketball, and basically, me learning how to ski at my age is not the same as me learning to ski at age 30. You see TIME makes my free time less valuable as I get older and older, simply because time ravishes your body and the things you could enjoy at age 30 are not the same things you can enjoy at age 70.

So whenever some rat race media outlet or one of these “financial experts” is preaching about financial freedom if you just start saving now while waiting 30 or 40 years, be warned. You’re getting brainwashed and numbed into believing freedom at twenty-five is exactly the same as freedom at seventy-five. I’m mean think about that insanity. Mainstream financial experts want you to penny pinch every dollar and deprive yourself of life experiences in your youth, so one day you might finally enjoy those life experiences old. It’s a freaking mind-F*ck, and people drink this shit up like a pina colada on the beach.

This fact is something you’ll never learn in business school. If universities taught the discounted time value of time like they did money, Wall Street’s “live poor die rich” financial orthodoxy wouldn’t survive. Entire industries and economies would go bankrupt because the rats would finally figure out that their time is too valuable for trading. Yes, youth isn’t wasted on youth. It’s wasted on cultural norms that normalize and then celebrate the “exchange of youthful time for elderly time.”

My friend, whenever you’re on Instagram and one of those cute “financial freedom” graphs show up on your feed saying after X years X saved per month will be worth with X dollars, run the other way. TIME is a NOT to be used as a variable for wealth, because TIME is wealth. One belief that needs to be swapped is a resource reconfiguration: Time first, money second. You can always earn more money, but you can’t make more time. Using TIME for wealth is like your selling body parts for money … at some point, you’ll have no body left to enjoy your millions.

Now a great book that expands on this is Die with Zero by Bill Perkins. I don’t agree with everything in this book, but it has some fascinating perspectives on this philosophy and frankly, I think he does a better job at explain the Discounted Time Value principle.

Now that said, I definitely will try to learn how to ski, I’m not on to make excuses for not trying, but I don’t hold myself to any expectation. For more resources including the books mentioned in this video, check out the description below. Hope you learned something today, until next time, I’m MJ DeMarco!!

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

Great work MJ. Love that you did a talking head video. I’m sure it will help spread this life changing message.

Thanks Andy, I'm finally more settled into my new house and can start doing more live "talking head" videos. It's my first in a whopping TEN YEARS!!! And with not having experience during that time with microphones, lighting, editing, and various other things, I'm happy with it as a first video. I have nearly 50,000 subscribers and it is a waste to not utilize that audience, especially since video is the hot content consumption medium right now.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Funny how the image below feels like hyperbole... but it is a stone cold fact...

 

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[Kak]

Great message man!

Looking good in a bad a$$ office!

 

[WJK]

TRANSCRIPT:

Hey this is MJ DeMarco and I’d like to officially announce, I’m back!

It’s been nearly TEN years since I’ve actually did an in-person video and a lot has changed besides the gray hair and wrinkles. As you might know, one of the big changes for me, is I left Phoenix Arizona now live in Alpine Utah which is a little town about 40 minute SE of Salt Lake City. Now a lot of people asked me “why?” especially since I hate snow and lived in Arizona for nearly 25 years and pretty much, loved living there.

Unfortunately the “why” I would move to a place that is subject to snow and blizzards is another video, but since we’re on the topic of SNOW, it is a good segue into this video’s topic: What am I about to say, if you accept it, will be a major paradigm shift in your life. And if you don’t accept it, well I have bad news: I don’t need you to believe me because TIME will make you a believer. TIME will teach you the lesson. And by the time that TIME teaches you the lesson, it will be too late.

So when I was at college earning a finance degree, one concept was repeatedly drilled home: Money today is better than money tomorrow. This concept, the discounted time value of money, is universally taught worldwide, no matter the university. The concept is simple: Given a choice, you always prefer X dollars NOW over X dollars LATER. One million dollars today is light-years better than one million dollars fifty years from now. If you ever played the lottery, you’ll recognize this phenomenon: the winner doesn’t get the $10M prize immediately but over 30 years. If they want all of the money now, they’ll only receive about half.

When time is involved, future money is discounted by an arbitrary interest rate. For example, one million dollars received fifty years from now and discounted at a mere five percent interest is worth only $87,000 in today’s money. Folks, that doesn’t even buy you a top of the line Ford F150. If there was any evidence proving that TIME is a horrific partner for wealth, look no further than the prior statement.

So here’s the big paradigm shift: When it comes to time itself, a more valuable resource than money since you can’t make more if, and you’ll never be as young as you are today, TIME enjoys no such discounting. No school teaches what I call The Discounted Time Principle which I discuss in my latest book,The Great Rat Race Escape . The Discounted Time Principle states that future “elderly” time is not as valuable as today’s youthful time. Think of it this way. If a genie granted you a ten years of total of financial freedom, would you want it at thirty years old? Or at seventy? Isn’t freedom better while you’re young and vibrant and not in life’s twilight when health and energy might be precarious?”

So let’s get back to me moving to place that gets a lot of snow. I’m about 45 minutes away from one the best skiing capitals in the world Park City Utah. So when people heard that I was moving to the area, the first question they asked was, “Oh, do you ski?” And the answer is, unfortunately NO. And here’s the thing … if I wanted to learn how to ski at my age, I’m not sure I could. I’ve had multiple orthopedic surgeries, from shoulders to elbows, I have no cartilage in my ankles, and have bad knees from playing years of pickup basketball, and basically, me learning how to ski at my age is not the same as me learning to ski at age 30. You see TIME makes my free time less valuable as I get older and older, simply because time ravishes your body and the things you could enjoy at age 30 are not the same things you can enjoy at age 70.

So whenever some rat race media outlet or one of these “financial experts” is preaching about financial freedom if you just start saving now while waiting 30 or 40 years, be warned. You’re getting brainwashed and numbed into believing freedom at twenty-five is exactly the same as freedom at seventy-five. I’m mean think about that insanity. Mainstream financial experts want you to penny pinch every dollar and deprive yourself of life experiences in your youth, so one day you might finally enjoy those life experiences old. It’s a freaking mind-f*ck, and people drink this shit up like a pina colada on the beach.

This fact is something you’ll never learn in business school. If universities taught the discounted time value of time like they did money, Wall Street’s “live poor die rich” financial orthodoxy wouldn’t survive. Entire industries and economies would go bankrupt because the rats would finally figure out that their time is too valuable for trading. Yes, youth isn’t wasted on youth. It’s wasted on cultural norms that normalize and then celebrate the “exchange of youthful time for elderly time.”

My friend, whenever you’re on Instagram and one of those cute “financial freedom” graphs show up on your feed saying after X years X saved per month will be worth with X dollars, run the other way. TIME is a NOT to be used as a variable for wealth, because TIME is wealth. One belief that needs to be swapped is a resource reconfiguration: Time first, money second. You can always earn more money, but you can’t make more time. Using TIME for wealth is like your selling body parts for money … at some point, you’ll have no body left to enjoy your millions.

Now a great book that expands on this is Die with Zero by Bill Perkins. I don’t agree with everything in this book, but it has some fascinating perspectives on this philosophy and frankly, I think he does a better job at explain the Discounted Time Value principle.

Now that said, I definitely will try to learn how to ski, I’m not on to make excuses for not trying, but I don’t hold myself to any expectation. For more resources including the books mentioned in this video, check out the description below. Hope you learned something today, until next time, I’m MJ DeMarco!!

I'm older than you and I've learned to cross country ski. It's fun and I'm NOT as worried about breaking a leg. Another activity is snowshoeing. Both are good exercises.

 

[Johnny boy]

With entrepreneurship, it's often easier to double your income than it is to put 50% of it towards savings. And it's twice as fun.

 

[Walter Hay]

What a great wakeup call! Life is uncertain anyway, so why sell your life now for tomorrow, when tomorrow you might fall under that proverbial bus?

My attitude to this has always led me to avoid budgeting for my businesses. I have always just gotten stuck into doing the best I can now, and enjoying the results now. If I spent my time worrying about preparing and meeting a budget does that mean I am more likely to achieve that self-imposed target?

One target has always been in my mind - Succeed at what I am doing.

Thanks MJ.

Walter

 

[Andy Black]

TRANSCRIPT:

Hey this is MJ DeMarco and I’d like to official announce, I’m back!

It’s been nearly TEN years since I’ve actually did an in-person video and a lot has changed besides the gray hair and wrinkles. As you might know, one of the big changes for me, is I left Phoenix Arizona now live in Alpine Utah which is a little town about 40 minute SE of Salt Lake City. Now a lot of people asked me “why?” especially since I hate snow and lived in Arizona for nearly 25 years and pretty much, loved living there.

Unfortunately the “why” I would move to a place that is subject to snow and blizzards is another video, but since we’re on the topic of SNOW, it is a good segue into this video’s topic: What am I about to say, if you accept it, will be a major paradigm shift in your life. And if you don’t accept it, well I have bad news: I don’t need you to believe me because TIME will make you a believer. TIME will teach you the lesson. And by the time that TIME teaches you the lesson, it will be too late.

So when I was at college earning a finance degree, one concept was repeatedly drilled home: Money today is better than money tomorrow. This concept, the discounted time value of money, is universally taught worldwide, no matter the university. The concept is simple: Given a choice, you always prefer X dollars NOW over X dollars LATER. One million dollars today is light-years better than one million dollars fifty years from now. If you ever played the lottery, you’ll recognize this phenomenon: the winner doesn’t get the $10M prize immediately but over 30 years. If they want all of the money now, they’ll only receive about half.

When time is involved, future money is discounted by an arbitrary interest rate. For example, one million dollars received fifty years from now and discounted at a mere five percent interest is worth only $87,000 in today’s money. Folks, that doesn’t even buy you a top of the line Ford F150. If there was any evidence proving that TIME is a horrific partner for wealth, look no further than the prior statement.

So here’s the big paradigm shift: When it comes to time itself, a more valuable resource than money since you can’t make more if, and you’ll never be as young as you are today, TIME enjoys no such discounting. No school teaches what I call The Discounted Time Principle which I discuss in my latest book,The Great Rat Race Escape . The Discounted Time Principle states that future “elderly” time is not as valuable as today’s youthful time. Think of it this way. If a genie granted you a ten years of total of financial freedom, would you want it at thirty years old? Or at seventy? Isn’t freedom better while you’re young and vibrant and not in life’s twilight when health and energy might be precarious?”

So let’s get back to me moving to place that gets a lot of snow. I’m about 45 minutes away from one the best skiing capitals in the world Park City Utah. So when people heard that I was moving to the area, the first question they asked was, “Oh, do you ski?” And the answer is, unfortunately NO. And here’s the thing … if I wanted to learn how to ski at my age, I’m not sure I could. I’ve had multiple orthopedic surgeries, from shoulders to elbows, I have no cartilage in my ankles, and have bad knees from playing years of pickup basketball, and basically, me learning how to ski at my age is not the same as me learning to ski at age 30. You see TIME makes my free time less valuable as I get older and older, simply because time ravishes your body and the things you could enjoy at age 30 are not the same things you can enjoy at age 70.

So whenever some rat race media outlet or one of these “financial experts” is preaching about financial freedom if you just start saving now while waiting 30 or 40 years, be warned. You’re getting brainwashed and numbed into believing freedom at twenty-five is exactly the same as freedom at seventy-five. I’m mean think about that insanity. Mainstream financial experts want you to penny pinch every dollar and deprive yourself of life experiences in your youth, so one day you might finally enjoy those life experiences old. It’s a freaking mind-f*ck, and people drink this shit up like a pina colada on the beach.

This fact is something you’ll never learn in business school. If universities taught the discounted time value of time like they did money, Wall Street’s “live poor die rich” financial orthodoxy wouldn’t survive. Entire industries and economies would go bankrupt because the rats would finally figure out that their time is too valuable for trading. Yes, youth isn’t wasted on youth. It’s wasted on cultural norms that normalize and then celebrate the “exchange of youthful time for elderly time.”

My friend, whenever you’re on Instagram and one of those cute “financial freedom” graphs show up on your feed saying after X years X saved per month will be worth with X dollars, run the other way. TIME is a NOT to be used as a variable for wealth, because TIME is wealth. One belief that needs to be swapped is a resource reconfiguration: Time first, money second. You can always earn more money, but you can’t make more time. Using TIME for wealth is like your selling body parts for money … at some point, you’ll have no body left to enjoy your millions.

Now a great book that expands on this is Die with Zero by Bill Perkins. I don’t agree with everything in this book, but it has some fascinating perspectives on this philosophy and frankly, I think he does a better job at explain the Discounted Time Value principle.

Now that said, I definitely will try to learn how to ski, I’m not on to make excuses for not trying, but I don’t hold myself to any expectation. For more resources including the books mentioned in this video, check out the description below. Hope you learned something today, until next time, I’m MJ DeMarco!!

Great work MJ. Love that you did a talking head video. I’m sure it will help spread this life changing message.

 

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[Odysseus M Jones]

George Clooney move over.

There's a new Silver Fox in town

 

[WJK]

Funny how the image below feels like hyperbole... but it is a stone cold fact...

View attachment 41233

Yes, I see what you are saying. I am still frugal even though I can afford pretty much whatever I want. I just don't want "it" anymore. I have no one to impress these days except myself. I just allocate my assets differently than a lot of people around me.

Here's my bottom line. I sure don't want to go into debt to buy more stuff to keep up the Jones'. That's a silly, counterproductive idea. I don't want to owe the bank $ -- I want to BE the bank that others owe. That's why I'm saving my money right now and expanding one of my side gigs in a new direction. I LOVE to make deals. To me, it's so much fun to play Monopoly with real money. Others can play their computers games and create a "let's pretend" illusion. I am happily building my little "empire" with real property interests and securities.
Oh, sorry. I'm on my soapbox again...

To get back to your idea... I don't think the problem is being too frugal or being a spendthrift -- either is just as bad. It's two sides of the same coin -- both are based on naked FEAR!

I think the real problem with being frugal like your Joe Jones is putting off being happy until you save ____ amount of money -- own ______, the perfect thing -- do/go _______ ...
It's when, in our heads and hearts, we are living in -- and for tomorrow -- while we literally only have today. It's many times the "what ifs" thinking-loop --spending all one's time worrying and preparing for all those catastrophic events that never happen.
(Is the end of the world just around the next corner? My answer to that is: when I'm dead, all my problems are over anyway -- so why worry?)

The real tragedy to me is to NOT enjoy the journey. The ending is a pretty flat feeling when you finally get there and you've already sucked all the happiness out of that accomplishment.

It's also NOT being able to add value and our personal touch to our little corner of the world. It is the feeling that our hard struggles and effort do NOT matter. They go unseen or noticed.

Being frugal is a game to me for all those things that aren't very important. I hate to spend money on trivia. But I spend money freely on things that I really need or to improve my life. That's one of the great perks of being financially independent.

I can buy something and use it once, or only a few times. Then I'm free to give it away to someone who needs that item. (That allows me to try a product and decide that I either like or don't like it. I don't have to keep using it until it's gone, worn out, or broken.)

I don't have to pack "heavy" to go on a trip. I can buy what I need or want along the way. If need shampoo, I can buy it when I get there rather than worrying about it spilling on my underwear. If I get cold, I can buy myself a new jacket and then feel free to put it in a donation box rather than in my luggage. If I see something I really want, I can have it boxed up and sent to my home.

I can decide to NOT buy the item and just go rent it for a specific time period. Then, when I'm done, I take it back to its rightful owner. I don't have to store it, clean it, insure it, dust it, or even look at it. Yes, there are times when it would be cheaper to buy the item, but I ask myself IF I really want to own it. If the answer is no, then I can make another decision.

If I really like something, I can buy one for each space where I'll use it. (I bought new vacuum cleaners for my different buildings this last fall. I gave away the ones we had been using.) I don't have to carry tools, supplies, or machines from one job to another all day long. I can afford to have those items on site.

If I really don't want to do something, I can hire a person to come to do it for me. No harm, No foul. As my grandfather would have said, "I ain't gotta do nothing these days, that I ain't wantin' to do."

For a girl who grew up "poor", this mindset is sure different for me! Was it worth all the years of struggles and painful days? You bet you! Those times tempered me -- like turning iron into steel. Over the years I succeeded and I failed. I made fortunes and then lost them. I got up every morning and I went to work -- because the sun came up again and again. Would my life had been better if some of that success had stuck at a younger age. Maybe. But like I said. For me, it's all about the journey, not the end accomplishment. The proof is in the mindset and the memories...

 

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[Antifragile]

You can always earn more money, but you can’t make more time. Using TIME for wealth is like your selling body parts for money … at some point, you’ll have no body left to enjoy your millions.

Well put MJ. 100%

Great message! And glad you are back putting out videos!

 

[WJK]

My wife and I were happiest when we younger and in debt. We had debt on the things that we had with and our income was low but we didn't care because we were having fun and it was the best time of my life. Fast forward 20 years and we are way way better off finincially and have gotten rather cheap. We are indeed less happy with life and eachother overall. Money doesn't always solve problems. We used to be so spontanious and go do weekend trips and now we analize how much that would cost and just sit at home.

I totally understand. The best thing I ever did was to take care of my mom for the last 10 years of her life. We laughed a lot and we had some wonderful days together. Those years and moments are what I think about when I think of her.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Definitely liking the new look too.

I always had a picture of you in my mind as a younger guy.

Well when I started writing TMF, I considered myself young as I was still in my late 30s. But that book is over 10+ years old from first word to today.

Someone once told me that once you hit your late 30's, things seem to go south pretty fast. My early 40s was rife with a lot of fitness injuries, torn ligaments/muscles, surgeries, and various other physical problems that cannot be repaired with diet or medicine.

I used to play pickup BB 3-4 times a week... after rolling an ankle the Nteenth time and limping to my car, little did I realize then it would be the last time I would play.

Another something I heard...

The next time you do something you enjoy, try to remember that it might be the LAST TIME you ever do it.

For me it was basketball... (which sucks because my home has an indoor basketball court which I use now as a pickelball court).

I definitely want to try to ski, but I get a bad feeling that I'm being overly optimistic...

 

[Iammelissamoore]

TRANSCRIPT:

Hey this is MJ DeMarco and I’d like to officially announce, I’m back!

It’s been nearly TEN years since I’ve actually did an in-person video and a lot has changed besides the gray hair and wrinkles. As you might know, one of the big changes for me, is I left Phoenix Arizona now live in Alpine Utah which is a little town about 40 minute SE of Salt Lake City. Now a lot of people asked me “why?” especially since I hate snow and lived in Arizona for nearly 25 years and pretty much, loved living there.

Unfortunately the “why” I would move to a place that is subject to snow and blizzards is another video, but since we’re on the topic of SNOW, it is a good segue into this video’s topic: What am I about to say, if you accept it, will be a major paradigm shift in your life. And if you don’t accept it, well I have bad news: I don’t need you to believe me because TIME will make you a believer. TIME will teach you the lesson. And by the time that TIME teaches you the lesson, it will be too late.

So when I was at college earning a finance degree, one concept was repeatedly drilled home: Money today is better than money tomorrow. This concept, the discounted time value of money, is universally taught worldwide, no matter the university. The concept is simple: Given a choice, you always prefer X dollars NOW over X dollars LATER. One million dollars today is light-years better than one million dollars fifty years from now. If you ever played the lottery, you’ll recognize this phenomenon: the winner doesn’t get the $10M prize immediately but over 30 years. If they want all of the money now, they’ll only receive about half.

When time is involved, future money is discounted by an arbitrary interest rate. For example, one million dollars received fifty years from now and discounted at a mere five percent interest is worth only $87,000 in today’s money. Folks, that doesn’t even buy you a top of the line Ford F150. If there was any evidence proving that TIME is a horrific partner for wealth, look no further than the prior statement.

So here’s the big paradigm shift: When it comes to time itself, a more valuable resource than money since you can’t make more if, and you’ll never be as young as you are today, TIME enjoys no such discounting. No school teaches what I call The Discounted Time Principle which I discuss in my latest book,The Great Rat Race Escape . The Discounted Time Principle states that future “elderly” time is not as valuable as today’s youthful time. Think of it this way. If a genie granted you a ten years of total of financial freedom, would you want it at thirty years old? Or at seventy? Isn’t freedom better while you’re young and vibrant and not in life’s twilight when health and energy might be precarious?”

So let’s get back to me moving to place that gets a lot of snow. I’m about 45 minutes away from one the best skiing capitals in the world Park City Utah. So when people heard that I was moving to the area, the first question they asked was, “Oh, do you ski?” And the answer is, unfortunately NO. And here’s the thing … if I wanted to learn how to ski at my age, I’m not sure I could. I’ve had multiple orthopedic surgeries, from shoulders to elbows, I have no cartilage in my ankles, and have bad knees from playing years of pickup basketball, and basically, me learning how to ski at my age is not the same as me learning to ski at age 30. You see TIME makes my free time less valuable as I get older and older, simply because time ravishes your body and the things you could enjoy at age 30 are not the same things you can enjoy at age 70.

So whenever some rat race media outlet or one of these “financial experts” is preaching about financial freedom if you just start saving now while waiting 30 or 40 years, be warned. You’re getting brainwashed and numbed into believing freedom at twenty-five is exactly the same as freedom at seventy-five. I’m mean think about that insanity. Mainstream financial experts want you to penny pinch every dollar and deprive yourself of life experiences in your youth, so one day you might finally enjoy those life experiences old. It’s a freaking mind-f*ck, and people drink this shit up like a pina colada on the beach.

This fact is something you’ll never learn in business school. If universities taught the discounted time value of time like they did money, Wall Street’s “live poor die rich” financial orthodoxy wouldn’t survive. Entire industries and economies would go bankrupt because the rats would finally figure out that their time is too valuable for trading. Yes, youth isn’t wasted on youth. It’s wasted on cultural norms that normalize and then celebrate the “exchange of youthful time for elderly time.”

My friend, whenever you’re on Instagram and one of those cute “financial freedom” graphs show up on your feed saying after X years X saved per month will be worth with X dollars, run the other way. TIME is a NOT to be used as a variable for wealth, because TIME is wealth. One belief that needs to be swapped is a resource reconfiguration: Time first, money second. You can always earn more money, but you can’t make more time. Using TIME for wealth is like your selling body parts for money … at some point, you’ll have no body left to enjoy your millions.

Now a great book that expands on this is Die with Zero by Bill Perkins. I don’t agree with everything in this book, but it has some fascinating perspectives on this philosophy and frankly, I think he does a better job at explain the Discounted Time Value principle.

Now that said, I definitely will try to learn how to ski, I’m not on to make excuses for not trying, but I don’t hold myself to any expectation. For more resources including the books mentioned in this video, check out the description below. Hope you learned something today, until next time, I’m MJ DeMarco!!

SUPER Great seeing you back again. Happily reading and organising with your 3rd work of art. Definitely liking the new look too. Always appreciate the exceptional guidance.

 

[MTF]

Well when I started writing TMF, I considered myself young as I was still in my late 30s. But that book is over 10+ years old from first word to today.

Someone once told me that once you hit your late 30's, things seem to go south pretty fast. My early 40s was rife with a lot of fitness injuries, torn ligaments/muscles, surgeries, and various other physical problems that cannot be repaired with diet or medicine.

I used to play pickup BB 3-4 times a week... after rolling an ankle the Nteenth time and limping to my car, little did I realize then it would be the last time I would play.

Another something I heard...

The next time you do something you enjoy, try to remember that it might be the LAST TIME you ever do it.

For me it was basketball... (which sucks because my home has an indoor basketball court which I use now as a pickelball court).

I definitely want to try to ski, but I get a bad feeling that I'm being overly optimistic...

That sucks to hear.

That's partly why I prefer activities that even people 60+ can easily enjoy or sometimes can even still excel in them. Stuff like climbing, swimming, some types of martial arts that rely more on technique (BJJ possibly), diving, surfing or yoga. In all of these there's a large number of people doing it for life and often still improving in at least some aspects of them.

As for issues with ankles, I wouldn't be surprised if they were all caused by wearing basketball shoes.

IMO the traditional shoe industry is a scam. There are huge 100% proven benefits of going barefoot as often as we can. Many injuries can be avoided by going back to the roots.

Case in point:

Walking barefoot results in a more natural gait. People who are used to walking barefoot tend to land less forcefully, eliminating the hard heel strike and generating much less collision force in the foot and lower leg.[36] A 2006 study found that shoes may increase stress on the knee and ankle, and suggested that adults who walked barefoot may have a lower rate of osteoarthritis,[37] although more study is required to elucidate the factors that distribute loads in shod and barefoot walking. A 2007 study examined 180 modern humans and compared their feet with 2,000-year-old skeletons. They concluded that, before the invention of shoes, humans overall had healthier feet.[36] A 1991 study found that children who wore shoes were three times more likely to have flat feet than those who did not, and suggested that wearing shoes in early childhood can be detrimental to the longitudinal arch of the foot.[32] Children who habitually go barefoot were found to have stronger feet, with better flexibility and mobility, fewer deformities like flat feet or toes that curve inwards, and fewer complaints.[38] Walking barefoot enables a more natural gait, eliminating the hard heel strike and instead, allowing for a rocking motion of the foot from heel to toe.[36] Similarly, barefoot running usually involves an initial forefoot strike, instead of on the rear of the foot, generating smaller collision forces.

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

So - get out there and live today my friends. Because as cliché as it is - tomorrow is never guaranteed.

Absolutely. Part of the Fastlane is massive income acceleration, or asymmetric returns which gives you the ability to spend money stress free. Religious and fantatic saving (as now advocated by every financial guru) is really a prescription to starve your life of youthful experiences.

 

[Dionysos]

Great video MJ!

Read in the books about this and that really opened my eyes! Never before had I even thought about this concept so deeply..

It's funny that once you have 'seen the light' you see all the people around you use these principles wasting their time.. I know I have wasted a lot, but as I just turned 31 this fires me up so much!

 

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[Jemmalee]

. It’s a freaking mind-f*ck, and people drink this shit up like a pina colada on the beach.

THIS.
THIS IS FRICKIN GOLD.

 

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[Guest-5ty5s4]

It’s great to see you in a video again!

Love the message, and can’t wait to see more.

 

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[Guest-5ty5s4]

My takeaway from all this is simple: even with the best defense, you can't win the game if you never score a point.

Offense is required.

 

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[CLE]

My wife and I were happiest when we younger and in debt. We had debt on the things that we had with and our income was low but we didn't care because we were having fun and it was the best time of my life. Fast forward 20 years and we are way way better off finincially and have gotten rather cheap. We are indeed less happy with life and eachother overall. Money doesn't always solve problems. We used to be so spontanious and go do weekend trips and now we analize how much that would cost and just sit at home.

 

[Gabbe18]

TRANSCRIPT:

Hey this is MJ DeMarco and I’d like to officially announce, I’m back!

It’s been nearly TEN years since I’ve actually did an in-person video and a lot has changed besides the gray hair and wrinkles. As you might know, one of the big changes for me, is I left Phoenix Arizona now live in Alpine Utah which is a little town about 40 minute SE of Salt Lake City. Now a lot of people asked me “why?” especially since I hate snow and lived in Arizona for nearly 25 years and pretty much, loved living there.

Unfortunately the “why” I would move to a place that is subject to snow and blizzards is another video, but since we’re on the topic of SNOW, it is a good segue into this video’s topic: What am I about to say, if you accept it, will be a major paradigm shift in your life. And if you don’t accept it, well I have bad news: I don’t need you to believe me because TIME will make you a believer. TIME will teach you the lesson. And by the time that TIME teaches you the lesson, it will be too late.

So when I was at college earning a finance degree, one concept was repeatedly drilled home: Money today is better than money tomorrow. This concept, the discounted time value of money, is universally taught worldwide, no matter the university. The concept is simple: Given a choice, you always prefer X dollars NOW over X dollars LATER. One million dollars today is light-years better than one million dollars fifty years from now. If you ever played the lottery, you’ll recognize this phenomenon: the winner doesn’t get the $10M prize immediately but over 30 years. If they want all of the money now, they’ll only receive about half.

When time is involved, future money is discounted by an arbitrary interest rate. For example, one million dollars received fifty years from now and discounted at a mere five percent interest is worth only $87,000 in today’s money. Folks, that doesn’t even buy you a top of the line Ford F150. If there was any evidence proving that TIME is a horrific partner for wealth, look no further than the prior statement.

So here’s the big paradigm shift: When it comes to time itself, a more valuable resource than money since you can’t make more if, and you’ll never be as young as you are today, TIME enjoys no such discounting. No school teaches what I call The Discounted Time Principle which I discuss in my latest book,The Great Rat Race Escape . The Discounted Time Principle states that future “elderly” time is not as valuable as today’s youthful time. Think of it this way. If a genie granted you a ten years of total of financial freedom, would you want it at thirty years old? Or at seventy? Isn’t freedom better while you’re young and vibrant and not in life’s twilight when health and energy might be precarious?”

So let’s get back to me moving to place that gets a lot of snow. I’m about 45 minutes away from one the best skiing capitals in the world Park City Utah. So when people heard that I was moving to the area, the first question they asked was, “Oh, do you ski?” And the answer is, unfortunately NO. And here’s the thing … if I wanted to learn how to ski at my age, I’m not sure I could. I’ve had multiple orthopedic surgeries, from shoulders to elbows, I have no cartilage in my ankles, and have bad knees from playing years of pickup basketball, and basically, me learning how to ski at my age is not the same as me learning to ski at age 30. You see TIME makes my free time less valuable as I get older and older, simply because time ravishes your body and the things you could enjoy at age 30 are not the same things you can enjoy at age 70.

So whenever some rat race media outlet or one of these “financial experts” is preaching about financial freedom if you just start saving now while waiting 30 or 40 years, be warned. You’re getting brainwashed and numbed into believing freedom at twenty-five is exactly the same as freedom at seventy-five. I’m mean think about that insanity. Mainstream financial experts want you to penny pinch every dollar and deprive yourself of life experiences in your youth, so one day you might finally enjoy those life experiences old. It’s a freaking mind-f*ck, and people drink this shit up like a pina colada on the beach.

This fact is something you’ll never learn in business school. If universities taught the discounted time value of time like they did money, Wall Street’s “live poor die rich” financial orthodoxy wouldn’t survive. Entire industries and economies would go bankrupt because the rats would finally figure out that their time is too valuable for trading. Yes, youth isn’t wasted on youth. It’s wasted on cultural norms that normalize and then celebrate the “exchange of youthful time for elderly time.”

My friend, whenever you’re on Instagram and one of those cute “financial freedom” graphs show up on your feed saying after X years X saved per month will be worth with X dollars, run the other way. TIME is a NOT to be used as a variable for wealth, because TIME is wealth. One belief that needs to be swapped is a resource reconfiguration: Time first, money second. You can always earn more money, but you can’t make more time. Using TIME for wealth is like your selling body parts for money … at some point, you’ll have no body left to enjoy your millions.

Now a great book that expands on this is Die with Zero by Bill Perkins. I don’t agree with everything in this book, but it has some fascinating perspectives on this philosophy and frankly, I think he does a better job at explain the Discounted Time Value principle.

Now that said, I definitely will try to learn how to ski, I’m not on to make excuses for not trying, but I don’t hold myself to any expectation. For more resources including the books mentioned in this video, check out the description below. Hope you learned something today, until next time, I’m MJ DeMarco!!

Another great video MJ!

 

[MJ DeMarco]

We used to be so spontanious and go do weekend trips and now we analize how much that would cost and just sit at home.

Money doesn't always solve problems.

This is a contradiction. By the sound of things, you are still a slave to money. If money wasn't a problem, you would be spontaneous. You would do X, Y, and Z and not hesitate. You would enjoy life. The problem is calling oneself "Free" but being still chained to an existence because money is still your jailbars.

Fast forward 20 years and we are way way better off finincially and have gotten rather cheap.

yes, because you are allowing the mainstream "narrative"to define your way of life.

Your "youthful freedom" was far more valuable because you enjoyed life experiences.

Now you can tell yourself you're "financially secure" while basically doing nothing but worrying about money. Save for retirement! Again, I'd rather be young and broke rather than live that existence.

 

[paulyh]

Thanks MJ,
A great reminder that you could be dead tomorrow, so get after it!
I'm a 51 year ski bum and couldn't be happier. Get out on the slopes MJ, you won't regret it!
Oh, and take some lessons first

 

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[Simon Angel]

Every time I feel like I'm not "earning" enough I remind myself that I'm not even spending 1/3 of my monthly income. That, and the fact that I was born a billionaire in terms of time.

With what I earn I can't buy a "sports" car, a nice house, or a private island. But I can grab a ticket to practically anywhere in the world, go to a restaurant every day, not worry about food or bills, and throw money at everything that catches my attention (when I previously had to do mental maths on whether I'd have enough left for survival). I'm also free to pursue anything I want after about 1-2 hours of work at most per day.

@MJ DeMarco

In regards to skiing, my best and only tip is to learn how to turn FIRST.

I got stuck thinking I needed to learn how to brake before anything else, but braking/slowing down comes easy when you know how to turn!

Source: A total of 2 days of skiing ever. Fell 20+ times on my first day, nearly launched myself off a 50ft drop and sprained my wrist. Immediately went skiing again the next morning (with a swollen wrist) and told myself I couldn't fall even once. I did not fall even once.

 

[Simon Angel]

@MTF @MJ DeMarco

https://www.youtube.com/c/ChadZuberAdventures/videos

49 years old. Basically wears flip-flops with better support. Builds everything with his bare hands.

One of my favorite channels. This guy is a legend. His story is interesting too - says he couldn't adapt to the modern way of living and working a job (well into his 40s, not 20s or something) and sook answers elsewhere.. in nature.

Ironically, recording his adventures in nature (yes, he's a one-man crew) he ended up earning money in the "real" and "modern" world.

Suggest starting from here:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tstHo8dWDg

 

[SteveO]

@SteveO might remember the last time I played softball... I had the game winning hit as a sub. Little did I know as I left the field that night it would be the last time I would play.

It wasn't just the game winning hit. It was the playoff winning hit... against a team that was in a higher division than us!

 

[MJ DeMarco]

@SteveO might remember the last time I played softball... I had the game winning hit as a sub. Little did I know as I left the field that night it would be the last time I would play.

The next time you do something you enjoy, try to remember that it might be the LAST TIME you ever do it.

Point of information: I can still physically play as this sounds like I cannot.

But for the following years, I tried to find a new team and a new league. Called both my community/city leagues and registered as a "free agent" -- did that for 6 years, but never ever got a call. I joined a bunch of softball FB groups and volunteered many times, until I stopped visiting FB. Even volunteered on a church team even though I'm not religious or part of any theology. And then I moved to Utah not knowing a soul (and not being part of the predominant religious population) it just seems my odds are getting worse and worse on playing again.

So I look back at that game and realize, it might have been the last time I ever played-- but due to circumstance, not old age or physical limitations.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

I just now decided to add a motorcycle trip around the world to my list.

That's the last thing I'd advise... at ANY age. I simply know too many people who never got to old age because of motorcycles.

HOT! - RANT - Needs to be said... sell the DAMN motorcycle.

Ugh, another day another story of someone's life getting totally f*cked up all because they needed to ride a motorcycle. It seems like every week I hear a story from someone a degree or two away from my life gets into a horrific motorcycle accident. A few weeks ago the story was death. This...

www.thefastlaneforum.com

Perhaps swap the motorcycle for a rented convertible so you can get some of the same effect.

 

[ArmanK]

TRANSCRIPT:

Hey this is MJ DeMarco and I’d like to officially announce, I’m back!

It’s been nearly TEN years since I’ve actually did an in-person video and a lot has changed besides the gray hair and wrinkles. As you might know, one of the big changes for me, is I left Phoenix Arizona now live in Alpine Utah which is a little town about 40 minute SE of Salt Lake City. Now a lot of people asked me “why?” especially since I hate snow and lived in Arizona for nearly 25 years and pretty much, loved living there.

Unfortunately the “why” I would move to a place that is subject to snow and blizzards is another video, but since we’re on the topic of SNOW, it is a good segue into this video’s topic: What am I about to say, if you accept it, will be a major paradigm shift in your life. And if you don’t accept it, well I have bad news: I don’t need you to believe me because TIME will make you a believer. TIME will teach you the lesson. And by the time that TIME teaches you the lesson, it will be too late.

So when I was at college earning a finance degree, one concept was repeatedly drilled home: Money today is better than money tomorrow. This concept, the discounted time value of money, is universally taught worldwide, no matter the university. The concept is simple: Given a choice, you always prefer X dollars NOW over X dollars LATER. One million dollars today is light-years better than one million dollars fifty years from now. If you ever played the lottery, you’ll recognize this phenomenon: the winner doesn’t get the $10M prize immediately but over 30 years. If they want all of the money now, they’ll only receive about half.

When time is involved, future money is discounted by an arbitrary interest rate. For example, one million dollars received fifty years from now and discounted at a mere five percent interest is worth only $87,000 in today’s money. Folks, that doesn’t even buy you a top of the line Ford F150. If there was any evidence proving that TIME is a horrific partner for wealth, look no further than the prior statement.

So here’s the big paradigm shift: When it comes to time itself, a more valuable resource than money since you can’t make more if, and you’ll never be as young as you are today, TIME enjoys no such discounting. No school teaches what I call The Discounted Time Principle which I discuss in my latest book,The Great Rat Race Escape . The Discounted Time Principle states that future “elderly” time is not as valuable as today’s youthful time. Think of it this way. If a genie granted you a ten years of total of financial freedom, would you want it at thirty years old? Or at seventy? Isn’t freedom better while you’re young and vibrant and not in life’s twilight when health and energy might be precarious?”

So let’s get back to me moving to place that gets a lot of snow. I’m about 45 minutes away from one the best skiing capitals in the world Park City Utah. So when people heard that I was moving to the area, the first question they asked was, “Oh, do you ski?” And the answer is, unfortunately NO. And here’s the thing … if I wanted to learn how to ski at my age, I’m not sure I could. I’ve had multiple orthopedic surgeries, from shoulders to elbows, I have no cartilage in my ankles, and have bad knees from playing years of pickup basketball, and basically, me learning how to ski at my age is not the same as me learning to ski at age 30. You see TIME makes my free time less valuable as I get older and older, simply because time ravishes your body and the things you could enjoy at age 30 are not the same things you can enjoy at age 70.

So whenever some rat race media outlet or one of these “financial experts” is preaching about financial freedom if you just start saving now while waiting 30 or 40 years, be warned. You’re getting brainwashed and numbed into believing freedom at twenty-five is exactly the same as freedom at seventy-five. I’m mean think about that insanity. Mainstream financial experts want you to penny pinch every dollar and deprive yourself of life experiences in your youth, so one day you might finally enjoy those life experiences old. It’s a freaking mind-F*ck, and people drink this shit up like a pina colada on the beach.

This fact is something you’ll never learn in business school. If universities taught the discounted time value of time like they did money, Wall Street’s “live poor die rich” financial orthodoxy wouldn’t survive. Entire industries and economies would go bankrupt because the rats would finally figure out that their time is too valuable for trading. Yes, youth isn’t wasted on youth. It’s wasted on cultural norms that normalize and then celebrate the “exchange of youthful time for elderly time.”

My friend, whenever you’re on Instagram and one of those cute “financial freedom” graphs show up on your feed saying after X years X saved per month will be worth with X dollars, run the other way. TIME is a NOT to be used as a variable for wealth, because TIME is wealth. One belief that needs to be swapped is a resource reconfiguration: Time first, money second. You can always earn more money, but you can’t make more time. Using TIME for wealth is like your selling body parts for money … at some point, you’ll have no body left to enjoy your millions.

Now a great book that expands on this is Die with Zero by Bill Perkins. I don’t agree with everything in this book, but it has some fascinating perspectives on this philosophy and frankly, I think he does a better job at explain the Discounted Time Value principle.

Now that said, I definitely will try to learn how to ski, I’m not on to make excuses for not trying, but I don’t hold myself to any expectation. For more resources including the books mentioned in this video, check out the description below. Hope you learned something today, until next time, I’m MJ DeMarco!!

@MJ DeMarco I read the book per your recommendation and I couldn't agree more.

He definitely mentions some things that I questioned (annuities) but his framework is solid.

Experiences while young are way better than when you are old. And assuming we live long we get to enjoy those memories way longer too.

I guess I did this without really knowing a few years back...

I was 25 years old and just quit my cubicle sales job because I couldn't see myself making 100 cold calls a day to earn $40k a year for the next 40 years. And I hopped on a plane to Mexico.

Ended up cancelling my return flight and backpacking through Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica for the next two months.

Life changing experience for sure.

And didn't see too many 75 year olds travelling alongside me.

I created memories that live vividly in my head and will continue to do so for the remainder of my life.

And was able to do the whole thing for a few thousand bucks.

So - get out there and live today my friends. Because as cliché as it is - tomorrow is never guaranteed.