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You decide... $180,000 per hour? Or $8 bucks.

Anything related to matters of the mind

MJ DeMarco

I followed the science; all I found was money.
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Mercedes?
Lexus?
Audi?

Doesn't matter.

These people get paid $8 bucks per hour on their time.

View: https://youtu.be/_4uSt5i1bNI


TRANSCRIPT:

Hey guys, what's up I'm MJ DeMarco, as you know, gas prices are on the rise. And here's a story that best demonstrates why most people will never get rich either in time or money. And when you recognize this difference, it's the difference between earning an hourly return on your time of about $180,000 an hour or a measly eight bucks. So yesterday I drove by Costco and noticed that there was a line for gas that practically filed around the building- had I chose to get into that line, I would have paid about 40 cents, less per gallon than the gas station up the street. The gas station up the street did not have a line.

There were plenty of open pumps. So here's the critical distinction in that, the current gas crisis really is not about gas shortages, at least not around here, but about gas price inflation.

Now going back to that long line at Costco, which did indeed have significantly cheaper gas, had I gotten into that line estimated that I probably would have waited over an hour to fill my tank. There was at least 15 cars ahead of me. And if you figure five minutes per car to get gas, we're looking probably 75 minutes or more.

This doesn't even include people who were not only filling up their cars, but they were filling up five gallon jugs. So for the sake of easy math, let's just assume it would have been a one hour wait or 60 minutes. Assuming the average gas tank is about a size of 20 gallons and at 40 cents a gallon in savings per gallon, that would have yielded a grand total of $8 in savings.

Eight fricking BUCKS.

And the thing is that line had no shortage of Lexuses, Mercedes, Audis, every possible car you could imagine was sitting there diddlywinking away one hour of their precious life, so they could save eight bucks. And here's the thing I guarantee you that no one in that line would ever take a job for eight bucks an hour, which is less than minimum wage.

In other words, the average person values their free time at $8 an hour. Culture has ingrained into them that their time is an abundant asset that you can trade for money or in this case trade for a savings opportunity.

So if you're thinking I'm only saying this because I'm already a multimillionaire many times over, you would be wrong.

Even when I was broke 30 plus years ago, I always thought like this because the most important thing to me was always my time. Namely, my free time.

I wasn't going to drive 45 minutes to Walmart so I can save 15 bucks on my food bill, because my time would have been compensated at a rate of about 10 bucks an hour, not to mention the extra fuel consumption costs on the way to get there. It simply wasn't worth it to me, then broke and it certainly isn't worth it to me now, wealthy,

The only way you should ever be trading your free time for a savings opportunity, is if that time yields a return in comparison to a CEO, a lawyer, a doctor, or a professional athlete.

The last book I wrote The Great Rat Race Escape , I call this The Millionaire Paycheck Strategy because when you start to frame time, namely your free time in terms of money, you start to value it much differently and much better . To give you an example, the last time I held a Fastlane Summit at a hotel, the resort wanted to charge me $1,500 for a curtain rental that backdropped the speaking stage, which of course I thought was ridiculous. So I emailed the event coordinator and nicely asked to have those curtains removed from our bill. Especially since these curtains themselves didn't cost more than $1,500. And in this case, we were just going to rent them, An hour later, I got a reply from the coordinator and he agreed to remove the $1,500 charge.

That email took me 30 seconds of my time. if you calculate the return on those 30 seconds of time, the time it took me to send the email and you frame it as an hourly basis, it comes out to a whopping $3,000 a minute, or $180,000 an hour. I can guarantee you. There's not many people watching this video and make $180,000 an hour.

But when it comes to saving money on quick snippets of your time, it is possible. So any time you're going to spend money, ask yourself, can you get a cheaper? And what do you need to get it at a better price? If that snippet of time only takes you minutes or even better, just a few seconds, you will have the opportunity to snag one of these six figures returns on your time. You're buying a house or a car? Negotiate, a better price. Getting your house painted and the painter wants $3,000 to paint your house, it only takes a few seconds to say, Hey, is that the best you can do? Or is there a better price available? And if there is, guess what, you just made a CEO return on your time.

So going back to the cheaper gas situation at Costco, my daily driver is as Ford F150 Raptor, which is a full size truck, and I think it holds about 32 gallons in its tank. So if I rolled into Costco and filled up my tank with about 30 gallons, that would have gave me a $12 return on my time or on my wait, and it's a complete waste of my life.

That's not CEO thinking that's wage, slaving poverty returns, and you are much better than that. So this example demonstrates why 99% of the world lives in this poverty mindset for money, while they also inaccurately hold an influence mindset for time. In other words, when it comes to their free time, not only do they value it poorly, but the often value it much more poorly than traditional time trades that they can earn in a job or a salary at a career.

So if you ever want to be wealthy, you understand this wealth is defined by time, namely, free time the more free time you have young versus old, the more valuable it is. Again, five years of freedom. When you're 30 years old is light years better than five years of freedom when you're 65 or 70. So stop wasting your time on these poverty adventures, like waiting two hours in a line to save 20 bucks and start investing your time into things that not only pay money, but also could pay free time.

And this, my friend is the cornerstone of the fast lane philosophy. You're not only start a small business that pays you money, but eventually pays you free time. Thanks for watching. I hope you learned something more importantly, I hope you learned how to view your free time a little differently.
 
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Fox

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It would be funny to have someone there to hand out flyers that say...

"Looking to get hired to wait in line for gas? Paying $8 an hour"

And then the text below does the math and links to this Youtube video lol.

I wonder how many people would drive away after thinking it over properly.
 

Fox

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So for the sake of easy math, let's just assume it would have been a one hour wait or 60 minutes. Assuming the average gas tank is about a size of 20 gallons and at 40 cents a gallon in savings per gallon, that would have yielded a grand total of $8 in savings.

Screenshot 2022-03-14 at 20.26.23.png

I wonder how many leave the engine running for the full hour with AC blasting too ha.
 

woken

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Mercedes?
Lexus?
Audi?

Doesn't matter.

These people get paid $8 bucks per hour on their time.

View: https://youtu.be/_4uSt5i1bNI


TRANSCRIPT:
First of all, the setup and background is awesome ! I feel like I’m there with you and you’re teaching me something; it makes it that personal.

The “experts” here in UK estimated the gas will soon be $5/ litre.

Apart of when my income was very low and I was trading time for money directly, I’ve never chosen spending more time on something just to save some money.

There’s people spending a lot more time for a lot less than $8.

PS: Please don’t ever stop posting these videos!
I truly love the background setup.
 
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Kak

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It would be funny to have someone there to hand out flyers that say...

"Looking to get hired to wait in line for gas? Paying $8 an hour"

And then the text below does the math and links to this Youtube video lol.

I wonder how many people would drive away after thinking it over properly.
@MJ DeMarco do it and film it… Instant viral video.:rofl:

That reminds me of Peter Schiff at the DNC… “We should ban profits!” Everyone agreed with him.
 

Antifragile

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Hilarious!

I had same experience with a line up to Nike outlet here. Wait time of 30+ minutes. My wife goes “should we wait?”. I said “hold my coffee, but ok be right back.”

I went up to the guy at the very front of the line and said “hey, sorry to be blunt but here is $5 each if you and your friend would trade your spot with me and my wife. What do you think?”

I waived my wife and we got into the store. I picked up a pair of runners on sale, and walked out to grab lunch. My time is worth more than $10- $20/ hour.

I’d rather waste my time my own way.

Next week someone asked me about my new sneakers. I said I got them at the outlet. “Oh but I was there and the line was crazy long! I didn’t want to wait, but maybe I should have.”

I told my solution and my buddy went “that’s frickin brilliant!”

Made my day :rofl:
 

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Hilarious!

I had same experience with a line up to Nike outlet here. Wait time of 30+ minutes. My wife goes “should we wait?”. I said “hold my coffee, but ok be right back.”

I went up to the guy at the very front of the line and said “hey, sorry to be blunt but here is $5 each if you and your friend would trade your spot with me and my wife. What do you think?”

I waived my wife and we got into the store. I picked up a pair of runners on sale, and walked out to grab lunch. My time is worth more than $10- $20/ hour.

I’d rather waste my time my own way.

Next week someone asked me about my new sneakers. I said I got them at the outlet. “Oh but I was there and the line was crazy long! I didn’t want to wait, but maybe I should have.”

I told my solution and my buddy went “that’s frickin brilliant!”

Made my day :rofl:

I take the same approach with practically everything in my life and everyone around me looks at me like I'm insane - which to be fair, I kind of am. But I would say this is one of the sanest things I've ever done.
 
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MJ DeMarco

I followed the science; all I found was money.
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First of all, the setup and background is awesome ! I feel like I’m there with you and you’re teaching me something; it makes it that personal.

Thanks, it's nice to do "fireside" chats!
 

WillHurtDontCare

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People waste time because they haven't yet internalized that they're going to die some day.

No one with a gun to their head gives a F*ck about saving any amount of money.

Go spend time in graveyards. Go spend time with old people (I'm not just talking 70s, but if you're in your 20s, spend time with people in their 30s / 40s).

That's gonna be you some day. Plan accordingly.
 

farmer79

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One of my favorite teaching moments with my kids was last summer, a new car wash opened and as part of their grand opening they were giving away a free car wash. It looked like a lineup to get Beatles tickets, probably a 2 hour wait for a $10 dollar car wash. We just sat and watched for a while and then I explained I could give them each 2-3 dollars and we could get the car washed there, or I could spend the $10 and get the car washed in 5 minutes and we could go to the park for 2 full uninterrupted hours. We went to the park.
 
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hexelbyte

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Speaking of wasting time:

I don't know about Costco but I remember going to Sam's Club and saw people lining up just for free samples.

Not only that but they went around to multiple free samples and took several from each.
One of them even said "Free Lunch!"
 

Guyfieri5

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My favorite is the people that wait 12+ hours outside of Walmart on Black Friday. The bloody nose and $100 in savings on that TV you didn't need was definitely worth the wait.
 
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MJ DeMarco

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My favorite is the people that wait 12+ hours outside of Walmart on Black Friday.

I got flack for mentioning this some years ago, apparently the people that stand in line view it as an event, like a freaking carnival where everyone commiserates about their forthcoming savings.
 

Antifragile

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I got flack for mentioning this some years ago, apparently the people that stand in line view it as an event, like a freaking carnival where everyone commiserates about their forthcoming savings.

oMg no way. Lol
 

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I got flack for mentioning this some years ago, apparently the people that stand in line view it as an event, like a freaking carnival where everyone commiserates about their forthcoming savings.
I can see it actually. Watching a bunch of idiots fight over an Xbox could be a way to spend an evening lol. It's like the hunger games but for rabid consumers.
 
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Mercedes?
Lexus?
Audi?

Doesn't matter.

These people get paid $8 bucks per hour on their time.

View: https://youtu.be/_4uSt5i1bNI


TRANSCRIPT:
This is only the tip of the iceberg. It's a whole mindset concerning stuff and savings -- versus time and comfort. I use the KISS theory – Keep it simple, Stupid.

It's being able to pack light on a trip -- buy what you find that need along the way -- and then drop off the "extra" stuff in a donation box rather than trying to drag it home. Or if you really, really want those items, you can ship them home. Just go to a mailing center. The nice people there will even pack your mailing box for you. How much is a comfortable trip worth to you?

It's deciding if you want to own an item or a tool? Is it better to buy the item -- or rent and return it? You must ask yourself. Is it worth the money and your time to own it? Do you really want to store, repair, insure, and take care of it? Even if you do buy the item, you don't have to keep it. You can sell it or give it away when your need is satisfied. It means that you don't need to hoard anything for that possible need tomorrow. You can buy it again. Rent it again. Or maybe even borrow it.

That idea has made me a minimalist. Less is better in my mind. I like things elegantly simple. If it must be dusted, loved, kissed, hand-washed, or polished -- I leave it at the store for someone who needs it more than I do. I don't like things that are too fussy or difficult. So, I weigh my decisions to add things to my life carefully.

It's hiring people to do the jobs and chores that you really don't want to do.
For example, I'm recovering from knee surgery. My physical therapist asked me how I'm doing with chores and housework. I told him fine. I have a woman who comes in and helps with the housework. I have an assistant for my office work. And I have a very loving husband who indulges me a lot. I laughed. My therapist's jaw dropped. He didn't know what to say. He didn't expect my answer so he ask me if I was serious. Yes. I'm serious. Hiring help allows me to multi-task on a whole bunch of different fronts without going crazy.
 

maverick

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Everyone here thinks this is funny however some of the same people are also working a job that they could hire somebody else to do for less.
 
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Ing

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It would be funny to have someone there to hand out flyers that say...

"Looking to get hired to wait in line for gas? Paying $8 an hour"

And then the text below does the math and links to this Youtube video lol.

I wonder how many people would drive away after thinking it over properly.
The first thing I thought: these must be cars of super rich, who hired poors for waiting to support them.
 

Ing

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Everyone here thinks this is funny however some of the same people are also working a job that they could hire somebody else to do for less.
You cant hire someone to do your job. Unless you are the entrepreneur! I tried that and nearly lost my job. Btw. My job is a trap. Too much money and too little tome needed for the need of escape.
 

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Or buy the latest iPhone even though they can't afford it.
My little brother sells electronics(used and new TVs, iPhones, Playstations etc.) and whenever I visit my family and a customer arrives at our house to buy something(he sells from home), they always pull up in a shitty car. You never see them pull up in a Porsche or a $100,000+ car. 98-99% of the time it's always a beatup Toyota, some old Nissan or entry level Skoda and yet they want to buy a $1000-$1500 iPhone XI or whatever he's selling. It's crazy how obsessed people are with iPhones!
 
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MJ DeMarco

I followed the science; all I found was money.
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Via the UNSCRIPTED text network...

As a follow up to last week's tip about earning $180K/hr return on your time, after hearing this, a reader messaged and said he just saved $10K on an industrial project cuz he decided to spend an extra 20 minutes ensuring he was getting a competitive price. That's $30,000 per hour return on time spent. Saving money is not cool if it yields poverty wages, it's cool if it generates CEO returns.
 
G

Guest-5ty5s4

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I just did this. Buying investment real estate, going to hold and rent temporarily until I'm ready to take on some major additions (this is a buy to rent and redevelop later) - so instead of paying "points" for a slightly lower interest rate, I'm taking the higher interest rate and saving myself thousands of dollars. Someone with more experience might say this is a noobish mistake - please do - but it seems to make sense for this property and situation.

Also opted for no budget/no escrow.

Two asks (a couple seconds of my time) - saved $2000 in closing fees plus all the monthly cash flow from escrow that I can invest - priceless.
 

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