Benjamin Franklin is often considered one of the most intelligent of the founding fathers of the United States. He was a great politician, taking part in the continental congress and serving as the first U.S. ambassador to France and Sweden; he was a great inventor and scientist, inventing electricity with a kite and influencing such fields as demographics and meteorology; and he was a great writer, helping draft the U.S. Constitution and the Declaration of Independence and publishing many other works on a variety of topics. (And a lot of other stuff too. He honestly was a smart dude).

Because of his wit and intelligence, many of Franklin’s works are still known today, and many of his aphorisms have gained ubiquitous recognition. In addition to keeping doctors away by throwing apples at them and saving and earning pennies, Franklin is also known for this little gem:

Time is money.

This maxim is almost universally known and respected (though few people know about the full quotation). Franklin continues:

He that can earn ten shillings a day by his labour, and goes abroad, or sits idle one half of that day, though he spends but sixpence during his diversion or idleness, it ought not to be reckoned the only expence; he hath really spent or thrown away five shillings besides.

Advice to a Young Tradesman, 1748

This concept has played an important part in modern society. It has become so prevalent that it is accepted almost without question, and has led to the publication of innumerable books, articles, magazines, and blog posts. In many ways this kind of thinking is useful and leads us to better utilize our time, or to be more wise with our money, but in reality it is not entirely true (sorry Benjamin Franklin).

Time (those discrete intervals (seconds, minutes, hours, etc.) we spend in various pursuits) is not money (those discrete quantities (dollars, cents, yen, dinars, etc.) we spend for goods and services). This isn’t to say time isn’t valuable (it clearly is), but it is misleading to say that one is the other. It doesn’t help that our vocabulary lends itself to this kind of thinking; the verbiage we use regarding time closely resembles that which we use regarding money: we steal moments and live on borrowed time. We find spare moments like we find spare change. We spend time and save it, waste time and invest it. Everything around us leads us to treat time and money as if they are the same. This kind of thinking, however, is fraught with danger.

Before we can understand why it is so dangerous, we must first understand the true relationship between time and money; it isn’t that time is money or money is time, it’s that both time and money are currency (defined in this sense as “something that is in circulation as a medium of exchange“). Money as currency is obvious: we spend money and we get food, housing, or heroin. Duh. We do it all the time (buy stuff I mean. We shouldn’t be doing heroin all the time). We have a harder time with time; it is a less obvious currency, though it, too, is exchanged daily. We spend time and we get education, entertainment, or sleep. Most of all, we give time and we get money, whether paid hourly or with a yearly salary. We spend our time making money and we spend our money on things that save us time.

This concept is dangerous because not all currencies are equal. Our global economies run on money, but the economy of love and the economy of life do not. We cannot purchase a happy family with money, nor can we master a skill just by being rich. No amount of stocks or bonds will ever rectify a ruined relationship with a family member or friend. These things require a different currency: not the currency of money, but the currency of time. This is what is meant when we say money can’t buy happiness, or as the Beatles said, “money can’t buy me love.” The price tag of happiness and the price tag of love are not written in dollars and cents, they are written in days, weeks, and years. They are written in the small moments we share with the people we love.

As Bruce Hafen said, “We give our lives, even an hour at a time, for what we believe, what we value, and whom we love.”

Money is still important; we can’t pretend like we don’t need it, and we shouldn’t turn away the poor and needy when they ask for it under the pretense that money won’t make them happy. But money should never become the focus of our lives. Time is far more valuable. The biggest difference between the two is that money can be saved, spent, or locked away, while time continues its inexorable march one second, one minute, one day at a time. It is relentless, irrepressible, unstoppable. It is spent whether we want it or not, and no amount of money can ever get it back.

What will you spend it on?

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