We all know time is money, but that little saying is more than meets the eye. What if we told you that finding out your literal monetary worth as it relates to time can give you certain advantages and make you understand how much your time worth to make better decisions?

Time vs Money

Whether we realise it or not we do this mental calculation in our lives all the time. Like:

• Should you take the longer route to work and save RM5 on toll fees or pay the toll and get to the office faster?
• Should you hire a cleaner to deal with your house so you have some extra time relaxing on the weekend?
• Should you stay longer at work for overtime pay right away or should you leave on time and work on your side business for potentially higher returns months from now?

Underneath these dilemmas is the essential question: What is your time actually worth? There’s a real way to do the maths on this and we think it will help you a lot with figuring out how to spend your time.

There’s a Formula for This?

There are many ways to value your time of course, but since we’re all about getting more for your money, let’s see if we can’t figure out how much your time is worth in Ringgit, shall we?

One way to do this is to find out how much money you earn per unit of time. For example:

Take your monthly earnings = RM2,000

And the number of hours you work in a month = (9 hours a day x 20 workdays a month) = 180 hours

Then divide the first number with the second = 2,000 / 180

This is how much an hour of your day is worth = RM11.12

 

Of course, since not everybody has the same number of work hours in a day or workdays in a week, you should adjust those figures accordingly. People who have been paid per hour know that this is what’s called your hourly wage.

Oh, So it’s My Hourly Wage. What Can I Do With This?

Plenty of things! For one, you can now answer all the dilemmas above by plugging in your hourly income rate. For example, it’s not worth you spending an extra hour in traffic to save RM5 since your hourly worth is higher than that.

You can also use this rate to calculate how much to charge a client for freelancing work. Multiply your hourly rate with the hours you think it will take for you to complete the work to come up with a starting figure for your next invoice. Understanding your worth per hour this way also helps you put into perspective how well you’re using your time, which can help you be more vigilant with your use of it at home or at work.

But Time Isn’t Exactly Money…

While calculating your hourly worth is a good starting point and handy figure to keep in your head for making decisions, it’s not a 100% perfect way to think about your time. We all value time differently, after all.

One hour spent standing in line at the bank is not the same as an hour playing your favourite video game, for example. And you can’t yet quantify the value of the time you spend building a business, since the potential payout from that is still unknown.

But we suggest you do this exercise anyway and start looking at your time as having a Ringgit value, because it does. If you’re keen on having your money grow with time, check out Malaysia’s best fixed deposits on our comparison page. Have anything else to add to this article? Do share your thoughts with us in the comments section down below!

 

• TAGS:
• Financial Advice
• Hourly Income Rate
• Hourly Wage