8 Reasons Why Trading Your Time For Money Won’t Make You Rich

Wake up, shower, get dressed, grab some breakfast, head in to work. Put in your eight hours, head home, grab some dinner, pay some bills, watch some television, go to bed.

Lather, rinse, repeat.

Is this how your days are going lately?

It’s easy to fall into the trap of trading your time for money. When you first graduated, getting a job seemed to be the next logical step. After all, isn’t that what college was supposed to prepare you for? Before you know it, you’re mired into this daily routine where all that you do is eat-sleep-work-repeat. Is that the life you envisioned for yourself when you were younger?

It’s time that you realized that this kind of life is never going to make you rich. If you’re not a partner, or on the corporate C-level track already, the chances of you making it there are pretty slim. And you’re not going to get rich doing the same thing you do every day, forever. It’s not that you don’t have talent. It’s that your talent doesn’t stand out from the crowd. You either work with some amazingly talented people, or some amazingly talented butt-kissers. Either way, you’re not getting the recognition that is going to lead to the amount of money that you deserve.

If you’re thinking that it’s time to stop trading your time for money, and leave the corporate rat race, you’re probably right. If you’re not convinced, here are eight reasons that may just change your mind

1. There’s a ceiling – There’s a limit to how high you can rise in your company. The road to the top floor is rocky, and rough, and if you’re not already on it, chances are, you won’t even be able to get on it. Even with your talent and drive, you’re a needle in a pile of needles. In the corporate world, you look like everyone else, so standing out is impossible.

2. It involves a lot of sacrifice. People who are making the big bucks are partners or C-level types. They’re probably on their second or third marriage, and they never get to spend time with their families. Is that the type of life you want to lead? While it’s sustainable for a year or two, it’s not something you can spend the next ten to fifteen years doing. Well, you could, but that’s probably not the life you envisioned for yourself, either.

3. You’re dependent upon the good grace of someone else for your job. Unless you’re a contracted employee, you’re an at-will employee. That means that your boss really doesn’t need a reason to fire you. If you’ve made some enemies, then you could be at the top of the list the next time your department needs to downsize. Who wants to live their lives hoping they haven’t made the boss mad?

4. If you are a contract employee, your contract will expire at some point. When this happens, your contract will be re-negotiated, and you may feel trapped into accepting terms that you don’t like, so that you know you’ll have a job for the next year.

5. You’d like to retire, at some point. Most people who exchange their time for money will not be able to live comfortably in retirement. If you can barely pay your bills now, can you imagine how it will be when you retire?

6. Vacation? Ha! When was the last time that you could afford to book airfare, hotel, and activities for your vacation time? Most people who are trading their time for money don’t get to “go” on vacation. They hang out at home, glorifying the “situation,” which is actually pretty miserable, when you think about it.

7. Is this really what you want to spend the rest of your life doing? When we go to college at eighteen, we’re idealistic and excited about the possibilities that are out there for us. It’s a bit different when we’re twenty-two, mired in student loan debt, and taking the first job we’re offered, whether it’s in our field or not, just so we can buy groceries. If you’re not happy with your job, returning to college to get another degree so you can do something else with your life is a pretty expensive proposition.

8. You will never get ahead. You may have a few bucks in a savings account now, but eventually your car will break down or the heater in your home will need to be replaced or one of the kids will need braces. These kinds of expenses drain a savings account quickly, and it’s going to take a long time to pay off that house. No wonder it feels like you’re barely keeping your head above water.

Yes, working a steady job is just that. Steady. You have the guarantee that you’ll have a paycheck next week. That stable paycheck surely sounds like a better option than betting everything you have on starting your own business. But the only person who is going to get rich from the hard work that you trade for money, is your boss.
With every dollar you earn you exchange it for another ounce of time.

When you are young, you think you have all the time in the world to waste even though you do not realize it. As you get older time pass and hope dwindles and now time is wasting you.