Thanksgiving is that time of the year where people get together to be grateful. Personally, I got a lot of things to be thankful for: a healthy family, friends, work, and having the opportunity to wake up to enjoy a new day. But as Thanksgiving approaches think about this …why should we be thankful for just one day during the year? why not be thankful every single day? Probably we tend to take things for granted but I consider every day as a gift. As such we should be respectful of the time we are being given and be thankful for it.

Now, the other side of Thanksgiving is the crazy amount of food and intense consumerism. Whether you’re all-in on the shopping madness or not, most folks get excited about the so-called great deals (some can be) and the rush/anxiety that builds as Black Friday gets closer.

While this excitement may appeal to a lot of people, I do believe it’s important to acknowledge the damage you’re likely to cause to your financial plan, especially, if you don’t control your urges during the holidays.

Sorry But I Have No Advice For You

It is not surprising to see seasonal posts that cover suggestions and tips on how to handle Black Friday shopping. Some of the recommendations include:

• Plan, plan, and plan.
• Determine what’s important, aka … priorities.
• Create a budget and stick to it.
• Avoid buying anything without a coupon.
• Do not bring your kids along.
• Compare prices.
• Watch the circulars.
• Shop early to get the best deals.
• Don’t let others influence you, stick to the items on your list.
• Stay away from the store and buy online

Now, my message is a little bit different. I’m not gonna tell you to follow the things mentioned above because at the end of the day you’re an adult and as such, you’re responsible for your own decisions and actions.

I Do Have Context

As I said, I’m not going to waste my time telling you what you should or not do, instead, I will share my thoughts around “context”.

The context I’m presenting today is nothing new to the Personal Finance community; however, I find it particularly relevant to this holiday.

So without further ado here it is …

TIME = MONEY

Time is a finite resource and as such should be considered a commodity. After all, we trade time for something in return right?. 

So as you put your plan together for Thanksgiving consider thinking about time or better yet working time. If you’ve reached Financial Independence then congrats but for those of us that are still employed this should resonate.

How Much Is Your Time Worth?

Let me walk you through the math and some of my assumptions.

1. Estimate working hours in 2017 accounting for holidays, 2 weeks of paid time off, and a 40-hour workweek.
2. Take that number and calculate the value of time ($/hr) based on different annual salaries.
3. Estimate the amount of time you’d be trading as a result of your total expenditure during the holidays.

Month	Days	Hours
Jan-17	21	168
Feb-17	19	152
Mar-17	23	184
Apr-17	20	160
May-17	22	176
Jun-17	22	176
Jul-17	20	160
Aug-17	23	184
Sep-17	21	168
Oct-17	20	160
Nov-17	21	168
Dec-17	20	160
	Total (hours)	2016
	Paid Time Off (hours)	80
	Final (hours)	1936

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The graph below shows what you’re worth in hours as a function of your annual gross salary. 

This second graph is also very insightful as it illustrates how much time you are likely to trade based on your income and spending level.

How Much Time Are We Willing To Trade?

This post reminded of Justin Timberlake’s movie “In Time“. If you haven’t seen it don’t worry you’re not missing much; however, the plot is relevant to the fact that time is money and as such gets to be traded as a commodity. Below is a clip from the movie.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTzG8eWWm_4

But what are we doing this Thanksgiving?. I will tell you what we are not doing and that is trading a week’s worth of my time.

We’ve talked about a couple of things we would like to get and that are reasonably priced. We expect to be trading around 6-8 hours.

Final Thoughts

• We’re adults so no point in trying to influence your behavior during Thanksgiving.
• There are good suggestions on how to control yourself but the choice is yours.
• Time is your biggest asset.
• If you have a plan to get stuff during the holiday at least do the math and estimate the # of hours, weeks, or years (I hope not) you will be trading this Thursday-Friday.

So are you aware of how much your time is worth? Are you willing to trade a high number of hours during the holidays?

Until next time … JJ