<prompt> Human: I originally thought of this when I was just starting out in the first year of my career after graduating from college. I even came up with numbers on a sheet of paper. Last night, I brought it up in response to a question, and I thought I would share it here. Your mileage may vary...You Only Have A Limited Number Of Prime, Productive Hours In Your LifeThat is the short answer, but take the time to really consider the actual number of hours available to you for personal fulfillment outside of work, preparations, commute, attending to bodily maintenance - and you will soon realize that the best years of your adult life are spent trading the precious hours of your life for money.Granted, most of us are not born rich. We need to trade what we can offer for things others are willing to offer us. But we can try to minimize the damage and waste by making smarter decisions.In a week of 168 hours, you might spend: 56 hours sleeping 8 hours in the restroombathroom 8 hours dealing with bullshit like bills, maintenance, laundry, errands, waiting for the bus, being sick, listening to sales pitches, dealing with junk mail, etc. That leaves you around 96 hours per week of prime time to spend.So take around 96 hours times 52 weeks per year times 10 years, and that gives you less than 50,000 hours per decade to do as you wish. Lets just say 50,000 to add in holidays, vacation, etc.But you got a full time JOB. Lucky you! So you spend 50 hours per week getting ready for work, commuting, being at the office or factory, etc. Thats 50 hours times 52 weeks per year times 10 years, or 26,000 hours of your life.You, my friend, are down to 24,000 hours of life to do as you wish per decade. Around 2,400 per year. And you only have a few prime decades of life. And most of these 24,000 hours left for you are not in the prime daylight hours, not in the energy-rich physical or mental state hours of the day, even - which is why, if you are the average American, you are so tired when you come home that you sit in front of the television to watch some 20 to 30 hours per week of mostly mindless drivel, some of it to wind down from the stress of work. You can calculate your actual TV or gaming or Redditing or whatever hours for yourself, to figure out how much you think is entertainment, and how much is just is killing time.That you trade hours of your life for money means personal finance also means management of your dwindling bank balance of number of yearshours left alive to do what you want. Like, how much of your precious life energy - especially your prime awakened hours - do you want to spend earning money for that Starbucks latte, or that cheap shit from China, or flipping burgers instead of sitting in an office, or paying off credit cards with discretionary dollars available only after rent and food and other mandatory expenses are paid, or student loans, or that new car, or even how much of your life you want to spend paying taxes.Now, Im not saying this from a condescending position of early retirement or financial independence. Personally, I am just a wage worker. I currently put in about 45 to 50 hours per work week, to provide a living for my family and to help put my wife through school. But I have never forgotten this very personal calculus, and I try to always remain frugal and avoid debt because of this. Carpe diem my friends.Edit: Grammar, etc. no, I never read the book! Your Money or Your Life, but Im not surprised that many others have thought of this long before me. Thank you for the Reddit Gold!!!Original comment located here:  <response>: time isnt money; its life 