But if you look at it this way, then all convenience is overpriced. Why have a car at all? Why have a house? Why not eat dry bread all the time?

Then again, I do not support the concept that you should be working to maximize your net value. What do I care about net value? I'm working to maximize my net fun over my lifetime. So that means saving enough to have fun later and spending enough to have fun now. Spending on freetime also increases my fun now, so it is worth my money.

What else is net worth good for?

I like you!

Its not just a matter of how much is your time worth. It also matter what you have, and dont have.

If you have an abundance of time, but not money, then $2.50 for 15 minutes is a no-brainer. Supply and demand there, you have time, you need money. $2.50 is currently the best price you can get for the next 15 minutes, so you take it.

If you had lots of money, but earned by working extremely hard and being very busy, then paying $2.50 to shave 15 minutes of driving time would also be a no-brainer. You need more free time, not more money. Since time is often difficult to simply purchase, the toll would be a great oppurtunity to actually *buy* time.

By saying people tend to overvalue their time, you assume that most people have a greater abundance of time than they do money. Thats certainly true for some people, but most people who have little money also have little free time. Why? Because they dont make enough per hour and thus need to work longer hours. Ironically, its these same people who would benefit the most from saving both time AND money via taking or not taking the toll road. As you make more money per hour, then suddenly you should be gaining both more free time AND more money, making the toll road dillemna trivial.

I agree with, Savarel. Sometimes, you have to spend more time, in order to save money. That's how it goes often. Just like what I'm doing when I'm going home from work. I walk from my office to my house (which is 14km away from my office) to save a couple of bucks. What my point is, always be practical in spending your money. Being streetwise isn't enough. Making wise decisions in spending your cash is the best way to double or triple it.

Really, everything everyone stated is valid, depending on your point of view.

As Savarel so aptly stated, it is simply a matter of your own personal needs, your situation, etc.

There really is no correct answer to the question of whether time is more valuable than money and vice versa. Therefore, the statement of lancer is correct sometimes but can never be qualified as an absolute fact all the time.


This "debate" is a really good one though, it was able to show both sides of the equation, so to speak.

__________________
Adam Randall

http://www.fifteenyearplan.com - My personal finance blog dedicated to helping people take control of their finances.

I'd pay $5 a day to spend an extra 30 minutes with my family while I can enjoy them and their company. For me, the whole point of making money is so that I can enjoy it with them.

When I used to have a job that I commuted to that had the option of toll vs no-toll, I took the no-toll route. Why? I saved $14.xx per day for an hour extra commute, but I spent it learning a language (Spanish). That extra language landed me a better paying job elsewhere.

Some people like the time to themselves while commuting. Whatever it is, you choose to do it to provide a benefit.

Ditto. With your permission Sonja, I'm going to adopt the 'lifetime net fun' concept.

My wife and I happen to fall on the "have more money than time" side of the equation. $5/day for an "extra" 30min not spent driving (I don't tend to make good use of my driving time, because I dislike being distracted from the actual driving) is an easy 'yes' decision for me, but I certainly recognize how it might not be for others. I've got a friend who has a side business buying things at yard sales and then selling them for profit on Ebay. She makes much of the couple hundred bucks a month she makes, but it seems to take several hours each weekend, so in the end is making no more than $6.25 an hour, and probably less given gas, the fact that she gets her husband to help her, etc etc.

I have a friend like this, but this is something she and her husband enjoy to do together and if they make a little extra cash, too, well, that's just a bonus.

Glad to see the point was made early on that time equals money and that all this example proves is that to the OP, it equals less than $10 per hour