Should we be dollar cost averaging our time?

Time is something that has been on my mind for quite a while now. I think that is just one of the by products of getting older. When I was younger if you had asked me if time was constant, I likely would have said yes. In my later years, knowing Einstein kind of proved time isn't a constant, and having experienced how fleeting it can be, I know that isn't he case.

I can sit here and quote any number of songs that are about time. At least a dozen come to mind without even thinking to much. The Rolling Stones had at least two songs about time. Again, as a middle aged adult, I would argue that time is definitely not on your side. In fact, their song "Out of Time" sometimes feels like it would be more appropriate.

Have you ever heard the saying from Mike Tyson that "everyone has a plan 'till they get punched in the mouth"? Let me be clear:

Time is Mike Tyson and you are the mouth

Time is one of the great equalizers in this life. We all only have a limited amount of it and how much that might be is often out of our hands. I keep telling myself that I need to live in the moment and enjoy each day that is given to me.

Then I find myself at the end of another week (or the beginning of another week as the case would be), and I wonder where did the time go? Remember the song "Everybody's working for the weekend" by Loverboy? It's so true and yet so flawed all at the same time.

You would think there might be some part deep inside of us that would instinctively allow us to savor each moment. Think about ancient man. Each day the only goal was to make it through to the next day. Although they may have not fully grasped the intricacies of time, the passing of day and night certainly made them aware of it.

With relatively few distractions in their lives (besides not dying), I would think time was something they cherished or at the very least revered.

I have some trips coming up this summer. I am pretty excited about them. I'm also a bit apprehensive. I am sure that probably sounds crazy, but I know as much as I anticipate those vacations, they will quickly be here and then gone.

Just like working for the weekend, living for summer or that big event coming up in your future is a flawed behavior that we just can't seem to shake.

I'm sure it isn't just old(er) age that has me thinking about time. Bear markets like the one we have been in lately have a tendency to make you only look to the future. Instead of everybody working for the weekend, everybody is working for the bull market.

So the next bull market comes and goes. Then what? We start working towards the next one? Surely there's more to life than that right? Of course we all know there is but it sure doesn't feel like it sometimes does it?

Time in the market > timing the market

There's another reference to time for you. Have you heard that one before? I think many of us would agree that timing the market is almost a fools errand. Something that should be left to people more knowledgeable than me and perhaps more knowledgeable than you as well.

Perhaps we need to look at each day on this planet the same way many of the professionals tells us we should be investing. Let's start dollar cost averaging our everyday lives. What that looks like exactly could be different for each of us.

I'm sure we have all heard people say at the end of their lives they never wish they had more money, they only wish they had more time. The sad part is, we fully know this and yet we continue to let it slip through our fingers. Okay, perhaps there are a handful of people across the world who have been able to make the most of their time, but I would guess even they probably feel like they are squandering it.

So back to DCA'ing your time... What does that look like for you? Maybe it means just setting a little aside to celebrate the good things about your day. Maybe it's spending a little extra time with someone in your family. Like I said, it's going to be different for each person.

This likely won't be the last post I write about time. Have you ever had a thought or a concept that just seemed to weigh on your heart and mind? During the beginning and the height of the Covid pandemic, Empathy was the thing that occupied most of my thoughts. At this season in my life it would seem Time has overtaken Empathy as the focus of my thoughts.

What's been on your mind lately? Does time consume you? Should it? I look forward to reading all your thoughts in the comments!

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