8 July 2021, Somewhere in the Metaverse - UplandDood (@Just1Dood)

Passive Income

One of the hottest topics that have been around for a while is the fascination and pursuit of the illusive Passive Income.

What is Passive Income? Investopedia summarizes it as follows:

Passive income is earnings derived from a rental property, limited partnership, or other enterprise in which a person is not actively involved.

Self-Run Bank

Whether we realize it or not, we are all earning what I'm about to share with you. On a daily basis, 86,400 seconds are deposited in our time bank. This is a self-run bank. It is my bank. It is your bank.

In one sense, we have full control over it. In another sense, we don't have any control over this bank. It is passive. You don't have to do anything to receive these 86,400 seconds every day. It is not derived from any rental property, partnerships, or enterprises. It is derived from our being alive. We cease to receive it once we're no longer eligible (alive).

So, while we are alive, every day we'll receive a deposit of 86,400 seconds. And daily, a total of 86,400 seconds will be withdrawn without needing our endorsement. Like it or not, we're given this deposit. We do not have control over this process.

What we do have control over is how we spend these 86,400 seconds each day.

The 86,400 Daily Challenge

At first glance, spending 86,400 of anything looks like a daunting task. If this was money that MUST be spent on a daily basis, it would probably be easy for a week, a month, maybe at most a year. Then I would probably run out of ideas on how to spend that much on a daily basis.

86,400 in terms of time is different. Let's break this down further.

Essential "Expenses"

1. For most, one of the largest chunks of withdrawal is 28,800 seconds. This is taken up by our work commitments and does not take into account overtime work or extra time spent in the workplace. This expense makes up one-third of the total dispensed daily.

2. Another similarly large chunk we spend on is also on average 28,800 seconds daily. This is for our much-needed sleep and occasional naps. Depending on the age and other factors, some of us get more, some of us get less. That's another one-third of our daily 'earnings' spent on this "expense"

3. I'm making an assumption here that most will spend 7,200 seconds on another essential expense - brushing teeth, toilet breaks, baths/showers, grooming (hair, facial, getting ready to work/go out)

4. Another 7,200 seconds spent on an expense that some take as the most critical for any day - eating (breakfast, lunch, dinner, afternoon tea, supper, and snacking)

5. Let's make a conservative assumption that 3,600 seconds are taken up for the daily commute to and from the workplace.

Now that we have figured out our daily expenses, we have a look at what's left.

Residual Income

Investopedia differentiates this from Passive Income with the following summary:

Residual income is not exactly a type of income but a calculation determining how much discretionary money an individual or entity can spend after paying their bills and meeting their financial obligations.

The final assumption is that all the above expenses make up our daily committed time usage. The balance left from our deposit of 86,400 seconds after deducting the above is 10,800 seconds left. That may sound a lot but if you convert it to hours, it's 3 hours. You only have 3 hours left for yourself.

In that 3 hours, you need to fit in time for your family, your partner, your pets, your plants, your hobby or hobbies, your reading, your writing, your tv watching. That's a lot of remaining things to do that are all fighting to be fit into your 10,800 remaining seconds. This 10,800 is your Residual Income. For the most part, how much you get and how you use it can determine how satisfied you are with that particular day that you are alive. This is a sobering thought.

Income Stewardship

How you allocate your time to each part of your daily life determines how good or effective a steward you are in your life. Most of this struggle is between work and a balanced life.

I have on many occasions heard or read people say they prefer a better work-life balance. A willingness to forgo part of "expense #1" is preferred in order to experience a better and more meaningful life.

Many will likely arrive at this point sometime in their life. The point where you decide on the trade-off between more work or more life. To make the decision easier - you will need to work out the dollar value of your seconds put into work and the dollar value of the seconds derived from your "residual time income". The answer is obvious and easy to make if your "residual income" is getting you more bucks than your "work income". If it is not, you need to decide if the potential in your "residual income" will equal or exceed your "work income" if you allocate more seconds to the residual time part of your life.

(If you need further explanations or calculations on the above, ask me in the comment section. I'll keep the main article brief but would be more than happy to elaborate further in the comment sections)

Parting Reflections

As long as we are alive, we get this guaranteed deposit daily without fail. How we utilize every single second makes a difference to ourselves, our loved ones, those around us, and in many instances, leads to changes in the world around us.

I don't have any solution as to how you should utilize your deposits or how you should run your bank. My purpose is that we all sit back and reflect on it.

Ultimately, the final decision on how you run your life is up to you. You run your own bank. You are your own banker. I hope that this article has helped you reflect on how to use these 86,400 seconds wisely every day.

Thank you for reading and have a great life!

Stay safe and see you in the next article.

Sources:

Header: Unsplash.com - Jonathan Cooper

Image 1: Unsplash.com - Sharon McCutcheon

Image 2: Unsplash.com - Marten Bjork

Image 3 Unsplash.com -  Javier Allegue Barros

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