06/30/2026
It sounds silly, but I subscribe to a really interesting news letter from Arnold Schwarzenegger. In today's email there is an interesting piece about spending money to buy back time. A lot of what 4 Seasons Home Services does is give home owners back time so they can enjoy their vacation homes. I have posted a excerpt from his news letter below. I hope he doesn't come after me....
The Time Trap That Catches Even Millionaires
Hand most people a spare $40 and ask what they'd do with it, and most won’t take advantage of the option that arguably buys back the most people.
People who spend money to save time tend to report greater life satisfaction. And the busier and more stressed they are, the more that small amounts of time back appear to boost well-being.
Researchers ran seven surveys across four countries to answer one question:
When people spend money to buy themselves more free time — such as paying someone else to handle disliked chores like cleaning, cooking, or errands — are they happier?
People who regularly paid to save time were more satisfied with their lives, and it held across the income range, not just among the well-off. So it wasn’t about how much money was spent but about getting time back.
The scientists noted that the magic was in the buffering. Time stress usually lowers how good you feel about your life. For people who bought back time, that drag mostly vanished.
Then the scientists took it to another level to test cause and effect. They ran a small experiment. Sixty adults each spent $40 one weekend saving time, and $40 another weekend on something material.
They felt happier and less rushed on the time-saving weekend, and the happiness traced directly to feeling less time-pressured and having more time back.
Here's the part we found interesting: Almost nobody does this on their own. Only 2% of one group would spend a windfall to save time, and about half of 818 millionaires surveyed outsourced nothing.
