Posted by Mike Smith :: March 13, 2008 @ 5:09 am

My recent posts about relative wealth and the fact that $1 million just isn’t what it used to be, reminded me of the age-old question: What would you do with $1 million?

Many people’s first response to this question revolves around how they would spend the money. That is insightful, but not really the point of the exercise. Creating a person-to-person loan portfolio on Lending Club might also come to mind, but deciding how you would invest the money is also outside the scope of the discussion. This point was raised in a scene from the movie Office Space, which is a personal favorite of mine. The main character, Peter Gibbons, is discussing the possibilities with his friends. One friend tells how he would spend the money, another how he would invest it. It is only Peter who understands the point of the question and famously answers that he would “do nothing.”

While you don’t need a million dollars to do nothing, as pointed out in the scene by Peter’s friend, his answer gets to the root of what is actually being asked: What would you do if you didn’t have to work? This is different from what you would do if you were exceedingly wealthy, in which case you might be inspired to overspend and waste some of your money. So the question that I’m posing is “How would you spend your time if you maintained your current salary without having to actually go to work?”

Thinking about that question will probably help you to focus on the things most important to you. Identifying those things may inspire you to spend as much of your free time doing those activities as possible. Focusing your actual finances to maximize that time can also be achieved. The daily grind often clouds our thinking and keeps money in the context of all of our thoughts. As such, it’s nice to take a moment to contemplate those things which are more important than money.