It started with a pay stub discrepancy. What happened next was a hard lesson in measuring the juice:squeeze ratio.
(This is a true story of one of our FZ Members, shared with his permission.)
He’s one of our most focused Members. He’s in the upper quintile in as measured by financial focus (which allows us to get deeper into the weeds than we do with most).
So it was very “on brand” when he noticed a discrepancy in his 2023 HSA contributions. His pay stub showed one number and his HSA showed another. The difference was 8 cents.
What ensued was a back-and-forth between the HSA custodian and his HR department. Between the research conducted and emails written and read, he estimates he spent at least 2 hours on it.
After he pulled himself out of his “nerd snipe” (his words), he realized, “this eight-cent situation came to occupy at least $100 worth of my attention, and now I’m angry about it.”
(For the record, 2 hours of his time is worth a lot more than $100, but I deliberately didn’t bring that to his attention.)
So running with $100 worth of time, his juice:squeeze ratio was -99.92%.
In other words, he spent $100 of time to get 8 cents
Unlike investing money, when you invest time, you DON’T get your principal back. That means the juice:squeeze ratio should always be greater than 1.
To be clear, I’m not singling him out. We all do this. Myself included.
And it’s not really our fault.
Arguably it’s one of the hardest lessons to UNLEARN from our Baby Boomer parents.
Ironically, younger generations have more money than time (largely thanks to our parents), meaning the money lessons they taught us about “wasting money” must be reframed.
Their rules are not our rules.
So I challenge you to solve for not wasting TIME, not money.
If the time it takes to take action is worth more than the money received, then don’t do it.
That means heading straight to Goodwill with unwanted holiday gifts instead of dealing with returning them (they’ll never know).
It means letting go of double charges or incorrectly inflated tips.
It means hiring a plumber, painter, housecleaner, lawn care service, etc.
At the end of the day that 8 cents ain’t worth it.
