When Enough is Enough

It’s funny how our brains work when it comes money. Whether poor or wealthy, most would say they don’t have enough. The reality is that “enough” is a sliding scale thats difficult to quantify.

So when is enough, “Enough"?

When do we have enough wealth to make us walk away from the game?

I think about these questions often as I hear of Billionaires losing half their fortunes due to dumb decisions or hearing about the wealthy get wealthier.

I think about these points in reference to my own life. As a surgeon, I have pride in my ability to recognize when I’ve reached the point of diminishing returns in an operation (i.e. moving past that point of dissection increases the risk of a bad outcome). However I question whether I can recognize this when it comes to money.

Money can be addicting. As a kid, we never had enough of it. We were always surviving from one $20 bill to the next. Fast forward to today and I am a surgeon who makes a good living but have heard myself say that its not enough. If 10 year old me heard today me say that, I am sure 10 year old me would have cursed his future self out.

The reality is that both my 10 year old self is correct and so is the person who I am today.

Enough is measured by your situation in the moment. Unfortunately none of us know what tomorrow will bring so we are left to surmise that the present state of affairs is likely to last into the future.

For my 10 year old self, who was struggling to eat, was wearing dirty clothes everyday, or having to poop in bucket because of the lack of running water, enough equated to just being able to pay the bills each month with a hot meal each day. Enough was monetary in nature.

What my 10 year old self didn’t know, is that in order to make more money, it requires you to trade the most precious asset you have…time.

My today self, knows that I am living for four other people. I am constantly chasing enough, because time is something I don’t have enough of.

Personal finance gurus love to preach about increasing your income, but there is little mention of the trade off required. In an effort to achieve financial freedom, we sacrifice our time.

As a surgeon, I am constantly trading time for money. I will never forget the numerous tales I’ve heard of surgeons missing birthdays, holidays, and precious moments with their families in an effort to take that extra call or finish one more case. Whether it’s the preceived notoriety or added bump to the paycheck, the reality is you can’t get that time back.

The reality is there is always something that we are planning for, which serves as a reason why, we don’t have enough. Whether it’s time or money, enough is something that can be justified to continue chasing.

For me, enough will be had when I can look around and see what I’ve built will survive multiple generations, while also having the free time to not be obligated work each day.

While I am on this earth, I don’t envision ever having enough time, however I do believe I will achieve enough wealth. Overall, it’s a great problem to have, and I imagine its everything my 10 year old self wanted. I mean, I solved the enough problem for 10 year old me. However today me, really wants more time, because I don’t have enough.

So when is enough, “Enough'“?

The answer is its different for everyone and to understand what would be enough for you, you need to figure out what you’re chasing.

What I am chasing is time. Not money.

What are you chasing?