Hello Aluxers, it’s been a very interesting week hasn’t it? Well, this video will definitely help elevate that experience, by looking at the most important numbers in life.
You know we’ve got a thing for numbers, we’ve said it once and we’ll say it again: Numbers don’t lie!
But there’s more to numbers than people think, and don’t worry if you hated math in high school, this isn’t that kind of math lesson.
For us:
Life is a series of random events, numbers bring order to it!
A filter to measure, track, schedule and optimize life for the better and numbers are valuable.
1. One
2. Two
3. Three
4. Four
5. Five
Thrilling isn’t it?
You’re just now realizing the real passing of time and the value of it. With this feeling in mind here are 15 most important numbers in your life.
If you don’t feel like reading this long article, here’s the video version:
1.
Your age
Some say Age is just a number… but you see… it isn’t ANY number. It’s a special one.
This number serves a very important purpose: To remind you that you are going to DIE!
Which is why there are very few numbers more important than the one marking your age – how long have you been alive-, one of them is the number of days you have until you die, but this one is an unknown number. You could die today when you leave home or die in 60 years surrounded by family.
Do you remember Captain Hook from Peter Pan?
Don’t be him, don’t live your life worrying that time in the shape of a crocodile is coming after you with it’s ticking clock in its belly. But respect the crocodile to not be foolish around it… it has already taken a bite out of your life – which is why you now have a hook for a hand – and you know someday it will come to get the rest of you.
Pay attention to the signs Aluxers!
There’s this incredibly elegant quote by Mark Twain that we simply love which says:
Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.
So make the things that matter worth it, don’t throw them to the crocodile of time.
Very metaphorical aren’t we today?!
2.
Your child’s age
Something clicks inside of you when your first child is born. Those of you who’ve had the privilege to experience this know very well what we’re talking about.
Life changes because of this new being.
When it’s born, it’s pure despite what the original sin people will tell you. Everyone loves babies, because babies are simply Potential in its purest form.
And then the clock starts ticking. You see them growing faster and faster, processing the world, learning, adapting, making mistakes and overcoming obstacles. Your life changes with the age of the child.
You’re a different person when the baby is born versus when he or she graduates high school. The world changed in the mean-time.
All the parents out there know this: A child will always be your child, no matter their age or yours!
Your job as a parent is to make sure you develop strong children. Ones who can go out into the world and not only thrive on their own, but make the world better throughout their existence.
At this point we feel like we might start a parenting channel.. Wouldn’t that be cool?!
This number is meant to represent the future, the unknown, the world this child will experience will be different than what you experience yourself. Hopefully you’ve improved in the meantime.
3.
Your Parent’s age
There’s a paradoxical duality between your children’s age and that of your parents.
While you’re eager to celebrate little Timmy’s second birthday, your parents have two years less in their hourglass.
While the child’s number increases, the parent’s one goes down. For them, it’s a race to the finish, with you, being on the sidelines watching this happen before your eyes, until one day, when you take their place.
It’s always hard to talk about your parents dying.. Some of you are lucky enough to still have both of them alive and do not realize their value, because you’re chasing the carrot on a stick.
They’re probably ok on their own.. they don’t want to bother you.. But that clock is ticking.
Forgive those who didn’t have the tools to be better at being parents, they grew up in an even harsher world than you.
You are the person you are today because of them!
No matter if the relationship was positive or not.
This number is here to signify just how close we are to the finish line. In a blink of an eye they will be gone and it won’t be that many blinks before you join them, so make amends with your parents, give them at least one more story to tell, be better than they were and take everything you’ve learned from them to pave a better road for your children.
4.
The Hour
What time is it, Aluxers? We spoke of the clock so much it would’ve been a shame to not include it..
This number is a reminder that we all have 24 hours in a day. Every person, rich, poor, happy, sad, young or old… we’re all sharing the same time. It’s ours!
Time is the last true symbol of EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY!
We all receive the same amount, the difference lies in what we do with it.
What’s the number of hours you’ve wasted this week?
What’s the number of hours you’ve slept?
How many hours did you spend adding value to your existence – in whatever shape or form that is?
People waste 3 hours binge watching a terrible tv show but procrastinate on a 5 minute email or chore.
To get back to the previous 3 points, here’s something to consider:
Anyone can get old. All you have to do is live long enough, but feeling alive depends on the hour!
You’re choosing to invest in yourself and your understanding of the world, don’t let these ideas go to waste.
If the first 5 were designed to get you thinking, the next 5 are gonna get you doing. You bet we’re gonna talk about money!
5.
Money to your name
We can all agree that: life is not measured in money, but financial freedom is.
If you had to bring everything together, all the money you have saved up, all the assets to your name, how much would it be? Do the math right now.. Figure out this number.
You’ve been working for how long? How many years, months,days, hours did you spend working hard or hardly working… This number speaks the truth. This is how much monetary value you’ve been able to extract from the marketplace in exchange for your time & effort.
Although your potential might be worth more, this is how much you’re worth right now. Brutal isn’t it? It’s one of those realizations that send a shiver down your spine, because you probably thought it would be a different number by now didn’t you?
This number is the easiest way for you to understand how much value you’ve been able to generate so far.
If nothing changes it’s pretty easy to figure out just how much you’ll be worth by the time you die.. You’re probably the first person you know to ever do the math. Do you like the result of the simulation? Yes, keep doing what you’re doing.. But if you don’t like what reality has planned for you, maybe you take the offensive. Always remember our mantra:
Reality is negotiable!
6.
How much you earn per year
If in the previous point we forced you to determine how much money you’re worth right now and what awaits you if you don’t change, this time we’re bringing it down to the year.
12 months.
How much money did you make last year?
We know it’s a simple and personal question, but you should be able to recall the number or at least know the ballpark area.
Why is this number important? Because it tells you what society thinks you’re good at; good enough to exchange money for your time and effort.
There are 4 way to improve this number:
- Do more volume on whatever it is you’re doing. (you used to work 40h per week, now work 50, that’s a 25% increase)
- Upgrade your skill set – get paid more for the same amount of work
- Earn the same but work less – this is done by automating or outsourcing the things that are time consuming – sometimes time is more important than money
- Do something different aside from what you’re currently doing.
Fundamentally, no matter what you’re doing in life these are the only ways to do it. Now you know them, you’re welcome! Figure out which one you need to focus on this year!
7.
How much it costs to be alive
Last Sunday we mentioned the term: “Lifestyle Cost” meaning = how much does it cost you to be alive: Food, shelter, Utilities, clothing etc.
You survived last year, so it’s definitely less than what you’re currently earning.. But by how much? How much ahead of the curve are you really?
This is why this number is so important. It allows you to calculate PLAY MONEY.
The difference between your Yearly Earnings and your Lifestyle Cost is your PLAY MONEY. This money can be used to make more money or spent on memorable experiences, depending on what your level of YOLO vs Planning.
We got some suggestions to tailor our math to the average Joe out there, working a 9-5 trying to begin his journey, so we’re going to do just that.
The average person’s Lifestyle cost is roughly around 66% – 2 thirds of the Yearly Earning – this is the case with most middle class individuals.
Here’s a chart of how your money should be distributed if you’re an average person looking to start building.
The pie is all the money you earn in a year. 2 thirds of that is your Lifestyle Cost – food, mortgage etc.
The remaining third – your PLAY MONEY – is split into 3 equal parts as well.
1 part (that’s 11% of your yearly income for those of you into quick maths) goes towards Feel Good activities. – Going on a trip, Buying something for your hobby, give it to charity, your call, but it should make you feel great.
1 part should go to investments – if you’re an average Joe, or Joanne for that matter, this should go towards investing in yourself and your ability to generate income. Take classes, learn new skills, read books, buy better equipment.
The last part is about: SAVINGS. This is money that you’re saving up for opportunities or rainy days. This will allow you to be protected.
Please remember this ratio for it will change your life.
Use this Ratio for a couple of years and you’ll begin to notice that the income is steadily increasing, which means your lifestyle cost is no longer 66% of your yearly income, maybe it dropped to 50% or less.
The important rule is to ALWAYS SPLIT YOUR PLAY MONEY INTO THE 3 equal BUCKETS: Feel Good, Investments & Savings.
The moment you make it, maybe your lifestyle cost is less than 10% of what you’re bringing in every year – this is the case with us right now -, but we’ve made sure to split the remaining 90% into the 3 buckets.
Do not ignore any of the 3. Why?
Ignore the feel good bucket and you’ll miss out on incredible moments that money can no longer buy you.
Ignore the investments and your Lifestyle cost will always be what it is right now.
Ignore the savings and your life gets turned upside down when shit hits the fan.
By the way, we talk about this kind of strategies in our upcoming premium experience Goal Mastery: join the waiting list at alux.com/goals
8.
How much you earn per hour
Here’s a very important distinction that not many people make, but you’re fortunate to learn this:
There’s a difference between how much you’re earning
Per working hour vs Per hour in a day.
A smart person should know both.
Let’s start with the most common one, Earnings per Working Hour (E/WH)
E/wh = Money Made / Total no of working hours
If last week you worked 50 hours and you made $1000 = your earnings per hour is $20
The goal here is to understand the REAL amount of time that you put towards work, not just how much time you spend at your desk.. Here’s what we mean by that. How much time do you spend in traffic to and from work? How much time did you spend fixing up that project during the weekend? Add all of this to the hours you put in.
You might have spent only 40 hours last week clocked in, but 30 minutes to get ready + 30 minutes to get to work add an extra hour every day. That’s 5 hours per week you didn’t take into account previously.
Factor everything in if you want to determine your actual Earnings per Working Hour.
Now.. you want things to get really interesting? We’d like you to meet a new number called: Earnings per LIVING HOUR (E/LH)
This is where things get real!
E/LH = Money Made / Total time
Let’s go with the same example. Let’s say you made $1000 last week. There are 7 days in the week with 24 hours each. That’s 168 hours in a week.
In order to calculate your Earnings per Living Hours you divide the $1000 by the total time, in our case 168.
In this case your E/LH = 5.95 just under $6.
Believe it or not, rich people care more about how much money they’re making while they’re sleeping than they care about how much they charge per hour for their services.
If you want the most accurate numbers you can calculate your YEARLY E/LH.
Just take how much money you made last year and divide it by 8760 (that’s how many hours are in a full year).
To put things into perspective.
Middle class people earn between $3 and $30
With the rich starting at $30.
We know this might sound like a lot of math, but you can not improve what you do not measure!
9.
You National ID or Social Security Number
Finally, a number you were probably expecting when you read the title alongside maybe your telephone number and your pin code… those were too obvious and are not that important either way. Why? Because you can always change both of them. You can change your telephone number, you can change the pin code on your credit card, but it ain’t that easy with the national ID is it?
We live in a connected society. The money you earn, it’s earned under your national id or ssn. The bank account that money goes to, under the same id. When you purchase something with your credit card, in that transaction there’s an id linked to your national id.
Behind the scenes, you’re just a number on a screen with different characteristics assigned to it.
Isn’t it cool to understand how society functions? The marketplace literally keeps track of your transactional footprints, but doesn’t give a hoot about your passion, your interests or more.
This will become even more trackable once the world embraces blockchain.
You might have never realized this, but there are 2 different YOUs. One that’s consuming this piece of content right now and a digital sketch of who you are kept by every service that got a hold of your ID in the past. It’s a bit 1984 isn’t it? Pull out the Victory Gin will ya?!
10.
How much you need to be free
To wrap this money segment, of course we were going to include your FREEDOM NUMBER.
What’s the number you need to be free?
What does that even mean?
It means: how much money do you need to basically No longer having to worry about money if your lifestyle doesn’t change.
Calculating your freedom number isn’t complicated.
Freedom number = How much money do I need to invest to earn 2 Times my Living Expenses from passive sources – that means, without having to work for this income.
Here’s a real life example to help you understand it better:
Let’s say you have a mortgage or debt of $200,000. Outside of this it costs you approximately $1000 per month to cover your lifestyle.
Just to keep the math simple, let’s say a $100,000 property will bring in $1000 per month.
In this case, your
Freedom Number = $200,000 (worth of debt or mortgage left on your house) + 2 x $100,000 property = $400,000
You need to be able to earn twice what you’re spending outside of debt from passive sources such as rentals, dividends, etc.
If your cost of living was $2000 per month aside from the 200,000 dollars debt you carry, then your freedom number would be $600,000.
These are all incredibly important numbers to consider and these strategies will help you get ahead in life. Truth be told, how many people do you think actually know about the freedom number? How many of them use it to plan their future so that they’re able to achieve it?
For those of you who do not know where to start or feel like you’re still missing the fundamentals of what it means to be able to buy your own freedom, we want you to read or listen to: The richest man in Babylon. It’s hands down the best book on fundamentals. Even if you’ve read it in the past, we recommend you go through it again – we do it ourselves every couple of years and always pick up new value.
The book is available everywhere in the world, we’ll link to amazon in the description, or you can go to alux.com/freebook and sign up. Our friends at audible are offering 1 free audiobook to those of you in our community who have never signed up before. You’re getting an amazing and valuable audiobook for free.
11.
Your weight
Did you feel that?! We went from money to straight up triggering some people.
Yes, your weight is important. Your weight is the easiest way to measure your health.
Too skinny, your body is missing something. Too fat, your body’s working overtime just to keep you alive.
We don’t care about standards of beauty here, calm down Karen, the manager’s not in today, instead we are talking about health.
As long as you’re healthy, you can enjoy life optimally.
Focusing on this single metric will change the way you experience life, you will be able to enjoy it more, sense it more, be able to explore and absorb more of it.
A physical transformation is the fastest way to change your life. 12 months from now your life can be completely different because of a choice you’re making today.
Losing weight is a mind game. Change your mind and your body will follow!
Don’t fall prey to lose weight fast -or get rich quick schemes for that matter-. It took you years to put on all that weight, it won’t go down in a day… as with everything good in life, be patient!
It’s not going to be easy, but everyone who did it can tell you: The trade off is worth it!
12.
How many emotional connections you have
How many people do you care deeply about? How many people care about you deeply?
It’s an uncomfortable question to ask, but it’s a pertinent one!
When we mention emotional connection, this isn’t one of those staged reality dating shows; we mean genuine connection to people who’ve been with you through some things you’ll never forget..
You should be able to count them on the fingers of your hand, if you’ve been winning at this maybe bring in the second hand. If it’s more than 10, you probably should narrow that circle in a bit.
These are the people that have made your life feel alive, you felt safe, you were there for them and they were there for you. These are your ride & die, your “Come pay my bail people”. You don’t need a mask with them.
Be around people you can be yourself with!
And once you find them, treasure them!
13.
How many people you can trust
Expanding on the previous point are people you can trust. These are the folks that you can rely on. If they say they will do something they will get it done.
These are business partners, family members and even friends.
This number is important because the more success you have the harder it is to maintain trust, because there’s more to gain for the person breaking it.
Having people around you that you can rely on is beyond powerful. Seek them and don’t take them for granted.
14.
How far you’ve traveled
This applies in both a literal and metaphorical way.
The farther you travel, the more you are on your own, the more you encounter different ideologies, different stories, different ways of thinking. All of this expands your mind, your understanding of the world and breeds kindness.
People who never travel are hateful, because they’re scared of the unknown. All they have is the little order they know, so anything outside of that is automatically labeled as threatening.
In the metaphorical sense, this point stands for how many experiences have you gone through, how much have you learned. Although it isn’t as easy to put into numbers as the literal sense, it is important to understand that there are different levels of experiences.
We want you to travel further than you thought you could.
The farther you travel the more you find about yourself!
15.
How many Summers you have left
To bring this full circle, we want you to do the following math.
The average person, right now, will live to be 85 years old.
Subtract from 85 your current age!
85 – [your age] = X
That’s how many Summers you have in your lifetime. Now that you think about it, it really isn’t that many is it? Your brain is struggling with this, because it had this idea that life is long and you’re incredibly young and there’s more than enough time for everything, but faced with this realization it doesn’t really know what to do… so it blanks out.
Let’s say your dad is 60 years old. He’s got 25 more summers in his lifetime.
You? Let’s say you’re thirty, that’s only 55 summers to go.
If you go to the beach once a year only during the summer holiday, that means you’ll only go to the beach 55 more times. Even if you went twice a year, that’s just over 100 times – that’s not a lot if you think about it.
This applies to Christmas as well. You probably have less than 55 christmases left.
Don’t waste time Aluxers, don’t waste seasons, because although it may seem like you have time, in truth you don’t. That clock is ticking, and all of these numbers we’ve mentioned are moving one way or the other.
You can’t control how many christmases with the family you have left, but the rest are fair game and if you can’t push those numbers up, at least make the most out of the ones you got.
We began this by making you think, then educating you about how you can use numbers to improve the quality of your life and your earning power and lastly, we tried to force a sense of appreciation for what you have and a sense of urgency when it comes to the future, which brings the question:
Which of these numbers clicked with you the most? Every time you answer a question or give the video a thumbs up for that matter – it helps both our channel but more importantly the community, Aluxers learn from the advice and feedback you guys leave in the comments, so don’t stop!
This wraps up our take on the most important numbers in life! Hope you found this piece valuable Aluxers!
