Money never sleeps, so why should you? Well if you’re a regular ‘ol person, the answer is, “There’s more to life than just money,” and “If you don’t sleep, you’ll die.” 

Sure, those are fine answers but they are not very insightful. Hopefully you’re a personal finance reader who by virtue is interested in money.

So let’s first talk about the general meaning of money never sleeps. Then I’ll go a different route in answering the next question, if money never sleeps, why should you?

What Is The Meaning Of Money Never Sleeps?

There’s a saying that “Money never sleeps” since money can always be working for you no matter what time of day. Money will also find itself in the most lucrative of investments and flee from the most horrific.

There are opportunities out there to make money every minute of the day. Some of the most successful people latch onto this reality and work every waking minute they can muster. Or they find ways to make money by hiring the right people to work for them and generate a profit.

In addition, or alternatively, they find ways to generate wealth through passive income. This is my favorite way to earn money and a perfect example of why money never sleeps when executed well.

Thus, since money never sleeps, and you want to make money, why should you sleep either?

Long Days And Nights Hustling

Here’s a relevant work story of mine about giving up sleep to make money from back in 2011. One evening after coming home from a 14-hour-day at 9:30pm due to a client dinner, I got back to work, online work that is.

I had a conference call with Mumbai scheduled for 11:30pm. Then I had another scheduled with London at 6:30am the next morning.

Normally, I would be OK with these one-off conference calls. However, this was the 8th consecutive workday in a row I was getting home after 8pm and I was beginning to tire.

I was pissed because the guy who was supposed to call me at 11:30pm didn’t call until midnight. I hate egregiously late people. It’s disrespectful. Meanwhile, my conference call at 6:30am went 30 minutes over and I had to then go to into work.

My client wasn’t willing to stay 1 minute past 5pm in London (9am PST) to resolve an issue and pay for my services. As a result, I didn’t close the deal, which left me annoyed. 

He said that I’d have to wait until Monday, which was baloney since I bent over backwards to accommodate his schedule. I will likely never work with him again given how painful the process was.

Why can’t people be on time and do what they are supposed to do? Why can’t folks just provide a little bit extra? If everybody did their duties well, the world would be a much better place. But, you know what? I’d rather have something going on than nothing. Things were too quiet for a week during Thanksgiving and I was itching to get back into the fray.

Make It Count When It Rains

Everything ebbs and flows. You can be on “the bench” for months, and suddenly you’re staffed in a faraway place working 12 hour days for 6 months straight.

This is what happens to consultants from firms like Accenture and IBM Consulting. It’s important to understand business cycles. For example, new budgets are often created at the beginning of the month, and at the end of the year pressure is on to sell.

It’s during robust periods and peak seasons when you’ve got to work full throttle to generate business. In many businesses, the peak season is what makes or breaks the year. The hotel leisure business is a great example.

It would be great if we could all balance our workloads out more evenly. This is part of the reason why I think there’s a benefit of working just a couple hours on the weekends as well. That way, there’s not a massive rush on Monday and cessation on Friday.

Instead, we can spread things out more evenly, and lead more balanced lifestyles! The best time to work to maximize your profits and boost your career is when nobody else is working.

Money Never Sleeps, So Make It Work Harder For You

Every day I try and seize the moment as much as possible. I will never forget starting with nothing, therefore I will never take any opportunities for granted.

In addition, I will continue to utilize the best financial products to grow my wealth. Money never sleeps, so I encourage you to make your money work harder for you.

Utilize free wealth management tools to track all of your financial accounts in one place, budget, and plan for retirement.

Some of you may have workaholic tendencies and have a hard time finding balance. There are literally too many things to do once you build your momentum. You become a rolling magnet that gathers up more and more little magnets until you turn into this giant rolling ball of attraction.  

But it’s important not to push yourself to the breaking point and burn out. You’ve got to pick and choose the most interesting, helpful, and lucrative projects.

For the things you can’t handle, know that there is someone else who would probably find value in them. Refer your friends to your clients! It’s a way of paying things forward.

There won’t be failure due to lack of effort. I encourage you to hold the same belief. Money, success, love are all there waiting for you to grab them. Aim to do at least 1-3 productive things each day and have no regrets.

Related: Waking Up Earlier May Make You Richer, But Not Happier

Recommendation To Build Wealth

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You can track your net worth, analyze your investment portfolios for excessive fees, and run your financials through their fantastic Retirement Planning Calculator.

Those who are on top of their finances build much greater wealth longer term than those who don’t. I’ve used Personal Capital since 2012. It’s the best free financial app out there to manage your money.

Updated for 2020 and beyond.

As I contemplate returning to work once my daughter turns six months old, I fear leaving my wife alone with two kids under three and a half. She’s not too thrilled about the idea, which has tempered my enthusiasm for bolstering our finances.

Since April 2017, I have been a stay at home father with her. I am mostly in charge of feeding the family, cleaning the house, dropping off and picking up our son from preschool, and being her mental support during difficult days. On average, I spend roughly eight hours a day caring for our children and the house.

We’re just facing a predicament because if our finances stay static or if there is a bear market, we may experience a significant financial shortfall by 2022. If there is a shortfall, I won’t be able to provide the lifestyle we want. But at the same time, I don’t want to give up our current lifestyle we’ve spent so many years building.

Then one day I came across a wonderful book called, The Courage To Be Disliked. This international bestseller helped me get into a better mindset about the future. I encourage you to read it as well if you would also like to make significant changes in your life.

The book made such a positive impact on me that I asked my wife to also read it and write a review of the most salient points to share with all of you.

Given the bull market has exacerbated the wealth gap, practicing stealth wealth is a strategically wise move. You don’t want to attract haters just because you decided to diligently save and invest all these years. Instead, you want to blend into the crowd so you can live a carefree life.

What I’ve come to also realize is that it’s important to practice Stealth Action as well. Stealth Action is where you keep what you’re doing private so as to not attract any attention, criticism, and unnecessary stress.

I’m in a funny situation where I publicly write about some things I want to do. As a result, I get a lot of criticism from people who either don’t believe what I’m doing is right or know they probably should be doing what I’m doing, but are unwilling.

But in real life, I always keep mum about my plans. The only person I share everything with is my best friend, my wife.

Let me share with you four examples that demonstrate why Stealth Action is important.

My theme for 2019 was: live the good life. 

After a raging bull market since 2009, I’ve started to get more comfortable spending more on a better life rather than always trying to save and invest as much as possible.

2018 was a bad year for the stock market. At one point in 4Q2018, I was probably down ~$500,000, even with my relatively conservative public investment portfolio. However, we recovered tremendously in 2019. With the rebound, I figured, better to start spending our money than lose it all in the market again!

Here’s a review of my goals for 2019. It’s a really long post because I can’t help but reflect during the holidays. The beginning portion is what I wrote at the start of 2019. The italics portion is my review.

When I was in high school, I got in a lot of trouble. As a result, I often wondered if anybody would ever give me a chance at life. Because I ended up receiving multiple chances despite my screw ups, I’ve learned to be more thankful and not take things for granted. I also developed an affinity for people who also had a rough time growing up, but found a way to make things work.

The following is a guest post from Bill, a man who spent 10 years in prison before getting on the path to financial freedom. Hopefully his post will give you the motivation to stick with things when times are tough and not lose faith that everything will turn out OK in the end.

I walked into my jail cell. I heard the door close behind me. I had just been sentenced to ten years in prison. It was my first time ever in trouble and I was in shock. I didn’t know what to think.

The emotions came in horrible waves. I felt an overwhelming sense of relief at first. The night before, my attorney had braced me with the reality that the negotiations with the district attorney had not gone well, and that the state was going to be recommending 20 years of incarceration.

In court that day, the judged looked down at me in handcuffs and I heard him read his sentence in shock: “The state sentences you to ten years in prison. Due to sentencing guidelines, you will have no chance at early release or parole. Good luck to you.”

That night the harsh reality of being sentenced to 10 years in prison settled in my mind like slow mental torture. How was I going to survive it? How could I hold onto my sanity with such a horrible future ahead of me?

I reflected how I found myself in this position. I had first used drugs when I was 14, smoked a joint, and liked it. For years, drugs and parties provided an escape from my otherwise normal life, and drugs provided me a fantasy of happiness I thought was real. But that illusion was shattered after a friend left my college apartment one night after partying, overdosed, and died in his sleep.

The next morning, I was arrested and charged with “reckless homicide by delivery of a controlled substance.” I had provided some of the drugs that contributed to his death that night, and that’s all the state had to prove to convict me of the charge. 

I had gotten high hundreds, or thousands of times, but I never meant to harm anyone. It was a terrible accident. Everyone involved in the tragedy lost. I learned that when you play with fire, you don’t get to decide how badly you get burned. 

Life as I knew it was over. No one was going to fight for a comeback for me.  My life was now a mission to prove that I was a better human being than the one they threw away for a decade.

After writing The Bear Market Checklist, I thought I’d follow my own advice and do a mid-year review. The last thing I want is to get broadsided because things feel so good.

So far, this year has been solid on the financial front. I haven’t felt this good since 2007, the year before everything fell to pieces.

I truly hope all of you are benefitting from this extraordinary bull market as well. 4Q2018 was such a dicey time period. It was hard for me to imagine things turning out as well they have since.

I’ve been trying to live it up, especially now that my boy is over two years old and is able to communicate better. We’re going on more trips and doing more things in public settings.

I’m also trying to be much more appreciative of the good times by constantly reflecting on the past. The more we can show gratitude, the better our lives will get.

Here is my 2019 mid-year update.