We are EXTREMELY excited to bring this very special episode of the Financial Time Traveler's Podcast! I will be expanding on this topic in a long-form blog later this month, however, here are the show notes in their abbreviated form! If you have any questions or comments, hit that contact us button and send your thoughts over!

PART ONE – The Science of time (brief but necessary)

• Stephen Hawking proposed the theory of 3 arrows of time in his book “A Brief History of ”
  • Thermodynamic Time: the direction in which disorder decreases.
  • Cosmological Time:The direction of time in which the universe expands.
  • Psychological Time:The direction in which we remember the past and not the future.
• We can only remember events as they occurred on their corresponding arrow of time.
• All arrows must point in the same direction. We cannot manipulate thermodynamic time or cosmological time (unless you have a flux capacitor and a DeLorean capable of 88mph). However, the process in which we perceive time and apply its methods are consistently manipulated. Either by ourselves our outside forces.

PART TWO – How we experience time/Framework vs. Temporary happiness

• The difference between temporary happiness and framework happiness relies on intertemporal powers, or how we measure time preference or value.
  • Temporary happiness would be eating your favorite meal, watching your favorite tv show or sports team, etc.
  • Framework happiness is becoming a person of value and purpose.
• Next time you are in your car, turn on the old AM/FM radio and count how many times you are advertised items of temporary happiness vs. framework happiness. Take note of the billboards, business signage, local culture

PART THREE – The science of time preferences

• “I plan on continually eating poorly, ignoring my family, and refusing to plan my financial goals until I am in critically terrible physical condition, alone, and broke.” – No One Ever.
• Except 1 in every four deaths in America is a result of heart disease
  • http://www.cdc.gov/heartdisease/facts.htm
• Almost half of marriages end in divorce
  • http://www.apa.org/topics/divorce/
• 6 out of 10 Americans have less than $1,000.00 in their bank account
  • http://www.marketwatch.com/story/most-americans-have-less-than-1000-in-savings-2015-10-06
• Don’t feel bad! We live in the present, so it’s only natural that we serve the now over the future!
• How do we fight this? In my opinion, one great way to battle the staggering figures above is to learn how to give future dates the same value or rights as any present date, and then create systems that reduce the probability of negative impact.

PART FOUR – Procrastination vs. Technology

• Procrastination is a cognitive bias which misleads us to think that a future date has less value than the present date, which is why we assign the crappy tasks to the future. However, when that future date becomes today we realize our time is just as valuable, and then we want to kick the proverbial responsibility can down the calendar once again. Rinse and repeat. It’s the human condition.
• However, as the great inventor Ray Kurzweil once stated, "The computer in your cell phone today is a million times cheaper and a thousand times more powerful and about a hundred thousand times smaller (than the one computer at MIT in 1965) and so that's a billion-fold increase in capability per dollar or per euro that we've actually seen in the last 40 years."
  • As a species, we have developed a unique tool in technology and the internet of things. Artificial intelligence and algorithm backed programming allows us to quickly accomplish a goal that we previously procrastinated to the point of devastation.
• As Father John Culkin, SJ, a Professor of Communication at Fordham University in New York once stated: “We shape our tools and thereafter, our tools shape us.”
• There are many systems that computers are better for suited than humans. Technology such as TheZebra.com allows us to save money to use in other places, like investments. The compounding effect of that saved money can have huge implications after decades of use!

What Does This Mean To Me?

To change the future, we must change the present. As we all know, repeating our actions with an expectation of different results is the definition on insanity. By implementing new strategies and practices we will all find ourselves in a much brighter future. If you can achieve your goals at a faster rate, for example accomplishing a 5year goal in 2years, that is time travel.

Let’s get time traveling!