Why would you pay so much more for a ticket on a jet airliner?" "Oh, I got it," I said as I began to understand what rich dad was getting at. "I pay more for the jet airliner ticket because I am saving time." "Think of it more like buying time than saving time. The moment you begin to think of time as precious and that it has a price, the richer you will become." I sat thinking silently. I really was not getting what rich dad was talking about... yet I knew that it was important to him. I wanted to say something but I did not know what to say. I did understand the idea that time was precious but I never really thought of it as having a price. And the idea of buying time rather than saving time was important to rich dad, but it was not important to me yet. Finally, sensing my mental struggle, rich dad broke the si- lence by saying, "I'll bet in your family you use the words 'save' or 'saving' a lot. I'll bet your mom often says she goes shopping and tries to save money. And your dad thinks that how much money he has in savings is important." "Yes they do," I replied. "So what does that mean to you?" 106 Rich Dad's Guide to Investing "Well they may work hard at trying to save but they waste a lot of time. I've seen shoppers in grocery stores spend hours trying to save a few dollars," said rich dad. "They may save money but they waste a lot of time." "But isn't saving important?" I asked. "Can't you get rich by saving?" "I'm not saying that saving is not important," rich dad con- tinued. "And yes you can become rich by saving. All I am say- ing is that the price is really measured in time." Again I scrunched up my face, struggling with what he was saying. "Look," said rich dad. "You can get rich by saving and you can become rich by being cheap, but it takes a heck of a long time, just as you can go from LA to New York by bus so you can save some money. However, your real price will be meas- ured in time. In other words, it takes five hours by jet for $500 or it can take up to five days by bus for $100. Poor peo- ple measure in money and rich people measure in time. That may be why there are more poor people who ride buses." "Because they have more time than money?" I asked. "That is why they ride the bus?" "That is part of it," said rich dad, shaking his head, indicat- ing that he was not happy with the way our conversation was going. "Because they value money more than time?" I asked, guessing in the dark. "Closer," said rich dad. "I have noticed that the less money a person has the harder that person clings to it. I have met a lot of poor people with a lot of money." "Poor people with a lot of money?" I asked. "Yes," said rich dad. "They have a lot of money because they cling to money like it has some magical value. So they Each Plan Has a Price 107 have a lot of money but are just as poor as if they had no money." "So poor people often cling to money more than rich peo- ple?" I asked.