Personal Finance Apprentice

The Real Price Of The Last Minute

Time is money - we've all heard that saying. But does it apply literally? Is there, in effect an actual tag price for being late? In this post we'll see if waiting until the last minute can cost us.



The Real Price Of The Last Minute

Time is money - we've all heard that saying. But does it apply literally? Is there, in effect an actual tag price for being late? In this post we'll see if waiting until the last minute can cost us.

We’ve all heard the saying “time is money.” It means that we can use the time we have to make money. Or we can lose money by wasting time. But does it apply literally? Is there, in effect an actual tag price for being late?

Well, let’s see…


A few months ago we celebrated Valentine’s day. And obviously, a lot of roses were cut, packaged and delivered to significant others. And what was the cost to the multitude of romeos for sending flowers to their juliets?

During the last week of January, ordering online and having it delivered on February 14 cost them 1290 pesos. Buying just one week later in early February cost them 1745 pesos. To spare some headaches and teeth gnashing, we’ll skip what it cost them on Feb 13 & 14.  Let’s just say that the cost of the last minute is 455 pesos.

And how about stocking up on food after a storm hits or is about to hit the Philippines? Obviously prices are noticeably, if not significantly, higher. Since every one has different budgets and tastes in food, let’s just say your grocery budget increases by 10% – or you have slightly less sumptuous meals.

So in this case the price of delaying is either 10% of your grocery budget or a few less tasty meals. It might not sound so bad when put that way. But a storm happens every year, why not stock up on some food when prices are still low?

Or how about if you decided to gain some financial knowledge the fast and paid way. Attending Wealth Summit 2013 (last March) costs 14,975 pesos – if you signed up before January 31. Otherwise it costs 19,975.

But the real kicker is you’re one of the first 100, it will cost just 10,975. But let’s just say the real price of waiting until the last minute was 5,000 pesos.

Of course there are other knowledge enhancing seminars. Creating Wealth – A webinar on smart personal finance habits, held last February 28 was free – but the next ones were $25.

And what if you invested 2 years from now instead of right now? A relatively attainable savings of 10,000 pesos with 1,000 monthly additions invested in an equity fund with a conservative annual yield of 8% will amount to 639,684.63 in 20 years.

In contrast, the same exact investment but forgoing the first two years will amount to only 525,315.35.

But even if you stop investing after 20 years, holding the money for an additional 2 years will make it amount to 746,128.15. Making it still bigger than if we continued our late-start investment for another two years (only 639,684.63 – with 2 additional years of inflation making the same numerical amount slightly less valuable).

The real price of the last minute? Financial independence.

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