
How Much Is My Time Worth? Â That is a question that you are asking, or should be asking, when making any type of lifestyle decision, boating included. Â If you are trying to decide what type of boater you are, then you need to consider what your time is worth.
It is fairly easy to come up with a “per hour” number. Â Divide your yearly take-home income and divide it by 2080. Â That’s the number of hours a full-time (40 per week) employee works in a year, assuming a 2 week vacation.
For instance, an hour is worth $50 to a person who makes $100,000 a year (100,000 divided by 2080 = 48.07 rounded to 50).
That is, of course, only one piece of the puzzle. Â It does not make any assumptions about the opportunity cost of your discretionary time. Â You only have a certain amount of time away from work, or a certain amount of time that your family has available as a group. Â Throw in other factors like enjoyable weather and your hourly value may go way up. Â That is not so easy to put a number on.
And that’s the reason we are always quick to get potential boaters to consider the time involved in boat ownership, especially if you are considering trailering your boat. Â The following example is a consideration of the normal boat outing routine for an owner.
Let’s say you have a Saturday with nothing to do. Â The weather is looking great and the kids or grandkids want to spend some time with you. Â You own a boat and it stays in your front yard.
You get up and pack supplies. Â You pull the truck around and hitch up the boat (15 minutes). Â You stop at the gas station and fill up the boat (15 minutes). Â Since it is a beautiful Saturday morning, when you get to the boat ramp, you have to wait in line for 30 minutes to even get to the ramp (30 minutes). Â You put the boat in the water and park the truck (10 minutes). Â You realize you forgot to replace your anchor line after it got hung on the tree root the last time you were out. Â You head to the marina to get a replacement and put it on (30 minutes). Â Your family has been waiting to get going through this entire process and they are not in a happy frame of mind when you get back. Â You finally set off and it takes an hour or so for everyone to fully relax (1 hour).
After a few hours on the lake, it’s time to pack it up. Â You wait in line again at the ramp (15 minutes). Â You hitch up and pull out (15 minutes). You drive home and unhitch the boat (15 minutes).
All-in-all, you just spent two and a half hours dealing with transportation and maintenance of your boat. Â And an hour getting over the resulting bad mood from the process.
Now we could multiply that by the time involved for everyone. Â There were 4 other people who had to go through the same thing. Â They had to wait on you. Â That’s 14 total hours if you consider everyone’s time. Â That’s 14 hours of a very pretty Saturday. Â That is not an uncommon scenario for boat owners who trailer.
Take that number and multiply it by your hourly value. Â If it is $50, then the transport time alone cost you $250. Â Add to that the time it takes to get relaxed $100. Â If it was possible to put a monetary value on the other participants, you could do that as well. Â Keep all of this in mind when considering your options.
And that is one of the major reasons we want you to consider how much your time is worth. Â Taking advantage of a boat club membership or a slip rental (for owners) can either reduce or eliminate the time and hassle described here.