In a recent discussion on the Global Capital Access Club on Ecademy, one of my favorite discussion forums for entrepreneurs, my friend Ziad Abdelnour asked the following very provocative questions (Editor's note: This is originally from the cover of T. Harv Eker's Secrets of the Millionaire Mind):

Have you ever wondered why some people seem to get rich easily, while others are destined for a life of financial struggle?

Is the difference found in their education, intelligence, skills, timing, work habits, contacts, luck, or their choice of jobs, businesses, or investments?

Is there a "money and success blueprint" out there?

There is some great discussion in response, but one reply in particular made me stop and think. One person put forth the following hypothesis:

1.Time is money
2. Knowledge is power

Physics says “Power = Work / Time”

so...

Knowledge = Work / Money

and therefore...

Money = Work / Knowledge

Well this didn't set well with me. This leads to the conclusion that the more you know, the less money you make, and that the only way to get rich is via hard work. This is simply not true empirically.

My hypothesis goes more like this:

Money = Work * Knowledge

This just makes sense. Either knowledge or work increases the money you make. If either of them approaches zero, though, so does your income.

So let's go with this for now. We'll also take the law of physics as a given, so that gives us...

Money = Power * Time * Knowledge

This rings very true. Money is power and knowledge applied over time.

So one of the original hypotheses -- those popular maxims -- must be wrong. Let's check them...

If Knowledge = Power, then...

Money = Knowledge² * Time
or
Money = Power² * Time

Possibly, but not obviously true. If we accept that it's impossible to have power without knowledge or knowledge without power, then I supposed it works. Let's test the other hypothesis though...

If Time = Money, then...

Power * Knowledge = 1

This implies that the more you know, the less powerful you are, and the more powerful you are, the less you know. It is again empirically obvious that this is simply not the case.

Therefore, I must conclude that in fact, time does not equal money!

Whew, that's a relief! :-)