"Our time is on loan, only ours to borrow." That's what Paul Weller sang in the Changing Man. Someone else probably said it too, but, as it is on loan and it's 5.45pm and I want to go home (walking) for my tea, I am leaving it at that. After all, our time is on loan and there ain't much left, so messing about trying to find the originator of the quote isn't using it well, is it?

What is time?

Time is something that cannot be bought or sold, that you have but is running out and that people ask you for. Time happens, whether you experience it or not. For example, when you are sleeping. Time slows down when you are bored, or reading a mundane blog article that is trying be philosophically profound and yet actually reads like it is written in a hurry by someone that hasn't got time to write it and really just wants to eat their dinner.

Time is a succession of events that happen in apparently irreversible order. In physics, there is the suggestion it doesn't have to happen in certain order but as sure as night follow day, future follows present and present follows past and dinner follows blog writing, it is apparent to humans that there is a set order that cannot be altered.

Time speeds up as we get older. It may not actually do (talking about time is a minefield when physics come in to it!) but it certainly feels like it does.

I am 44. This is halfway through the average longevity statistic I quote of 88. If I get to 88, it is more than likely that I will feel the 2nd 44 years went past much more quickly than the first 44. I know it is speeding up.

The trouble is, you think you have time - Gautama Buddha

You know you don't have much time, why are you using it trying to get possessions?

I think you realise, in your heart of hearts, you don't have much time. Most people spend a lot of time trying to earn money to get 'things' that they will 'own'. As a financial planner, many people say to me how they will not want to stop work, for example, until they have paid their mortgage off. Until they 'own' their house.

When you die, you will slip into the abyss of nothingness. Whatever your beliefs about what happens after life, there is certainly no baggage allowance. There is no 20KG in the hold and one small bag for the overhead locker. You are not able to wear a coat with large pockets to smuggle more stuff into the next life.

How do I know? I watch a lot of archaeology programmes! They are always digging up graves or tombs of people that have been deceased for millennia and finding artefacts that were deposited with them to 'use in the next life'

If you cannot take it with you, then do you ever really own it? Surely, having the use of it for as long as you need to and would enjoy it for is enough?

Learn to enjoy things without owning them. Ownership is nothing, access is everything. Visit a library, a park, or a museum. - Author: Joshua Becker

Get your priorities right

Being able to afford the continued use of something is what is most important. Today, I met with people that could afford to retire today. They would have needed to borrow some money on a mortgage, that they could easily afford to repay in 2 years when they are able to access their pensions. They have the wealth but do not have liquidity of cash (property investors, take heed!) They can afford to keep all they have and instantly stop the work they do not enjoy, but didn't want to be in more 'debt' and wanted the comfort of owning their home outright before they retire. All very sensible, one might think.

But, in light of the above, is it? 2 years more work you don't need to do to earn more money you don't need, to die with and you cannot take it with you. All in order to 'own' something you never truly own because when you are dead you will not own it then!

The cost of 2 years is massive! Those two years might be the only 2 you have left. When you are on your last legs, what amount of money would you give to have those 2 years of healthy life back? If it is not everything you own, then perhaps you should re-evaluate.

The things you own end up owning you. It's only after you lose everything that you're free to do anything. - Author: Chuck Palahniuk