How to Make Time & Money Work For You

Sean MacMannis
8 min readJul 24, 2020

Ben, Father of 3 — Comfortable, but Not Free

Ben and I went to college together. He is married and has 3 young kids. He works full-time in real estate development. His wife works full-time in public relations. Ben and I connected the other day about fatherhood, work, family, and building a more balanced life.

Ben is in it right now. He knew it would be busy having three kids in a dual-career family, but he didn’t know it would be this crazy.

Ben’s concluded that American society — our workplaces, our school system, our lifestyles — are not built to accommodate dual-working parents with young children.

There’s too much stress and not enough time.

His sentiment is not for lack of planning. Ben moved across the country from San Francisco to be closer to family, and to be able to afford a nicer home. He and his wife recognized before having kids that coastal urban life was going to be too much — too fast-paced, with not enough balance. They rearranged their life ahead of having kids to make it more family-friendly.

Ben and his wife knew they couldn’t have it all, and in our conversation, Ben wasn’t complaining. He recognized his privilege — that millions of new parents have it much worse than he does. He feels grateful for his life, with all of its challenges.

And yet, Ben still feels like there’s not enough time or money to have any hope of leaving the rat race.

I asked him if my articles were helping him at all.

He offered a few words of encouragement, but then the truth came out: “Honestly,” he told me, “your articles just don’t seem that practical.” He was referring to my recent post about my strategy consultant friend who was about to quit her job to do some introspection.

“As inspiring as Nancy’s story is,” he told me, “it just doesn’t seem very relevant. I can’t afford to just quit my job.”

He’s right. I haven’t written at all about the practical aspects of building a financially free life.

Like most Americans, Ben counts on two incomes to support his life. But after talking to Ben for about an hour, it became clear that he is reconsidering the…

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Sean MacMannis

I write about empowering creators and becoming the best version of yourself. Dad 2x. SF-based. https://www.seanmacmannis.com